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.ÿþfriends of the deceased and to assert that all these acts were performed de-void of pastoral content and action is scarcely credible.Moreover, the pastoralfeatures of these rites in Virginia were intensified by their sheer volume as wellas by the portion carried out in parishioners homes.19Parsons were out and about and in touch with parishioners throughoutthe week, traveling hundreds of miles yearly on horseback or in horse-drawncarriages a post-boy s life, according to James Maury.20 With those intowhose homes they entered to baptize, marry, or bury, there were personal en-counters that went beyond the formal reading of the prescribed rites.Thesevisits further blurred the line, uncertain at best, between the priestly and pas-toral aspects of the parson s duties.Large parishes and dispersed inhabitantshad the unintentional effect of broadening the pastoral functions of Virginia sministers.21Keith Thomas in his study of the transition in beliefs and values from medi-eval to early modern Europe offers another reason for reassessing any delimitedview of the minister s pastoral work.The Reformation in Protestant Europedid away with the practice of auricular confession.With its demise Protes-tants surrendered a major pastoral resource.Confessions afforded priests anacquaintance with the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors of their charges, a first-hand knowledge of what was going on in the community, and the occasion tooffer personal counsel.Moreover, confession provided an institutional contextfor identifying the priest as pastor.The end to confession thus made problem-atic and uncertain the Protestant clergyman s pastoral functions, but it did notend them.Though the minister s priestly role was diminished, he continuedto function as adviser and counselor to parishioners.The counsel sought ex-tended to matters from spiritual to temporal, from life- or soul-threatening tothe mundane a cure for boils, drafting a will or a bill of sale, advice on howto manage a willful child, and anxious questions am I saved?, what happensat death?22Virginia s parsons were no less worthy counselors than their counterpartsin Massachusetts or Pennsylvania or, for that matter, in Scotland or Germany.They were respected as men of learning.Many had previously taught or con-tinued to teach school.Some practiced medicine on the side; others felt littlecompunction about offering medical advice.A few had legal experience priorto ordination.When joined to the authority of their spiritual office, thesecredentials made them the obvious persons to whom one turned at times ofneed.Finally, the growing presence of dissenters must have brought the realiza-.236 divine services [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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.ÿþfriends of the deceased and to assert that all these acts were performed de-void of pastoral content and action is scarcely credible.Moreover, the pastoralfeatures of these rites in Virginia were intensified by their sheer volume as wellas by the portion carried out in parishioners homes.19Parsons were out and about and in touch with parishioners throughoutthe week, traveling hundreds of miles yearly on horseback or in horse-drawncarriages a post-boy s life, according to James Maury.20 With those intowhose homes they entered to baptize, marry, or bury, there were personal en-counters that went beyond the formal reading of the prescribed rites.Thesevisits further blurred the line, uncertain at best, between the priestly and pas-toral aspects of the parson s duties.Large parishes and dispersed inhabitantshad the unintentional effect of broadening the pastoral functions of Virginia sministers.21Keith Thomas in his study of the transition in beliefs and values from medi-eval to early modern Europe offers another reason for reassessing any delimitedview of the minister s pastoral work.The Reformation in Protestant Europedid away with the practice of auricular confession.With its demise Protes-tants surrendered a major pastoral resource.Confessions afforded priests anacquaintance with the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors of their charges, a first-hand knowledge of what was going on in the community, and the occasion tooffer personal counsel.Moreover, confession provided an institutional contextfor identifying the priest as pastor.The end to confession thus made problem-atic and uncertain the Protestant clergyman s pastoral functions, but it did notend them.Though the minister s priestly role was diminished, he continuedto function as adviser and counselor to parishioners.The counsel sought ex-tended to matters from spiritual to temporal, from life- or soul-threatening tothe mundane a cure for boils, drafting a will or a bill of sale, advice on howto manage a willful child, and anxious questions am I saved?, what happensat death?22Virginia s parsons were no less worthy counselors than their counterpartsin Massachusetts or Pennsylvania or, for that matter, in Scotland or Germany.They were respected as men of learning.Many had previously taught or con-tinued to teach school.Some practiced medicine on the side; others felt littlecompunction about offering medical advice.A few had legal experience priorto ordination.When joined to the authority of their spiritual office, thesecredentials made them the obvious persons to whom one turned at times ofneed.Finally, the growing presence of dissenters must have brought the realiza-.236 divine services [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]