Safeguarding the Human Person: Christian Anthropology and Pastoral Responsibility

The course would begin from Christian theological anthropology, asking what the Church means when it speaks of the human person as created in the image of God, embodied, relational, free, vulnerable, morally responsible and called to communion. From this account of the person, it would then ask what follows when one human being is entrusted to the pastoral or professional care of another, particularly for the exercise of authority, the recognition of dignity and conscience, and the safeguarding of freedom, boundaries and consent.

The same theological anthropology would also be applied to the person exercising pastoral or professional responsibility. Ministers and professionals are not neutral instruments of care, but embodied and relational persons whose judgement and conduct can be affected by attachment, need, vulnerability, institutional belonging and the dynamics of authority. Safeguarding therefore requires attention not only to the dignity and vulnerability of the person entrusted to us, but also to the theological understanding of the self who receives and exercises responsibility, including the limits, disciplines and accountability that proper care requires.