Religious 'Mature Care' as an Ethical Framework for Pastoral Caregiving: Justification, Adaptation, and Mental Health...

Pastoral caregivers often carry the task of caring for their community's holistic well-being, especially the spiritual dimension. However, religious doctrines and practices often highlight the altruistic understanding of care. An overemphasis on this perspective can lead to a form of solaltrism-the opposite of solipsism. Given this risk, this paper explores and proposes the paradigmatic shift toward mature care as a viable ethical framework for pastoral caregiving. Mature care is an ethical framework that considers the interests of all involved and affected parties in the decision-making process. When applying such an ethical framework, I postulate possible consequent mental health benefits, especially in dispelling inappropriate or misguided religious guilt. This study first utilizes a literature review to investigate this intersection of ethics, pastoral psychology, and mental health studies. After the review, this study theorizes religious mature care ethics as an applied ethical framework. With these approaches in mind, the paper proceeds as follows: first, the paper presents a brief literature review concerning altruism in religious matters, the dynamics in pastoral care settings, and the notion of mature care primarily based on Tove Pettersen. This part establishes the advantages and challenges concerning ethical altruism as an ethical framework for pastoral caregiving. Second, the detailed discussion covers the proposed definition of religious mature care ethics, the perceived challenges in its application, some practical approaches to adapting the ethical framework to one's particular context, and the potential mental health benefits of the ethical framework adaptation. Lastly, the main points of the philosophical exploration are summarized, and suggestions for future research are presented based on the study's limitations.