Page 119 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 2

The Book

I will stop trying to prove Johnson’s humility here and ‘Depending on how one looks at it, the current state of
will continue later on. Here is how he summarizes the Western soul care is either hopelessly fragmented or rich-
underlying assumption of his book in the concluding pa- ly diverse (p. 567). The modalities available to Christian
ragraph: ‘…the different modalities of Christian soul care soul care are a comprehensive set of means for delivering
are unified by a radical theocentric agenda.’ Soul care the word and form of God for the purpose of Christifor-
aims ‘…at the glory of God as its highest end, by fostering mity’ (p. 21).
the counselee’s analogical performance of Christ’s life,
death and resurrection through a deepening and mani- Having to deal with other viewpoints on the Psychology –
festing faith in Christ’. God’s glory… his truth, goodness Christianity relationship, Johnson shows his great crafts-
and beauty and power are best displayed when his role in manship as he did in his book ‘Psychology & Christianity’
soul healing is consciously acknowledged, made explicit (2010). There he comments on a debate involving contro-
and relied on, and when his Scripture is given the prima- versies of which he is a part, based on a vast knowledge of
ry role in guiding the development of distinctly Christi- the various viewpoints, but he does so in such a balanced
an psychological research, theory-building and soul care way that he shows the way out of the quagmires of rival-
practice. To the extent our faith is explicit and authentic ling currents (pp. 218-219).
in our work, we manifest our own conformity to Christ.
As we, and those with whom we work, more and more I realize I am obliged, as a reviewer, to also say something
come to flourish in communion with the triune God and less enthusiastic, be it just to maintain credibility, but I
with the rest of the church, we together become better find it hard to find anything. In his dealings with diffe-
signs of the Divine life. Such is our common calling, so rent therapeutic modalities he could have been a bit more
that Christian soul care, properly conceived, had a signi- critical, given his own brilliantly elaborated criteria as il-
ficant role to play in the end for which God created the luminated by faith. He speaks of the Bible as revelation,
World.’ whereas I would prefer to speak about the Bible as a sour-
ce of revelation. The relationship between body and soul
On his long journey toward this conclusion, Johnson re- is dealt with from just one viewpoint. Spiritual guidance
lies on semiotic theory − Christian semiotic theory to be receives only a few pages. Maybe his concept of growth is
sure, or ‘doxological semiotics’. His major rationale for too one-sided. Is soul care elaborated somewhat indivi-
this is ‘…that God created human beings for the purpose dualistically? I did not find the word ‘poverty’ anywhere
of signifying his glory’. He goes on: ‘The entire creation is in the text.
a set of signs, composed of meaning, needing to be inter-
preted and elucidated. [God] has spoken the first princip- An objection one could be tempted to make would be
les of life and psychology in human language through the that Johnson fosters a foundationalist epistemology. That
prophets and apostles.’ Jesus Christ is ‘the true definition would not hold at all. Johnson uses hermeneutics throug-
of human being and the Alpha and Omega of Christian hout his book. Only those who do not see how faith il-
psychology’ (p. 608). In this respect Johnson tackles the lumines reason could mistakenly resist ‘Foundations of
thorny questions of epistemology and gives convincing Soul Care’.
answers.
Together with the German ‘Die Grundlagen Christli-
‘Christian soul care is concerned with helping others to cher Pychologie’ (Halder 2011) we now have a very fine
examine themselves, to deconstruct their internal barri- groundwork for Christian psychology.
ers to this project [of God’s self-glorification] and to take
into themselves the glory or meaning of God by all the
relevant means by which God’s form is expressed.’ ‘This
brings joy to God and to us.’ ‘The Christian psychologi-
cal community cannot neglect documenting its theories
to the fullest extent possible. It is a part of human joy to
be curious and to discover more of the mysterious parti-
culars of God’s creation. And in a science-driven culture
like ours, research is in a real sense a part of our evan-
gelistic calling.’ The contemporary project of a Christian Martijn Lindt,
psychology will require hundreds of research studies if it Netherlands,
is ever to be realized and taken seriously. Em. Lecturer
University of
I continue about the merits of the book. Here is his humi- Amsterdam.
lity again: ‘I hope to be proven wrong’ (p. 604). His is ‘… Lecturer
only one metasystem…’ (p. 571). He describes ‘…some of Bonifatius
the major contours of a contemporary Christian edifica- Theological
tion framework…’ (p. 607). Institute.

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