Page 25 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 11

Marie T. Hoffman &
Lowell W. Hoffman (USA)

The Rhythm of

Redemption: On Our

Relationship with the

Holy Spirit in Clinical

Work Marie T. Hoffman, Ph.D. is Assistant Clinical Pro-
fessor of Psychology (Adjunct) at NYU Postdoctoral
Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, Co-
Preamble Director of Society for Exploration of Psychoanaly-
Rachel, a petite, 42-year-old married woman, tic Therapies and Theology, Director of Brookhaven
suffered with obsessive compulsive disorder Institute for Psychoanalysis and Christian Theology,
most of her life. Rachel touched no mail, drove Co-Director/ practicing psychoanalyst and clinical
only when necessary, and had avoided church psychologist at Brookhaven Center in Allentown,
for years. Contact with strangers required hours PA, and was the 2006 Stephen Mitchell Scholar. In
of hand washing, clothes washing, and bathing. addition to journal articles and book chapters, she
When unable to be sure that clothes were germ is author of Toward Mutual Recognition: Relational
free, she discarded them. She feared contamina- Psychoanalysis and the Christian Narrative (2011),
tion by others and being the contaminator. Ra- and When the Roll Is Called: Trauma and the Soul
chel, although a Christian, lived in bondage and of American Evangelicalism (2016), a compilation
hopelessness. Today Rachel’s life is full. After of her 2013 Fuller Theological Seminary Integration
exploring how a Spirit-led, clinically complex Lectures. Dr. Hoffman has lectured and consulted
psychotherapy is conceived and practiced, we on the interdisciplinary integration of psychoanaly-
will return to her story. sis and Christian theology at Rosemead School of
Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, George
Introduction Fox University, Wheaton Graduate School, CAPS,
In A Secular Age, philosopher Charles Taylor Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and
(2007) poignantly depicts the sterile landscape Union Theological Seminary, as well as other aca-
of a world darkened by secularism: “I have been demic settings.
drawing a portrait of the world we have lost, mhoffman@aol.com
one in which spiritual forces impinged on po-
rous agents, in which the social was grounded Lowell W. Hoffman, Ph.D.is a psychoanalyst, cli-
in the sacred…. All this has been dismantled nical psychologist, and Co-Director of Brookhaven
…in the transformation we often roughly call Center in Allentown, PA, where he has provided
disenchantment (p. 61).” “Disenchantment” in- psychotherapy to individuals and couples for over
fected art, literature, philosophy, and even daily 30 years. With his wife, Marie T. Hoffman, Ph.D., he
discourse. is the founding Co-Director of the Society for Ex-
For Christians in this secular age, nature, sci- ploration of Psychoanalytic Therapies and Theology,
ence, and art continue to reflect a sovereign founding Co-Director of Brookhaven Institute for
God redeeming all of creation. As Christi- Psychoanalysis and Christian Theology, and foun-
ans, we assert the presence of the living God ding and past Co-Chair of the Psychoanalytic Track
through His Holy Spirit in the work we call psy- of the Christian Association for Psychological Stu-
chotherapy. We affirm that God leads us in our dies. Dr. Hoffman has contributed to the integration
work through His redemptive plan and through of Christian theology and psychoanalysis through
specific promptings and guidance. We briefly his publication of journal articles, book chapters,
summarize perspectives on the Holy Spirit’s and as guest editor of the Journal of Psychology and
work, and then resource G.F.W. Hegel’s Pheno- Christianity.

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