Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age (New Approaches to Religion and Power) by Bruce Rogers-Vaughn

by Bruce Rogers-Vaughn

1. Preface to a Post-Capitalist Pastoral Theology2. Neoliberalism, Inequality, and the Erosion of Social Well-being3. Going The Neoliberal Infiltration of the Living Human Web4. Neoliberalism as a Paradigm for Human Third Order Suffering as the New Normal5. Muting and Mutating Sexism, Racism and Class Struggle6. Beyond Re-Membering Soul7. Concluding Theological Postscripts

Genres: Psychology, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Theology

Hardcover

Reviews

[Beka Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow... this was... really good. sometimes read a bit too Christian/straight/white (esp when talking about marriage, a lot of optimism about the church that i’m not fully convinced of) but i really appreciated the author’s cogent explanation of neoliberalism and commentary on the limits of psychotherapy within this paradigm. his theory on “third-order suffering” resonated a lot too; this is the best explanation of my depression i’ve ever heard lmao. also appreciated all of his citations and recognition of other scholar/activists like Sara Ahmed and Angela Davis.

[Ben Thurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really couldn't have said, before reading this work, that I was hankering for a pastoral-theological critique of neoliberal capitalism, penned by a Baptist pastor and psychotherapist. But, as it turns out, I absolutely was. I am so here for this.

Starting from his decades long observation through clinical practice of a rise and mutation of maladies of self-blame, addiction, depression and anxiety, Rogers-Vaughn takes absolutely seriously the notion that neoliberalism is, for most people in the world today, the most significant factor now in shaping how, why and to what extent people suffer. It is, he notes, an all-encompassing economic, political and cultural project which has largely succeeded in organising almost all of social life on principles of isolated individualism and market-based competition.

And because he is concerned with the "care of souls" (a task he generously views as extending well beyond traditional "religious" grounds and tasks), he argues forcefully that contemporary pastoral-theological and clinical practice needs to take neoliberalism seriously as it takes up its work. Neoliberalism, he asserts, is not merely another economic or political paradigm in which people undergo the regular tribulations of life, or experience oppression, discrimination, exploitation or abuse. By degrading or corrupting forms of social solidarity and collective existence which resist or emobdy other values to those of market competition, neoliberalism exacerbates the rapacious inequality of capitalism. But it also creates a "new chronic" or third order suffering in which people, forced into situations of precarity and atomisation, are left without resources to respond to or even adequately articulate or experience their suffering as suffering, and thereby further suffer under fragmented and self-blaming narratives of personal responsibility and without meaningful collectives for solidarity and support.

Vaughn-Rogers takes pastoral theology and other forms of soul care to task for failing to come to grips with neoliberal capitalism as their governing context, and failing to provide more than thin narratives or therapeutic techniques, incapable of addressing the social, interpersonal and psychological harm wreaked by neoliberalism.

The primary challenge for pastoral care, psychotherapy, social activism, and other approaches to caring for souls today, he argues

is not the effort to fix discrete personal problems or even to redress specific injustices. It is, rather, to aid people, individually and collectively, in finding their footing—to articulate the deep meanings that ground their lives and to strengthen healthy collectives and social movements that hold some residue of transcendental values. These constitute the fundamental resources for addressing whatever ongoing crises people may be enduring under the new chronic.

This is a dense and in some ways difficult book. It is rigorously argued, but the arguments are complex and imbricate elaborately. If the discussion has a fault, it lies in being too abstracted for a subject of such vital interest. Rogers-Vaughn occasionally draws on clinical case studies, and his own family and pastoral experience to illuminate some of his arguments. But, while the work is extensively footnoted, methodologically rigorous, and capably developed, I did feel that more engagement with the lived realities of individuals and communities experiencing the distress he analyses would have served him well. Despite the urgency of his work, it can occasionally feel ungrounded.

That said, his analysis of neoliberalism and its deleterious social and psychological effects is brutally on-point. And in posing a constructive resistance and counter to neoliberalism's deadening and demoralising force, he argues for a genuine intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and class – effectively dismantling harmful binaries (of secular and religious, or economic and cultural) that serve the interests of neoliberalism's powers.

He argues urgently for collectives that are both spiritually utopian and politically active, working towards economic and social justice, capable of nuturing "soul" (which he defines as the entanglement of humans in social relations and in relationship with all of creation). For Christians, his call for a pastoral theology and social practice that embraces "solidarity with the dead and the vanquished" draws attention to the centrality and resources of the theologia crucis in responding to neoliberalism. Yet this is anything but a sectarian work and offers insight and challenge well beyond a particular religious community.

[Remi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a book that does the research so I don't have to. This is such an eye-opening look at neo-capitalian/neo-liberalism and how it causes and transforms suffering in our world. He pulls research from lots of other writers to create a comprehensive theory of how our world is falling apart and what we can do about it.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an occasion for rethinking my whole attitude towards church, what it is, and how it should be in our neoliberal age. This book needs to be reread with others and I think would be very helpful for imagining how churches and other groups that gather together for mutual care can function outside of the logic of neoliberal capitalism. The book has given me some insight into my own feelings, or lack of feelings at times, about the goodness of and need for church and I hope that it will continue to percolate into my life.
There is a really great Homebrewed Christianity interview with the author that is well worth listening to. The book is quite academic in some chapters but the final chapter is fast reading gold about some of the theological takeaways of his research and from his clinical practice. Definitely in the psychoanalytic tradition I would love to hear what Peter Rollins and Todd McGowan and Ryan on Why Theory would think of this book. Rogers-Vaugh pulls in society and the ways that large structural injustices cause different kinds of suffering and gives some clues as to how the over focusing on the individual in psychoanalysis has been coopted by neoliberalism to serve to further isolate people away from gatherings of deep solidarity. I really value some of the insights of psychoanalysis but wonder how intentionally gathered groups like churches can us it to help change the material causes of so much of the individuals mental, emotional, and physical suffering.
Really a valuable book.

[Aaron Shileny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book. As someone who is neither a pastor or a psychologist, I found this book extremely helpful and illuminating. Highly recommended.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m impressed by this work. It was so thorough, and also deeply moving its expression of the way suffering has been completely turned upon its head. I read this book as a Chaplain at aHospital. I am also a Pastor at a Small Congregation. I found this book helpful to better understand the challenges and struggles that people and religious institutions are facing and what needs to be done to continue to care for folks. I’ve know for a long time how frustrated and sickened I’ve been with neoliberal capitalism. This book unleashed new horrors and confirmed thoughts that I had in regards to the way neoliberal capitalism is not only at the root of so many personal and societal issues, but how it makes itself and the problems of suffering invisible and obscured.

[Ben S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this quickly, by necessity, and regret not having had an opportunity to go slower and deeper with it. I hope to come back to it another time. But as the other reviewers seem to agree, this really is a great book doing interesting work.

I’ll echo what some other reviewers have said: you need not be a Christian or a pastoral caregiver to find this book really helpful. Rogers-Vaughn makes his work easily translated to secular or non-Christian settings. If you are grieved by the human and psychological cost of neoliberalism and seek to begin repairing the harm—this book may be for you.

[Jonathan Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in my grad school experience, heightened by the fact that the author joined our class to discuss his work. This provided me with language to describe the challenges I have been experiencing in the 21st century that I had found challenging to put words to. This is a powerful work that I will be reviewing often in the future. A key study for our place and time.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I concluded that the psychological and soulful trend towards internal guilt and shame is the fault of capitalism. Which makes it helpful to distance myself from feeling guilty or shameful about things! Great!! Trying to comfort others with that, too!