Diakonia as Christian Social Practice

Stephanie Dietrich

• Publisher: Regnum
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781908355638
• eBook ISBN: 9781911372479
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

The concept of diakonia has developed over the last decades, especially within the ecumenical movement, to a degree that may be characterized as a paradigm shift. Three main features characterize this change: First, the ecclesial dimension of diakonia is now strongly underlined. While diakonia earlier often was perceived as the activity of professional diaconal workers or agencies, it is now emphasized that diakonia belongs to the nature and the mission of being church. Second, it affirms that diaconal action must be holistic, taking into consideration the physical, mental, social and spiritual dimension, and rejecting practices that tend to departmentalize sectors of human reality. Third, it enhances bold and prophetic expressions of diaconal action, in solidarity with marginalized and suffering people, moving away from traditions of conceptualizing diakonia as humble service. The authors of this book largely subscribe to this understanding. The major part of them belongs to the faculty of Diakonhjemmet University College in Oslo.

Part 1

Theological Perspectives

Reflections on Core Aspects of Diaconal Theory

Stephanie Dietrich

Introduction

Diakonia is a term which is used frequently and increasingly in the ecumenical world, describing the church’s social action and engagement locally, in society and globally. Some traditions, like the European Protestant tradition, have used it frequently, especially during the last 200 years; others, like the Anglican, Orthodox or Roman Catholic traditions are not used to this connotation of diakonia and would use other words, like caritas in the Roman Catholic tradition, or they associate diakonia mostly with the deacon’s ministry as a first stage on the way to priesthood as in the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, with merely liturgical functions. What does diakonia actually mean? Is it about service for each other in mutuality, including empowerment and advocacy work, humble service for people in need, acts of mercy and charity performed by ‘good Christian people’?

In this article, I want to discuss basic aspects of diaconal theory. Diaconal practice includes acts of mercy and mutual service in accountability and reciprocity. This article wants to give an example how today’s understanding of diakonia can embrace different theories on human interaction, shaped by personal engagement to show ‘acts of mercy’ for the sake of the other, and shaped by fundamental acts of reciprocity and mutual empowerment, communal sharing and respect for the individual’s autonomy. Methodologically, the article will draw on theological and philosophical resources to highlight core aspects of diaconal theory. Of specific interest will be the principles of autonomy and Ubuntu, the discussion of imbalances of power in diaconal acts, empowerment as an important method based on my reflections concerning mutuality and reciprocity in diakonia, and a fresh look at the understanding of care in the light of modern feminist approaches.

Paradigm Shift

There has been a fundamental move concerning the basic paradigm of care within different scientific approaches to professional care. There has been a move from post-colonial professional care to autonomy-orientated assistance. Within social work, the focus today is not on offering help, but on partnership and empowerment. Within international aid, one has moved from a main emphasis on offering help to those in need, to a basic understanding of partnership between donors and recipients.

Also within church-based social work (diakonia) there has been a profound move in the understanding of what it means to offer and to receive help, referred to as a ‘new paradigm of diakonia’.¹ The main emphasis today is on mutuality, helping each other because we are a part of the community of human beings called to share with each other. We are not merely ‘donors’ or merely ‘recipients’ of help, but, bound together in this community, we are both at the same time – sometimes more as givers, sometimes more as recipients.

The basic call to help other people in need, arising in human beings as a part of their human identity, conscience, religious faith or other moral obligations, is a profound and necessary aspect of human interaction, and should go hand in hand with respect for the other’s autonomy and right to decide on their own. Therefore, this article will also focus on and discuss critically the concept of autonomy in relation to diaconal theory. The article will also reflect on the understanding of care, emphasising that care for other people should not only be professionalised and institutionalised, but also be motivated personally and related to the community in which it is embedded.

Autonomy and Interdependency Related to Diaconal Theory

The principle of autonomy is important for the development of diaconal theory today. Autonomy can be described as the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision. In moral and political philosophy, autonomy is often used as the basis for determining moral responsibility and accountability for one’s actions. Though it has been criticised as focusing too much on the individual and not on the community, and from a feminist perspective as being a merely male concept, the principle of autonomy nevertheless is relevant for the understanding of diakonia. Within medical ethics, the principle of autonomy is the central premise of the concept of informed consent and shared decision-making. Within the concept of diakonia, everybody’s right to autonomy is based on the fundamental understanding of human dignity. Created in the image and likeness of God, everybody is given a uniqueness and value which forms the basis for acknowledging autonomy from a Christian ethical perspective. Based on the principle of autonomy, the receivers of help or care in a diaconal setting are not merely objects of diaconal service, but always also subjects of their own life. Thus, every kind of service offered to another person should take into account that this person has a basic right to autonomy. Even if a person needing help has reduced capacities to take care of their own autonomy actively, the one who is offering help needs to be aware of this basic demand and right to autonomy.

The principle of respect for everybody’s autonomy plays a prominent role in the field of ethics, especially medical ethics. Within the discussion on death-hastening decisions, it is one of the main arguments used when it comes to underline every individual’s right to decide on their own life and death. “The notion of autonomy as self-determination and the possibility to pursue one’s aspirations, interests and preferences, is more uniformly used to back up justification of euthanasia as a morally acceptable practice.”² Also within the field of diakonia as Christian social service, the principle of respect for everybody’s autonomy plays an important role. This also indicates a move from paternalistic patterns of Christian social service towards the understanding that such service should assist the individual in living out their autonomy.

Nevertheless, there has been an ongoing discussion within different sciences on negative implications, which this principle of autonomy may have. Some of the critical arguments refer to the discussion on autonomy as a negative freedom, a freedom from moral obligations and dependencies which somehow may lead into a narrow understanding of the individual person. The question might be whether human interaction based on the principle of every individual’s autonomy can take sufficiently into account the fact that every human being depends on others, and that this dependency may have both negative and positive consequences.

In particular, modern feminist theologians have argued for the need to relate autonomy and interdependency in inter-human relationships. Decisions on life and death, but also every human interaction, always include an aspect of interdependence. Autonomy and self-determination stand side-by-side with dependency on ‘the other’ as constitutive elements of human existence.³ Thus, autonomy should be understood as relational self-determination or autonomy in dependency. As human beings, everybody is dependent on other human beings. Everybody’s life is to some degree interwoven with other peoples’ lives and also accommodates social arrangements such as family, friendship, or other human relationships. Human life involves a dialectic of dependence and independence, and this does not stand in contradiction to the basic claim for respect for everybody’s autonomy. Thus, interdependency is a positive aspect of human identity. Everybody depends on other human beings.

For diakonia as social service, this includes the basic realisation that all those involved in the act of diakonia are agencies in interdependency, and not merely subjects or objects or helpers or recipients of help. “Perpetuating narcissistic illusions of independence – including non-interference – carries tremendous moral risks for a culture that idolises independence and autonomy in every sphere of life, as ours does.”⁴

For diaconal practice, these reflections might have several implications: those who are providing help or offering diaconal service should do so in a way of respecting the autonomy and integrity of the other, and avoid creating relationships shaped by uneven dependencies. This principle is relevant both at an interpersonal level, for instance, when providing financial support to individuals, and at a more structural level, as in international aid, where longstanding relationships of dependency should be avoided. Thus, diaconal service should focus on reducing dependencies, supporting independence, and activating the other person’s own resources to cope on their own in the long run. Autonomy and interdependence are not opposites, but are related to each other dialectically and complementarily. It belongs to the basic structure of human life both to rely on help from other people and at the same time to be able to help others. This is especially a reminder to the ‘professional helpers’, who often do not see themselves as mutually dependent and thereby risk paternalising the other person.

Based on this emphasis on everybody’s interdependency, diaconal work should always keep in mind the importance and necessity of supporting people through their communities and networks and families, being aware of the power which lies in the personal relationships everybody is involved in and bound into.

Johannes Nissen argues along the same line, when saying: “The basic ontology of human existence is interdependency. The ethical demand springs from this interdependency, requiring human beings to take care of others without taking responsibility for them ... Interdependency means that every one of us holds some of the life of the other in our hand.”⁵

The Principle of Ubuntu

Autonomy is not necessarily a merely individualistic principle. Different definitions of autonomy place the individual in a social context. The principle of ‘relational autonomy’ defines a person through their relationships with others.⁶ The principle of ‘supported autonomy’⁷ suggests that in specific circumstances it may be necessary to temporarily compromise the autonomy of the person in the short term in order to preserve their autonomy in the long term. Nevertheless, the demand for respecting the other’s autonomy is present even if the individual person cannot make an explicit claim for her autonomy by herself.

From a diaconal point of view, the principle of autonomy should be respected and at the same time also reflected on critically. Historically, autonomy is a typical western philosophical principle, emphasising the individual’s rights and demands embedded in Kantian philosophy.

Other traditions, like the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which is closely linked with South Africa’s modern history, would emphasise much more the community dimension of social interaction. The word comes from African languages and means that a person is only a person in relationship with others.

According to Michael Onyebuchi Eze, the core of Ubuntu can best be summarised as follows:

‘A person is a person through other people’ strikes an affirm...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Foreword
• Introduction: Diakonia as Christian Social Practice
• PART 1: THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
• PART 2: SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES
• PART 3: PRACTICAL PERSPECTIVES
• Index
• Editors and Contributors
• Back Cover