The Spiritual Transformation of Social (Justice) Work: A Charter of Social Responsibilities Corresponding to Vital Human Needs
Publication Type |
Web Article |
Year of Publication |
2006 |
Author |
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Website |
Proceedings 2006 - The Transforming Power of Spirituality: Breaking Barriers and Creating Common Ground. The First North American Conference on Spirituality and Social Work |
Publisher |
Canadian Society for Social Work and Spirituality |
Language |
English |
Keywords |
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Annotation |
As the title states, this paper outlines a “Charter of Social Responsibilities Corresponding to Vital Human Needs”. Such a charter, Kruks says, is necessary in addressing the ‘spiritual trauma’ social workers repeatedly encounter in their day-to-day work. His definition of ‘spiritual trauma’ is rooted in Weil’s notion of affliction, which he describes as the destruction of the capacity to hope that life will bring what is ‘good’. The paper offers an in-depth discussion of such trauma, presenting a number of concrete examples of its manifestation in the people with whom social workers work. Kruk’s charter is modeled and draws on Weil’s statement of human obligations created for the ‘Free French movement’ shortly before her death, and later published as The Need for Roots. |
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