Contemplative terms always seem to be changing. What is called one thing today may be exchanged for a new term tomorrow. A new term for “Spiritual Direction” is “Soul Care.” In Biola University’s Masters program, Spiritual Formation and Soul Care , the program “trains leaders in soul care to be spiritual mentors, directors and teachers who will assist others in their journey of growth in Christ and His body.” This program incorporates contemplative experiences and “Soul Care Practicum.” Clearly Biola sees a relation between soul care and contemplative spirituality.
Where did the term Soul Care come from anyway? In the late nineties, contemplative and New Age promoter, David Benner, wrote a book called The Care of Souls, and more recently wrote one called Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls. Thomas Moore wrote Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life , and there are other books with similar titles. Nearly all of them promote spiritual direction and contemplative spirituality.
What exactly is meant by Soul Care? According to an article on the Natural Care College site, “soul care is the artistry of helping a person to find their personal and relational path to the sacred, where they are able to open to and live from their deeper self, reaching a higher level of living and loving through their own unique soul-nurturing spirituality and way of being in the world.” In other words, soul care is finding the divinity that is within each person. Interestingly, that is what spiritual direction means too. As Thomas Merton put it, it is coming to the realization of what is already there – God – in every human being. Rick Warren’s pal, Leonard Sweet (who agrees with Merton), explains this in his book Quantum Spirituality.
Soul Care is just another term for the same ol’ New Age spirituality. The New Age started in the Garden of Eden when the serpent told Eve she could be like God. Satan still tries to convince man of this today, just as he did many thousand years ago. Nothing has changed. And the same goes for contemplative spirituality, which has a New Age premise. Terms may be exchanged for new ones, but this is just a disguised effort to conceal a terrible and damaging belief system.
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