Pastoral supervision and redeemed embodiment

This article will establish the context of sexual abuse in some Australian Christian churches. It will then describe the attempt by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) to address it through its recommendation that professional or pastoral supervision be made mandatory for all church leaders. I will suggest a church culture negatively impacted by an historical body/spirit dualism that has proven to be unhealthy. I will then propose that the very supervision suggested by the Royal Commission to offer vigilance against further perpetration of abuse has the potential through intentional, reflexive practices to facilitate redemptive possibilities for leaders of a church starved of holistic attitudes to human personhood and embodiment. The Royal Commission uses the terms professional/pastoral supervision interchangeably. Here I will employ "professional supervision" as that which focuses on accountability measures for practitioners, and "pastoral supervision" as supervisory engagements that also have potential for personal transformation.