Die rol van godskonsepte vir pastorale terapie: 'n konstrukteoretiese benadering

English: There are indications that mans' concepts of God are not adequately considered in models for pastoral counseling. These refer to the identification of concepts of God, differences among people's concepts of God as a result of their stages of life, personal constructs, and the restruction of inappropriate concepts of God. The therapist's anthropological beliefs influence his pastoral therapy. With reference to Zerfaê's model for the correction of a Christian-church praxis, a dogmatic point of departure is motivated for a theological anthropology based on doctrines about God with Christ as the norm. Man is described as the image of God, a party in the covenant, and existing in relations. From this description some human characteristics, analogic and complementary to those of God, are deduced. Because people as the objects of pastoral therapy are sinners, sin is discussed in the light of mans' relation to God and to God's creation. The pastoral therapist's therapeutic approach is not only determined by his anthropological orientation, but also by the pastoral model from which he operates. Thus, a number of pastoral models are evaluated and their pneumatological implications for anthropology and therapy indicated. A phenomenological model for pastoral work differs in important characteristics from a pneumatological model. The differences comprise inter alia the sphere of influence, new goals and morals in life, and a specific way of counseling. These constitute pastoral counseling as a trialogue. The above-mentioned facts serve as directives for the development of a basic theory for pastoral therapy. Inthat theory the covenant is indicated as the basic motivation for pastoral therapy. The importance of the eschatological perspective is stressed. The paradigm shift with regard to mans' concepts of God is discussed. Having the basic theory as criterion, a theory in practice which includes a psycho-pastoral anthropology, is formulated. The construct-theoretical approach in this study necessitates a cursory explanation of Kelly's personal construct theory. The empirical research comprises the identification of fifty individuals' concepts of God by means ofa modified form of the repertory grid. Evaluation of the empirical data reveals important differences in concepts of God among three groups of individuals in different stages of life. The differences comprise inter alia the metaphysical-ontological and the human characteristics of God, the paradigm shift to a metaphorical form of speech about God, and the evaluation of metaphors for God. Because inappropriate concepts of God can play a role in the problems clients present to their pastor, directives for the therapeutic restruction of concepts of God are given. Of prime importance is the paradigm from which the pastor facilitates the restruction process. Short and long term goals for achieving spiritual maturity and the use of the Holy Scripture occupy important positions in the restruction process. On strength of the above-mentioned facts a supplementary model for pastoral counseling is postulated. Concepts of God specific to a client's stage of life, personal constructs, and the restruction of concepts of God are implemented in the model. Conclusions drawn from the research are: (1) The repertory grid can be modified to identify mans' concepts of God. (2) People in different stages of the mature life cycle have different concepts of God. (3) The postulation of a supplementary model for pastoral counseling in which the preceding findings are implemented, is possible. Finally, recommendations for the use of the supplementary model for pastoral counseling and future research are made.