Mutuality in a spiritual group: A dialogue between Karl Barth and Relational theory

Mobility, urbanization, and industrialization have disintegrated sense of community and affiliation in our society (Yankelovich, 1990; Taylor, 1979). Consequently, many people feel alienated from one another. Counselors concerned with alienation are attending to the nature of affiliations amongst people. Relational theorists from the Stone Center as well as theologian Karl Barth identify mutuality builds community.;Despite acknowledgment by counselor of the centrality of spirituality in personal development, the profession lacks a knowledge base and methodology for incorporating spiritual issues in theory or case conceptualization (Witmer & Sweeney, 1992). To include both the psychological and the spiritual aspects, this study incorporated both Relational theory and Barth's theology to interpret the findings of mutuality in a Christ-centered group. The purpose of this study was to explore the forms mutuality took in a group with a Christ-centered focus. The central research questions were: (a) What were the various expressions of mutuality in this Christ-centered community? (b) How did viewing evidence of mutuality through each discipline influence an understanding of mutuality in the group? How were they similar? How were they dissimilar?;A spiritually oriented group underwent observational and interview analysis. The observations and interviews were then analyzed for mutuality according to Barth's theology and Relational theory. The method of incorporating spiritual and psychological issues into the conceptualization of a group entailed looking at the event of mutuality first through each discipline separately, formulating the analogies between the two disciplines, and then forming a dialogue between the two viewpoints where each was compared and contrasted.;Utilizing both Relational theory and Barth's theology captured significant events of mutuality unexplained by either theory alone. Relational theory provided rich descriptors of the process of mutuality. Barth provided an explanation of the inner attitudes and motives, spirit and mystery of mutuality. The group's own cultural self-understanding in terms of mutuality was enlarged.