The Soul Online: Bereavement, Social Media, and Competent Care
Ebook
Overview
Pandemics, conflicts, and crises have increased suffering, death, and loss worldwide. The growing phenomenon of online interactions by the bereaved with the online presence of their deceased loved ones has recently come to the attention of caring professionals. Many questions emerge. How do we understand and respond to digital memorialization? What do we make of digital identities and continuing bonds? How can we engage with digital bereavement communities? What is the future of digital death and bereavement rituals and practices? How have forms of technospirituality and cybergnosticism emerged? How do counselors and carers respond to advances in the digital afterlife?
Graham Joseph Hill and Desiree Geldenhuys examine existing therapeutic responses to death and bereavement practices and evaluate the efficacy in meeting the needs of mourners in a digital context. Geldenhuys and Hill explore the rising interest in spirituality and the phenomenon of technospirituality, including interest in the afterlife. The authors outline new death and bereavement practices in the digital public sphere. Hill and Geldenhuys offer ways that therapeutic and care practitioners can meet these needs. Finally, the authors develop new proposals for counseling, pastoral, and spiritual carers to help them address the needs of the bereaved.
The Soul Online covers very timely information related to grief and the digital age and connects current events to historical and recent societal trends. . . . The information presented is examined in a theoretical and scholarly manner and offers recommendations relevant to counseling and pastoral practitioners. I would recommend this book to those who work with grieving individuals and family.
——Nadine Pelling, Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and Counseling, University of South Australia
Sharing our suffering and sorrow and receiving help and care online is a relatively new dynamic and one that Geldenhuys and Hill have diligently and creatively explored. This is an extraordinarily thoughtful and timely book. . . . The Soul Online is indeed an essential contribution to human flourishing! I was encouraged and challenged and immensely enjoyed reading this book. I recommend it to you.
——Nicholas Marks, CEO, Australian Institute of Family Counselling
This book is a fascinating and compelling account of new responses to the age-old question ‘How do we respond to human suffering?’ Geldenhuys and Hill explore the emergence of technological rituals and spiritualities through the lens of Christian theology. They offer a vital, urgently needed new framework for spiritual care and counseling in the online world that leads to wholeness of life.
——Peter Sherlock, Vice-Chancellor, University of Divinity
The Soul Online provides phronesis, informed theological imagination, and serious engagement with current bereavement research and practice. Emerging from various theological and social science perspectives, The Soul Online provides innovative modalities for care that articulate possibilities, practices, and rituals that are ethical and efficacious. Most importantly, during times of grief and pain, The Soul Online enables pastors and other care professionals the resources to provide hope in a digital world.
——Tim Sensing, Associate Dean, Graduate School of Theology, Abilene Christian University
This is a remarkable and cutting-edge book on how the digital world has transformed grieving experiences. . . . I highly recommend this book as a detailed road map for anyone who wishes to navigate the explosion of new ideas and grieving practices on social media. I count it as essential reading for chaplains, pastoral carers, and counselors.
——Art Wouters, Dean of Counseling, Stirling Theological College
In this unique book, Hill and Geldenhuys explore bereavement practices in an online world. . . . Those seeking to provide personal support while managing an increasingly complex range of associated issues will benefit greatly from this book. The range of tools and techniques applicable to counseling and spiritual-care practices will make this book a significant and thought-provoking resource for many.
——Rob Nyhuis, Chair, Churches of Christ Council in Australia
What a journey this book leads us on—I will be back to reread this book and ponder anew how the body of Christ is called to be with people in pain. I would recommend this book to explore the changing world, especially regarding grief work in our digital world.
——Rob Salmon, Counselor, Supervisor, and Counseling Lecturer
I found The Soul Online an enthralling account and review of the current online community of mourners utilizing social networking sites to grieve. . . . It reveals new methods of mourning, including continuing bonds between the living and deceased, an expectation of an afterlife, and identities shared, persevered, and revisited regularly with online communication. This book is an exceptionally well-researched read from both a theological and practical viewpoint.
——Tracey Milson, Clinical Counselor, Family Therapist, and Counseling Educator
God is with us in all our suffering. But how does this apply in online interaction and care? Hill and Geldenhuys investigate opportunities and anxieties for digital practices, including netiquette for friends and support groups, best practices for counselors and the funeral industry, the distress of dark tourism and mourning trolls, and controversial options on digital ghosts. This short book opens many areas for fruitful discussion. It will be useful for practitioners, trainers, and anyone wishing to show care and concern through technology or social media.
——Jill Firth, Theological College Lecturer, Anglican Priest, and Spiritual Director
- Title: The Soul Online: Bereavement, Social Media, and Competent Care
- Authors: Graham Joseph Hill, Desiree Geldenhuys
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Pages: 140
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781725266520, 9781725266513, 1725266512, 9781725266506, 1725266504, 1725266520
- Resource ID: LLS:9781725266520
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T17:20:10Z
Desiree Geldenhuys is Tutor in Counseling at Stirling Theological College (University of Divinity). She is a Clinical Counsellor, Clinical Member of the College of Supervisors with the Australian Counseling Association (ACA), and a member of the College of Grief and Loss Counsellors (Australia).
Graham Joseph Hill is Principal of Stirling Theological College (University of Divinity) and Associate Professor of Global Christianity. Graham’s author website is www.grahamjosephhill.com. Graham is the author of eleven books, including Holding Up Half the Sky, Hide This in Your Heart (co-authored with Michael Frost), and Healing Our Broken Humanity (co-authored with Grace Ji‑Sun Kim).