일상의 상실을 애도하기 위한 목회상담연구 : 존 보울비(John Bowlby)의 애착이론을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to suggest some roles of the church community from the perspective of pastoral counseling as a way of mourning a sudden, unexpected loss of daily routines. How can the church community help individuals who are going through heavy sorrow associated with the loss of daily living activities due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic The church community and practical theologians have to cope with and research on these concerns more actively, coming up with practical alternatives. To this end, the researcher, in application of John Bowlby's attachment theory, intends to argue that separation anxiety experienced by individuals due to the grief at the loss of daily routines would rather be an opportunity to help the individuals to realize that the true spiritual attachment object is God the Creator. In addition, the church community should be prepared to provide a place of mourning where individuals could experience secure attachment again in appropriate ways - either face-to-face or non-face-to-face - to individuals experiencing separation anxiety caused by the grief at the loss of daily routines. For this purpose, at first, this study is aimed to understand what the sorrow caused by the loss is like. And then, from the perspective of Bowlby's attachment theory, in-depth examination will be conducted on the separation anxiety caused by the sorrow of loss, which, as a means of mourning in a healthy way, will be followed by consideration of a grief counseling process for overcoming loss, along with a further attempt to apply it to the dimension of pastoral counseling, suggested by Charles Bachmann, David K. Switzer, Herbert Anderson, Kenneth R. Mitchell, Stephen J. Freeman. Through this research process, this study will suggest that the process of mourning the loss of daily routines can serve as an opportunity for Christians, let alone ordinary individuals, to examine and develop their own faith. It’s because if an individual can continuously have such experiences as secure attachment introduced by Bowlby within the church community, it would be arguably possible to mourn in a healthy way the grief at the unexpected loss of daily routines, as pouring out the heart of grief, crying and laughing together within a secure base like the church community. None are free from the grief coming from any unexpected, sudden loss in the midst of life journey. Whenever an individual goes through loss, however, if he/she could experience mourning together with a healthy community, instead of being despaired only, afterward a great opportunity of turning life to be more abundant than ever before will be made available.