Spiritual Care in Classrooms and Congregations: Teaching Authentic Emotional Intelligence in an Artificially Intelligent World

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 204

Special Issue Editor

Graduate School of Theology, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA 92373, USA
Interests: trauma; Grief; education; pastoral care; critical race; gender & class studies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Religious doctrines often focus on analytical knowledge and intellectual technique ruminated in cloistered chambers and closed classrooms. Yet, spiritual care is often tendered in highly consequential circumstances that involve time sensitivity, social crisis, political toxicity, chronic stress, and spiritual distress that exists in the environments in which people live and work. When doctrine is created in contexts of imperiousness, and spiritual care is delivered in contexts of calamity, emotional intelligence becomes crucial in supporting the impulse to heal and recover for people in environments of need. Creating the theological frameworks that motivate learners to contemplate theodicy and learn technical care-giving skills is the beginner’s practice in spiritual care. In times of uncertainty, fear, change, and loss, it is emotional intelligence that can assist people in making the shift from pain to care to resiliency.

In this century’s highly significant culture of artificial intelligence, the paradox of emotional intelligence loses something over the authoritativeness of socially constructed artificially intelligent proficiency. The challenge is that too many forms of artificial intelligence mechanize wellness and monetize healing. Emotional intelligence can engage the chaos of the crisis environment in such a way that actual needs are met. Teaching and learning the broad but critical competencies of self-awareness, empathy, systems engagement, ritual-making, decision-making and problem-solving under pressure, and the ability to inspire others who are in social, political, physical, and spiritual pain is at the heart of emotional intelligence.

A revolution of social change lies in and beyond emotional intelligence as an avatar to advance caring as a way to resist systemic oppression. Emotional intelligence lays the groundwork for the resiliency and revolution of self-love, neighbor-love, and God-love. The caring revolution that arises out of crisis must make cloistered learning and artificially derived knowledge (intelligence without empathy) truly healing and caring in contexts of oppression and crisis. Since caring is collective, urgent, and non-optional as people of faith, classrooms and congregations must be forces of massive communal, social, and political healing. We all have a right to care and be cared for. Yet, caring is a collective act, a political project, a faith mission, an ethical imperative, and an individual commitment. Emotional intelligence ignites a radical revolution of caring and healing that can too easily be compromised in today’s world of artificial intelligence, lack of empathy, and marketable happiness. The distinction of teaching authentic emotional intelligence in an artificially intelligent world may help us feel we not only belong in the world, but that we can transform the world.       

Dr. Laurie Garrett-Cobbina
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • technology
  • pastoral care
  • education
  • emotional intelligence
  • artificial intelligence
  • empathy

Published Papers

There is no accepted submissions to this special issue at this moment.
Back to TopTop