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The new edition of the correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Oskar Pfister (Noth 2013) offers new insights on the extraordinary and hitherto not well-known 30-year literary friendship between the Vienna-based founder of psychoanalysis and the Zurich-based founder of pastoral psychology. The selection published by Ernst L. Freud and Heinrich Meng in 1963 by Fischer-Verlag, which also appeared in an English translation that same year published by Basic Books, New York, did not contain all the letters between Freud and Pfister and included only excerpts of some. The discovery of a typescript of the correspondence between Pfister and Freud sheds new light on the friendship between these two men.

This article shows how men's specific life styles, ways of communicating and coping can be better integrated in pastoral care and what it entails to develop men specific ways of pas - toral care. Pastoral care as a performative doing and undoing gender can become an area where men are valued in their gender specific behaviour and where they are challenged to discover new possibilities in their lives.

The current study focused on three aspects of identity development relevant to the adolescent years: being an authentic person, perceiving control over and consistency in one's environment, and having consistent expectations from close others. In a two-wave study of adolescents (n = 750), we examined how these aspects change over the course of a year, as well as whether these aspects correspond to the Big Five personality traits. Results indicated three important findings. First, all three aspects evidenced the capacity for change over a year, and appeared more malleable than personality traits. Second, youth higher on all aspects reported a more adaptive personality profile. Third, changes on these aspects coincide with those on personality traits over the year. Findings are discussed with respect to future directions for studying the interplay of identity and personality development.

Both religiosity and body image can be understood to be social constructs that vary, like many other aspects, as a function of differential gender socialization. Gender differences and similarities...

"Oh, if only GodWould Have Been Allowed to Experience this .": Practical Theology, Irony and Poetry. Starting from an example of "slam poetry", a critique of the religious activities in Lourdes, the author sets out to show that also practical theology is part of an endeavour to make the church business flourish (poiesis). However, it also can - like poetry - be involved in the task of speaking with irony, trying out variations and not simply heralding the supposed return of religion. The God-is-dead-theology is a reminder of this. An example from system Christian counseling shows how something like slam poetry can also be an element of Christian practice itself. Poiesis and irony both depend on each other.

Surveying patients' satisfaction with chaplaincy services contributes to improving the quality of health care chaplaincy. Therefore, 679 patients from 32 general hospitals and psychiatric clinics in the German part of Switzerland were surveyed in a cross-sectional design. Seven factors influencing patients' satisfaction with health care chaplaincy were identified. They pertain, on one hand, to the chaplain-patient relationship ("Respect and friendliness," "Empathy," "Negative relationship") and, on the other hand, to the evaluation of chaplains' interventions ("Religious/spiritual interventions," "Religious/spiritual issues," "Clarification, coping and support," "Conflict management and forgiveness"). Whereas the patient-chaplain relationship was significantly associated with the patient's age and religiosity, the apprehension of pastoral intervention was significantly associated with the patient's religiosity and denomination, length of stay, admission to hospital, and the patient's health status. The results suggest that chaplains have to take account of the situational circumstances and personal characteristics of patients in order to optimize their service.

Owing to the declining length of patients' hospital stay in recent years, chaplains need evidence-based criteria to decide which patients are likely to have the greatest psychosocial and/or religious-spiritual needs. Therefore, the present pilot study aims at sorting out evidence-based criteria to assess patients with lack of coping resources. A total of 610 patients in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were surveyed with regard to their psychosocial health. The results suggest that lack of vitality (including health condition), lack of support and lack of faith (including spiritual struggle) are valid and reliable criteria for chaplains as internal triggers for pastoral visitation.

To determine in which situations head nurses refer patients to health care chaplains and to detect significant influential factors, 192 head nurses from 117 health care institutions in the German part of Switzerland were surveyed with regard to situations in which they refer to a chaplain. On average, head nurses refer "often" to a chaplain in their daily work in situations where patients are dying or need religious-spiritual service or support, but they refer only "rarely" to a chaplain in situations where patients or their families express negative feelings or where other psychosocial needs are present. Moreover, the religiosity of head nurses, working in a general acute care hospital and a positive evaluation of the chaplaincy services determine significantly whether a head nurse calls for a chaplain in a particular situation or not. For quality improvement of chaplains' work, health care chaplains have to integrate themselves into the care team. On the contrary, standardized referral processes between chaplains and nurses as well as physicians have to be elaborated to reduce subjective factors (eg, the religiosity of the nurse) from the process of referring.

Abstract Values and religious orientations are traditionally considered as fostering guidelines for individual life perspectives and choices. The present paper attempts to find out whether this is still true for Swiss adolescents. Hedonism, benevolence, self-direction and universalism are their preferred values, as data from a survey of 748 adolescents (aged 12-16) shows, tradition and conformity the least important. 25 of the surveyed adolescents were selected for an interview and confronted with the story of a young Muslim woman who has to decide whether she wants to wear a headscarf at school or not. The adolescents activate general knowledge about comparable situations in order to find a solution for the dilemma and they also refer to value-oriented rationales. Only five of ten possible values were used (universalism, benevolence, self-direction, tradition, conformity), self-direction being the most important value. Although the dilemma could be understood as a religious dilemma, adolescents rarely refer to religious concepts when discussing it.

Abstract This introductory article for this special issue of the Journal of Empirical Theology, sketches the political and societal context in which the Swiss National Research Programme on “Religion, State, and Society” was developed and gives a general overview of this research programme. First, it introduces recent developments in Switzerland’s religious landscape and illustrates their relevance for the development of a broad state-funded research programme on religion. The authors reflect on Switzerland’s understanding of religious neutrality which has been both questioned and reactivated due to increased religious plurality in Switzerland. While interdisciplinary approaches open new possibilities for research on religion, theology seems to be perceived as manifesting an ‘ecclesiastical captivity’. Consequently, theology clearly plays a secondary role in interdisciplinary research programmes. The impending marginalisation of theology, even in the realm of its main research competence, is forcing theological disciplines to position themselves in a new way.

Zusammenfassung Zum ersten Mal in Europa wurden 231 Stationsleitungen zur Wichtigkeit von 18 Aufgaben der Krankenhausseelsorge befragt. Im Durchschnitt schatzten die Stationsleitungen die Sterbe- und Trauerbegleitung als sehr wichtige Aspekte der Seelsorgerolle ein, gefolgt von der psychosozialen und emotionalen Unterstutzung. Solche Kenntnisse dienen einer besseren Integration der Seelsorge in die Begleitung kranker und sterbender Menschen.

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Studie evaluiert die Patientenzufriedenheit mit der Seelsorge. 679 Patientinnen und Patienten nahmen an der Befragung teil. Die Qualitat der Beziehungsgestaltung und psychosoziale sowie religios-spirituelle Interventionen scheinen fur die Zufriedenheit mit der Seelsorge, das Vertrauen in die Seelsorgenden sowie die Einschatzung der Wichtigkeit des Seelsorgegespraches von besonderer Bedeutung zu sein.

An example of the perspective of subjective experience in the liturgical diversity of postmodern society is studied. Qualitative and quantitative data are given and discussed. Insights in the function and commonness of everyday rituals pose questions to the theology of worship.

Zusammenfassung Boisen's Rede von den »living human documents« wird als Wurzelmetapher der Pastoralpsychologie gedeutet, in der unterschiedliche hermeneutische Ansatze in der Pastoralpsychologie grunden (z. B. Gerkin, Scharfenberg). Anhand eines Gesprachsprotokolls wird dieses hermeneutische Modell uberpruft und erweitert und die spezifische Dynamik von Traumen im Seelsorgegesprach erhellt.

Zusammenfassung Es wird gezeigt, wie Traume in einem hermeneutischen Prozess eine religiose Bedeutung erhalten. Wirklichkeitsbezuge eines Traums werden dabei je nach theoretischen Vorannahmen rekonstruiert. Dieser Bedeutungsbildungsprozess lasst sich semiotisch praziser als mehrdimensionales Geschehen fassen. Die Auseinandersetzung mit biblischen Traumen enthalt gerade fur pastoralpsychologische Traumarbeit wichtige kritische Impulse.

The authors show how qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined in a 'mixed methods' research model to provide a multifaceted view of family religion and rituals. Results from a Swiss research project on bedtime rituals are reported and methodological issues connected with this approach are discussed. In this project case studies, qualitative content analysis and a family survey (N=1344) were combined to explore the 'patterned creativity' of today's families in their ritual and religious practices. Qualitative methods elucidate the families' unique capacity to shape their ritual and religious microcosms. Families vary in the selection, combination and staging of the ritual elements they incorporate in their evening rituals with children. Quantitative methods help to identify motives and types of evening rituals and to position these types in a societal context. Together the complementary approaches also broaden the scope of the study of family prayers.

The article focuses on how a dialectical relationship between empirical research and theological normativity can and should influence the design of an empirical study at important points of the planning process. It draws on a systems view of scientific activity proposed as a working model for family research by Lavee & Dollahite (1991). Many decisions, each connected with norms and values, have to be taken with regard to the selection of the research topic, the theoretical and methodological approaches and the application of research findings. Besides normativity rooted in consensual knowledge of the scientific community, reflective theological normativity can deploy a critical and disclosive power as is demonstrated in the article with regard to a research project centering on the theme of bedtime ritualisations in parent-child interactions, their intergenerational transmission and their relationship to the institutionalised ritual of baptism.

This chapter talks about the goal to describe different aspects of religion and to present the value orientations of young people and aims to understand how religiosity and value systems are connected. In the most recent Shell-Youth-Study developmental aspects are discussed but not empirically researched. Adolescents affiliated with non-Christian religious communities were also recruited through cooperation with relevant religious organizations and extra-curricular religious education programmes. The sample is described based on demographic characteristics, type of school, family and religious background, and migration background. A selection of results based on the answers to the questions by young people is presented categorized by religious group and gender. The attitudes of different religious groups is compared. Both Muslim and Hindu groups show great support for religious plurality and object to Christianity being the most important religion in Switzerland. Keywords: Christianity; Hindu; migration background; Muslim; religion; Shell-Youth-Study ; Switzerland; VROID-MHAP

In recent years, much research work has been done in the field of religion/spirituality and healthcare. Many chaplains are wary of doing research because they assume it is cumbersome or potentially deleterious to ill patients. The aim of the present pilot study is, therefore, to find out if research on quality improvement of healthcare chaplaincy is emotionally distressing for patients. In connection with a questionnaire about quality improvement proceeding of healthcare chaplaincy, patients were asked subsequently to assess whether the completion of the questionnaire was emotionally distressing for them. A total of 91.89% of the 37 respondents said that the completion of the questionnaire was not or only slightly emotionally distressing for them. Furthermore, analyses for significant differences showed no effect, except for a significant association with the anxiety scale. Findings from this study suggest that participants found no objective reasons not to do research in healthcare chaplaincy.

This chapter focuses on parents and their influence on children. Four types of family influence on the centrality and different dimensions of religion for children are examined (individual influence by mother and father, influences of parents religious agreement, religious family climate(R-F-C) and transgenerational transmission of religion (T-T-R)). The data set is based on a Swiss survey of 393 families of which both parents and one child completed a paper and pencil questionnaire. Results show substantial effects of all the family variables on childrens religiosity. The individual influence of mother and father seems of paramount importance, but the actual and perceived spousal agreement concerning religion, the religious family climate and influences from the mothers and fathers families of origin also show a significant effect on childrens religiosity. The theoretical implications of these effects are discussed, both as they contribute to research on religious socialisation and empirical research in theology.Keywords: childrens religiosity; empirical research; family variables; parents religious agreement; perceived spousal agreement; religious family climate(R-F-C); religious socialisation; Swiss survey; transgenerational transmission of religion(T-T-R)

Présentation — Bernard Reymond Le rêve nocturne comme défi pour la théologie pratique — Christoph Morgenthaler Rêveries — Pierre-Luigi Dubied Explorer le désert des rêves avec Kelly Bulkeley — Jean-Luc Rojas

This chapter investigates how the collective associations are reflected in the adolescent search for identity. The research questions presented here focus on the aspect of collective identity. The analyses will be grouped into three sections: first, analyses will look at the entire sample; then young people from different religious groups will be compared with one another; finally, the collective identity of young people with an immigrant background will be focused on specifically. Finally, the chapter presents the result that reveals the different religious identity profiles in the whole sample and in subgroups of the young people. Keywords:national heritage; religious heritage; religious identity