Helping, as core practice of diakonia, has a religious moment in itself. This can be seen in particular in excessive expectations towards acts of help: they should induce full inclusion, unconditionally acknowledge the receiver, individually care in every specific situation. Expectations like these are shared by those who help as well as by those who receive help. They represent the »Spirit« of helping, but they also tend to overburden the finite acts of helping. The religious rationality of helping allows to relate to such excessive expectations and to do that wisely: to cultivate them on the one hand and to keep them in check on the other. In the context of diakonia, religion is (far more than, but in particular) a rational technique of cultivating and keeping in check excesses of expectation.

Enthalten in:
Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik; 2019/2 Kommentare, Studien, Berichte, Dokumentationen, Diskussionen, Rezensionen, Bibliographie (2019)

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Serie / Reihe: Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik

Personen: Moos, Thorsten

Schlagwörter: Religion Systematische Theologie Hilfe Diakonisches Handeln