Page 100 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 1

The Book

Personal comment
Reading the declaration of EMCAPP, the European Mo- time; we are still almost at a beginning, and have not yet
vement for Christian Anthropology, Psychology and Psy- reached our goals. And we need and appreciate the help
chotherapy, one can realize that we, in some way, have of others.
already “joined the revolution” and share many concerns
and goals of a Transformational Psychology as Coe and Therefore, this book is inspiring, encouraging and chal-
Hall describe them in their book. lenging to us and to all who want to develop, teach and
practice psychology as believing Christians. It is an im-
Their text gives us important suggestions how to deve- portant step in this revolution.
lop Christian concepts deeply rooted in the loving rela-
tionship to God, in his Word, in the treasures of Church
history, and without being captured by the idea of psy-
chology being based only on a naturalistic worldview.
Therefore, Psychology in the Spirit will be inspiring for
every reader who wants to sharpen his understanding of
a Christian epistemology that is appropriate to the nature
of God’ s creation and to his revelation.

There are lots of parallels to our own ideas at the IGNIS
Institute for Christian Psychology in Kitzingen, Germa-
ny, where we have been working on a psychology that
is deeply based on a Christian worldview in theory and
practice for 25 years. Just to mention some: We also em-
phasize that the person of the psychologist as a believer is
a main precondition, because a personal God has created
and is maintaining the world by his word, and everything
exists in relationship to him. He is the truth (John 14:6).
All knowledge starts with the fear of God (Prov. 1:7). We
need a personal relationship and growing acquaintance
with him to understand him. We also agree that we can
gain knowledge by observing the world as God’ s creati-
on, that we learn from others in church history and also
in the field of secular psychology, but that we need God’
s guidance and the revelation of scripture to give us the Agnes May, Germany
core assumptions for all understanding and interpretati- Training in religious edu-
on. cation and adult education.
Since 1998 at the IGNIS In-
Of course, Psychology in the Spirit also leaves some ques- stitute as editor, writer and
tions open. Is the Old Testament sage really the perfect adult educator for the cor-
and only model for gaining knowledge, or does the bible respondence course “Die
not provide more evidence and understanding for ways Grundlagen Christlicher
of exploration? Do we not need a profounder demonst- Psychologie (Foundations
ration of a psychology in the spirit than offered in chap- of Christian Psychology)”,
ter 6-17, with biblical and psychological parts less side Since 2004 as person in
by side, but more thought through and well connected? charge of this course.
On level IV many will ask for more distinct concepts,
and for case studies clearly based on level I-III. What can
we learn from other church backgrounds in soul care, or
other psychological models than attachment theory and
relational psychoanalysis? Are the described distinctions
between psychotherapy with some spiritual elements
and spiritual formation, or between the role of a psy-
chotherapist who meets the “client’s gut-level experience
with God” (p. 339) and a spiritual director, who direct-
ly addresses the relationship to God, the adequate result
of Psychology in the Spirit? … The authors themselves
ask some of these questions, and express their openness
for further development and contributions from others.
And this certainly is another parallel to IGNIS. We have
an idea about what we want to do, but it takes a lot of

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