No abstract

This article provides a review of the literature on the concept of a living human document, which was first proposed by Anton T. Boisen and then advanced by Charles V. Gerkin. I will apply a holistic approach to understanding the idea of a living human document in light of the increasingly complicated difficulties humans face in our modern day. In this article, I argue that taking a holistic perspective will help us better comprehend persons in their environments (internal and external contexts). This, as I call it, is an attempt at holistic pastoral theology based on living human document.

In the moment of grief, people need consolation coming from the very core of human existence: living communication with one’s source of being. This communication ensues stories of life-sustaining one’s self-identity and spiritual vitality. When a story of life enlightens one’s experience of grief, it becomes a curative force for one’s soul-healing process. Yet if the life story becomes ineffective, it needs an “editing” process—or a revision—to get a meaning reconstruction that is more compatible with the grief situation. Using a postcolonial ethnography, we evaluate the pastoral care done by Nias Christian Church for people experiencing grief. We will describe a theoretical framework to argue that pastoral care is fundamentally an editing process of the story of life-sustaining the well-being of the human soul. We, then, will describe the Nias tradition on grief. Finally, we will discuss how the church should develop pastoral care interculturally.

This article provides a review of the literature on the concept of a living human document, which was first proposed by Anton T. Boisen and then advanced by Charles V. Gerkin. I will apply a holistic approach to understanding the idea of a living human document in light of the increasingly complicated difficulties humans face in our modern day. In this article, I argue that taking a holistic perspective will help us better comprehend persons in their environments (internal and external contexts). This, as I call it, is an attempt at holistic pastoral theology based on living human document.