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Christian Psychology

E. Janet Warren (Canada)

That which comes from the E. Janet Warren
(BSc, MD, MTS,
Lord who is the Spirit PhD) works as a
Family Physician,
“We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate including practi-
the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his cing psychothera-
image with ever-increasing glory, which comes py, and as an in-
from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). dependent scholar.
She received her
Spiritual transformation. The glory of the Lord. PhD in theology
The Holy Spirit. These are not topics easily from the University of Birmingham, U.K. and
amenable to academic discourse. The Spirit is published her thesis as Cleansing the Cos-
mystical and mysterious, spacious and silent. mos: A Biblical Model for Conceptualizing
Yet, the Holy Spirit of Christianity is depicted and Counteracting Evil (Pickwick, 2012). Her
in the Bible as powerful but personal, transcen- latest book is Holy Housekeeping (Essence,
dent but tangible. There is a tension between 2017). Janet’s research interests include the
contemplation and comprehension, between integration of psychology and theology, and
awe and understanding. The psychotherapeutic she is current president of the Canadian Sci-
process can be viewed as similar to the some- entific and Christian Affiliation. She lives in
what elusive nature of the Spirit. It can be ame- Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
nable to logical/technical elements, but there is
always an element that defies description. The e_janet_warren@yahoo.ca
self itself is a mystery; we may never understand
the mind/brain relationship for example. But Former articles by Janet Warren you can see
anytime we seek to join with the triune God in here:
healing people, fulfilling our mandate, the aid http://www.emcapp.ignis.de/7/#/28
of the Spirit is indispensable, whether acknow- http://www.emcapp.ignis.de/7/#/42
ledged or not. Given the ubiquity of the Spirit,
indeed for Christians the indwelling Spirit, I do
not believe it is even possible to avoid the help
of the Spirit.
In ancient and premodern worlds, the spiritual Conversely, many contemporary Christian
and the psychological were considered intert- theologians lament the negative effects of en-
wined, and Christians were concerned with lightenment philosophy, with its false dicho-
“soul care.” But contemporary psychology has tomies between theology and spirituality, and
been largely influenced by modernism, and its its neglect of affective dimensions to faith (e.g.,
accompanying reason, empiricism, and separa- Coakley, 2012). There is renewed interest in
tion from spirituality (e.g., Johnson, 2010). Be- figurative language (e.g., Avis, 1999), the ima-
ginning about 40 years ago, Evangelicals have gination (e.g., Neville, 2006), and the spiritual
advocated a return to spiritual and biblical con- senses (Gavrilyuk & Coakley, 2012). There has
cerns, often emphasizing biblical reason and a also been emphasis on relational aspects of the
Christian worldview. It is curious that there is divine (e.g., Pinnock, 2001), the importance of
still a rational emphasis in Christian psycho- culture and experience (e.g., Vanhoozer, 2010),
logy. Some attempt to blend cognitive thera- and rediscovering Roman Catholic contribu-
py with theology (e.g., McMinn & Campbell, tions to theology and spirituality. In general,
2007), and in a volume of five views of Chri- transcendent realities are best expressed in ima-
stian Psychology, only one is explicit about the ginative form. Specific to pneumatology, Dreyer
role of the Holy Spirit (Coe & Hall, 2010). (2007) laments that systematic theology is too

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