Abstract:
In recent days, Protestant Christian churches have been marked by a desire for
numerical growth as well as for subjective growth in importance, imbued with a great
emphasis on personal success of the individual. The Mission of the Church as an
evangelical commission has been transformed into projects which relegate the (basic)
practices of caring for one s neighbor to the category of mere administrative practices
which can contribute to the growth of the institution, in this way adapting to the logic of
the world. When care and therapy do not have the level of objectivity required and
amply witnessed to in the Gospels, both through what Jesus did and what in his divine
pedagogy he taught about emptying oneself in benefit of many, it is important that we
reflect on the present state of the faith communities which join in confessing Jesus as
the Christ. To help in this reflection, the present dissertation seeks to analyze the
possibility of developing a Therapeutic Church, through considering what the Word of
God has to teach about care and therapy, as exemplified in the actions of God
throughout the history of his people and continuing through the Gospels. On this basis,
the dissertation seeks to contribute to the practice of care and therapy, in dialogue with
Michel Henry s concept of Phenomenology of Life.
