Practices

Deze bijdrage gaat in op de verhouding tussen onderzoeker en geestelijk verzorger. Promovendus Niels den Toom reflecteert hierop in het kader van zijn onderzoek naar de invloed van deelname aan case studies-onderzoek op de beroepspraktijk van geestelijk verzorgers. Het Case Studies Project zelf als casus beschouwd.

Soul can be seen as the anonymous force on which the community is built, becoming visible in the way individuals behave and act. Apart from that places, can be loaded with soul as well. Or even better: with souls-plural-since the contemporary city exists of a multitude of different cultures. For this paper three dynamic notions are connected with each other, in order to understand how the souls of the city can be understood: the notions of place-making (the human action to get from place-as-it-is towards place-as-it-can-be), of sacredness (the experience of emotive human desires being fulfilled in a multisensory way) and of souls (the anonymous forces that hold societies and cultures together). Two case-studies in Amsterdam (Artis Square and Chestnut Square) illustrate how in the interaction between place-making, sacredness and souls of the city, sacredness seem to happen and souls sometimes seem to materialize — but also how place, sacredness and souls are captured in a constant flow and cannot be fixed in stable meanings.

The verb place-making can be used to describe the human action aiming to get from "place as it is" towards "place as it can be". One of the endeavors of the Christian church in Western society has always been to create and maintain sacred places within the public domain. By doing so Christians have been making a contribution to the overall livability of our society, driven by their vision of and belief in Gods kingdom breaking through in this world. According to Van der Leeuw we are living in "the old Jerusalem", but in the meantime we are able to encounter here and now what place can be: "the New Jerusalem". These encounters can be labeled "sacramental" and one of the ways in Christian tradition to explore them is by walking. By embarking on these walks, the Christian congregation functions as a learning community, since it is educated about "place as it can be". In this paper I will explore this phenomenon of learning-by-walking. After presenting a theoretic framework, I will describe the empirical research that was carried out for this paper in Amsterdam-East. Finally, in the concluding remarks, I will reflect on this question: How (and what) do wanderers learn about “place as it can be” when photo-walking with the city?

The birth of the small congregation involves the calling of people, who are� touched and are taken up in a mystical way into a movement that follows Jesus. In this way, members are introduced to another dimension underlying day to day life. With regard to the postnatal development, the quantitative increase or decrease of the congregation is� considered. There are many reasons why people may join or sever themselves from a congregation but, in this regard, the relationship with God is fundamental. The qualitative development of a congregation relates to the interplay between context and calling on the one hand, and on� the� other, context� and Christian� tradition. Questions from own ranks as well as from outsiders may refer to the realization of the congregation�s calling and� the meaning of tradition in a particular context. These questions may lead to renewal. An ecclesiological meditation is incomplete if factors retarding the growing and learning� process� are� disregarded. Att...