Abstract
This fascinating study could easily be dismissed on a casual reading as representing ‘motherhood and apple pie’, but, as one works through the book, it offers a fresh and new analysis of what might seem to be taken for granted among theologians and practitioners. In achieving this, it also has an integrative impact on theology and pastoral practice. Anne Holmes brings to bear both her own experience as a pastor and her broad reading across a number of different disciplines. The concept of ‘creative repair’ describes the ‘coming together’ of the creative arts (seen very broadly) with pastoral care.
The ten chapters of the book develop this confluence in relation both to individuals and to groups. All is rooted in philosophical and theological reflection coupled with psychology and child development. Anyone who has trained as a teacher will recognize names such as Donald Winnicott and John Bowlby. The book also benefits richly from a number of brief studies of individuals who have experienced isolation, burnout, or an imbalance in life–work experience. The dangers of immersion in a particular role – and also an increasing sense of dependence on those within the pastoral circle of the carer – also become clear.
One particularly engaging chapter uses Neil MacGregor’s A History of the World in 100 Objects, and also several examples of objects brought to the Repair Shop television programme and the impact of their repair on those who have brought them. Again, creativity and its importance to human well-being are well drawn. This also eventually directs the reader to the key concept of resilience, now often applied in support of those within caring professions. Later in the book, however, the discussion ranges more widely still. Our understanding of the theology of creation and the associated notion of our co-creativity with God becomes one of the paramount themes. This is later linked to a discussion of ‘practical theology’ using insights from the work of Bonnie Miller-McLemore. Included here are reflections following the death of Queen Elizabeth on her life, as a life well lived. None of the examples used descends into the realm of sentimentality.
Towards the end of the book, liturgy is gathered together with theology and the arts. Holmes quotes Swinton and Mowat, who argue that ‘practical theology combines the faithful performance of the Gospel with embodiment in human experience’ (p. 121). This captures succinctly the essence of creative repair and its impact on those living in isolated or stressful pastoral roles. Her final sentence is compelling: ‘Engaging in creative repair is one key way in which each of us can enjoy the world which God has created and contribute to our full flourishing’ (p. 134).
If one had one complaint about this nourishing volume, it might be that sometimes there are so many sources combining, and in different ways, that the thread of the argument can meander. It is, however, well worth following these meanders as the full flow of the argument is rich indeed.