SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online vol.66 issue2 author indexsubject indexarticles search Home Pagealphabetic serial listing Services on DemandArticle pdf in English Article in xml format Article references How to cite this article Automatic translation Send this article by e-mailIndicatorsRelated linksShare Share on deliciousShare on googleShare on twitterShare on diggShare on citeulikeMore Sharing ServicesMore More Sharing ServicesMore PermalinkHTS Theological StudiesPrint version ISSN 0259-9422Herv. teol. stud. vol.66 no.2 Pretoria 2010 ORIGINAL RESEARCH The dilemma of traditional and 21st century pastoral ministry: ministering to families and communities faced with socio-economic pathologies Gordon E. DamesDepartment of Practical Theology, University of the Free State, South AfricaCorrespondence to ABSTRACTA holistic pastoral methodology is sought in transforming the socio-economic and systemic pathologies of poor families and local communities. Missional pastoral ministry is proposed from a critical hermeneutical and contextual perspective for the empowerment and liberation of people living with complex and multiple forms of pathologies. A transversal rationality model is applied merging the complexity and divergence of cross-disciplinary and intradisciplinary approaches between missional theology, practical theology, contextual theology, religious pedagogy and ethics. Practical theology in South Africa should be applied from and within the contemporary socio-economic, systemic and ecclesiological pathologies.Keywords: missional pastoral ministry; socio-economic and systemic pathologies; maintenance ecclesiologies; transversal hermeneutics; poverty-stricken families and communities; liberation and empowerment Solidarity, prayer, and martyrdom add up to a time of salvation and judgment, a time of grace and stern demand - a time, above all, of hope.(Gutierrez 1983:25) INTRODUCTIONThe objective of this article is not just the reconstruction of pastoral theology and practices, but the deconstruction of pathological ecclesial and socio-economic systems through a hermeneutical methodology of liberation (Patton 1988:31; cf. Wilson & Ramphele 1989). The theological contributions of reflective practitioners during the late 1970s and 1980s and in recent literature are viewed and applied in an attempt to 'drink from our own wells' (Gutierrez 1983). Dreyer (2010:1) questions where we are heading as practical theologians in South Africa. This question does not refer to the strengthening of our disciplinary identity, but whether we are actually fulfilling our role in our context. A cross-disciplinary approach as an 'interacting network' of both scientific and non-scientific approaches (Osmer 2008:170ff)1 and an intradisciplinary approach (Van der Ven 1994:2ff), instead of an exclusive interdisciplinary scientific approach, will be applied in search of constructive change in church and society (Dingemans 1988:83, 91).2 Suffice it to argue that practical theology is 'deeply contextual in terms of ecclesial, social, cultural interconnections, relationships and systems' (Osmer 2008:17). The different disciplines, in this article, represent networks that transverse one another in sharing common epistemological resources. The objective is to engage pastoral ministry3 within poor families and communities' specific cultural and contextual settings. Transversal or 'overlap and divergence' will arise through concrete reflection on the particular contexts of poor families and communities (Osmer 2008:172).Historical and contemporary ecclesiological and socio-economic challenges frame the context of this article. The pastoral theology of Louw, in the Dutch Reformed Church, is outlined. Missional pastoral ministry in the Black church is discussed; the role of religious pedagogy as a transversal model is illuminated and pastoral