Religion and Theology: Major case study
Write your Case Studies in essay format using proper Turabian style. You should have a title page with all the pertinent information, an introduction, the body of your analysis of the case, and a conclusion. If you refer to one of the texts, be sure to cite the text properly.
Identify clearly what case you are writing on so that your professor has no doubt what case you are discussing.
Drawing on all of your course reading to date, analyze and discuss 2 out of 3 cases presented in this document. Discuss each case separately. Label each case that you discuss clearly so that your professor has no doubt about which case you are dealing with.
1. Analyze the case according to Hetzendorfer’s understanding of “roots” and “fruits.”
• What discernable “fruits” do you believe are manifested in the life of the person in the case? Explain why you think so.
• What “roots” do you believe are the cause (at least in part) for these fruits? Defend your analysis.
2. Determine what “level of conflict” (Anderson) you are dealing with and what level of resolution is needed. Explain your reasoning.
3. For those needing freedom from spiritual oppression, analyze the “root issues” as described by Anderson (Chapter 5, The Sanctifying Process).
4. Lay out a strategic pastoral counseling plan for each case.
• Use Benner as the basic model for the plan.
• Modify this plan to accommodate helping the person understand the “roots” of their thoughts and behaviors (“Fruits”).
• Show how the person can deal with the roots and become free of the fruits. Be specific in your recommendations and the homework you assign.
• For those needing freedom from spiritual oppression, identify the particular root issue and/or stronghold in the person’s life. Incorporate the steps you will take to help this specific person into the strategic plan.
For each case, you may wish to write out what you would say or compose a hypothetical dialog.
Case Study 1: “Mary”
Mary comes to you with a major conflict. She has been saved for something more than a year, and no longer sees herself as a slut, but she cannot seem to refuse sexual advances from men, once going so far as to give a man oral sex under his table at a restaurant just because he beckoned to her.
You find out that Mary does not remember her father. While Mary’s mother now goes to church and does not cohabit with men, one of her Mom’s boyfriends sexually abused her when she was ten. Her mother began going to church sometime after that, but to Mary the atmosphere of the church always seemed to make God sound hostile. Mary got into drugs and sex with several strange boyfriends in high school.
As a young adult, Mary had a conversion experience and she is trying to live righteously. She no longer has a boyfriend, goes to church, and is part of a young-adults group. She reads her Bible and she often prays, but her prayers do not seem to go anywhere, and she gets no answers. She loves Jesus and tries to do good, but she still has random sexual encounters about once a month that she cannot seem to avoid or say no to. How can you help her?
Case Study 2: “Ted.”
Ted is having strange experiences. Sometimes things move by themselves in his apartment. Sometimes he ears voices in his head suggesting that he do stupid, even evil, things. He often now has nightmares or wakes up terrified.
You find that Ted was raised Christian and made a profession of faith and was baptized when he was eight or so, but he stopped going to church in college. He states that he always had a taste for things forbidden by the Church, marijuana and alcohol especially. In this he is much like his grandfather, a crusty old man who both fascinated and repelled Ted.
At college he met a Wiccan girl who took him to a Sabbat ceremony. He joined in the ceremony and danced. Later, they had sex under the light of the moon. They lived together for about a year after that, although Ted got weirded out by the Sabbats and stopped going.
At the end of that year, Ted graduated and broke up with the girl. He moved on to a great job here in your city. A month later, all hell started to break loose. In talking to a college friend, Ted was told that Maeve, the Wiccan girl, was very angry and put a curse on him. Ted has not slept well for a couple of weeks and is afraid of what is happening. How can you help Ted?
Case Study 3: “Liam.”
Liam comes to you for help with his anger. He has not had a fight in years, until last weekend at his son’s baseball game. He became enraged like he used to do as a younger man, and it frightens him.
As you talk with Liam, he tells you that he has his father’s temper, and that the men on his Dad’s side of the family have always been brawlers. He swore to stop fighting when he became a Christian, but found that the anger was still there, although he has been able to control it.
As you talk, he states that his father was a passionate man, who often ridiculed Liam’s quiet withdrawal from conflict and his physical weakness. His Mom was never demonstrative and always seemed to tie her affection to Liam’s performance.
As an adult, Liam went to a secular psychologist where he was taught to meditate in a Hindu or Buddhist manner. After a while, a presence seemed to come to him, like a tiny ball of rainbow light. Lately, the meditation doesn’t help, and the light is gone, but angry voices sometimes argue inside his head and shout at him
