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BECAUSE OF ITS BROAD ACCEPTANCE, IT IS DIFFICULT TO EVEN RAISE THE ISSUE OF “VERSIONS” OF PSYCHOLOGY AS IT IS SO PERVASIVELY ASSUMED THAT MODERN PSYCHOLOGY IS THE ONLY LEGITIMATE VERSION OF PSYCHOLOGY.

The Hegemony of Modern Psychology If this is true, we would expect that a Christian psychology would be distinguishable in at least some respects from versions of psychology that derive from alternative worldviews, for example, Buddhist, Islamic, Marxist, postmodern, and most importantly, modern psychology , the version that has been the most successful in the West in laying claim to being the only viable version of psychology there is. With few exceptions, it is the only version taught by psychology faculty at American colleges and universities, and it is the only approach represented in most psychology journals and publishing houses. Because of its broad acceptance, it is difficult to even raise the issue of “versions” of psychology as it is so pervasively assumed that modern psychology is the only legitimate version of psychology. However, this simply is not true. To provide an extant, non-Christian example, there is a substantial, distinct literature of Buddhist psychology (e.g., see De Silva, 2001; Kalupahana, 1987; Rygal-Mtshan, 1987; Welwood, 2002). Modern psychology is distinguished by its adherence to the worldview of modernism. Two of major sets of assumptions that constitute the modernist worldview are positivism (see Stroud, 1992) and secularism. Together, positivism and secularism maintain that publicly verifiable, empirical investigation and reason are the only legitimate sources of knowledge (certainly not the supernatural). Confidence in the validity of these two sources makes plausible the ideal of a universal knowledge, that is, an unbiased knowledge solely based on empirical evidence that could be recognized by all rational, well-trained humans, supposedly regardless of worldview . Based on modernism, modern psychology has attempted to develop a universal, secular body of knowledge regarding individual human beings. To achieve this aim, modern psychology followed the lead of the natural sciences and eschewed all axiological assumptions (those dealing with values and ethics) and metaphysical assumptions (those dealing with the nature of things), and sought merely to describe how human beings appear to us and what influences them, without reference to transcendent norms and ontological categories. Modern psychology has been flourishing for over 100 years, and it has developed an extremely rich and varied literature describing human beings. However, in keeping with its worldview, it is universally secular . Christianity, in contrast, has its own legitimate, rational worldview (and has been around a lot longer than modernism!). Consequently, it does not need to submit it’s own thinking about knowledge to the worldview assumptions of secularists. On the contrary, it has some of its own criteria for what counts as knowledge, providing it some distinct sources of psychological knowledge (e.g., the Bible, the Christian tradition, and the Holy Spirit). Some Christian Psychology Distinctives What makes a Christian psychology so important is that those areas of psychology where Christianity’s worldview would lead one to expect it might make a difference have great existential import and significance, for example, in personality theory, motivation, attribution, psychopathology, and psychotherapy and counseling. These areas are terribly important, making it imperative for Christians to seek to develop their own versions in these areas, ones that are more congruent with their community-specific worldview assumptions, and so ones that presumably correspond more to God’s comprehensive understanding of human beings than that which can be attained by only using the methods and models of modernism. Distinctive Features of the Modern Version of Psychology

So, given Christianity’s broader sources of psychological knowledge, what would be some distinctives of a Christian psychology? A basic list would include such topics as the nature of the image of God and a recognition that this is the most fundamental feature of human nature, the ultimate concern of humans, uniquely Christian motivation, the profound alienation of humans from their Creator and original sin, the development of sins and vices, the nature of salvation (and the soul-healing that flows from it), apostasy, stages of Christian spiritual development and some of its unique features, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Christian, the causal role of God in human good and in the Christian life, Christian self-representations (e.g., the old self and new self), some specifically Christian goals towards which humans are to develop (including the nature of human personhood and Christian maturity), uniquely Christian virtues (faith, hope, humility, and agape-love) and uniquely Christian understandings of a positive psychology, the relation between the body and the soul, ethical and spiritual psychopathology, distinctive means of counseling and psychotherapy that make use of divine salvation, and transcendent norms for social relationships. Those who are inclined and capable need to do research on such matters, along distinctly Christian lines. Of course, Christians in psychology should also explore topics where there is more cross-communal agreement (e.g., between secularists and Christians). But this is already being done (e.g., human forgiveness research). What has not been done—at least not enough to constitute an alternative version of any topic in psychology—is research and theory-building that is distinctly Christian. C

ERIC L. JOHNSON, PH.D., is the Founder and Scholar-in-Residence at Christian Psychology Institute, Author-in-Residence at Sojourn East, and Senior Research Professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Johnson founded the M.A. in Christian Counseling degree at Houston Christian University where he served as Professor of Christian Psychology. He founded the Society for Christian Psychology division of the AACC, and is the author of Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal and God and Soul Care: The Therapeutic Resources of the Christian Faith . He’s married to Rebekah, and has two children and three grandchildren, all of whom he treasures.

References Calvin, J. (1960). Institutes of the Christian religion (F.L. Battles, Trans.). Philadelphia, PA: Westminster. (Original work published 1559) De Silva, P. (2001). An introduction to Buddhist psychology (3rd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. Kalupahana, D. ((1987). The principles of Buddhist psychology. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Kuyper, A. (n.d.). Principles of sacred theology . Associated Publishers and Authors: Wilmington, DE. Kuyper, A. (1998). Abraham Kuyper: A centennial reader (J.D. Bratt, Ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Naugle, D.K. (2002). Worldview: The history of a concept. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Rygal-Mtshan, Y.-S. (1987). Mind in Buddhist psychology. Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publishing. Stroud, B. (1992). Logical positivism. In J. Dancy & E. Sosa (Eds.), A companion to epistemology (pp. 262-265). London: Blackwell. Watson, P. J. (1993). Apologetics and ethnocentrism: Psychology and religion within an ideological surround. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 3 , 1-20. Welwood J. (2002). Toward a psychology of awakening: Buddhism, psychotherapy and the path of personal and spiritual transformation. Shambhala.

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