Page 5 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 2

EMCAPP

According to Kuyper, these two groups will of necessity Some Christian Psychology Distinctives
produce different sciences, since they have, to some ex- What makes a Christian psychology so important is that
tent, different assumptions, values, goals, emphases, and those areas of psychology where Christianity‘s world-view
vision, resulting in the drawing of different conclusions— would lead one to expect it might make a difference have
even when they have the same facts at their disposal. great existential import and significance, for example, in
personality theory, motivation, attribution, psychopatho-
Yet Kuyper (n.d.) also argued that, there is a very broad logy, and psychotherapy and counseling. These areas are
realm of investigation in which the difference between terribly important, making it imperative for Christians to
the two groups exerts no influence. For in the present seek to develop their own versions in these areas, ones
dispensation palingenesis works no change in the senses, that are more congruent with their community-specific
nor in the plastic conception of visible things. The entire world-view assumptions, and so ones that presumably
domain of the more primary observation, which limits correspond more to God‘s comprehensive understanding
itself to weights, measures and numbers is common to of human beings than that which can be attained by only
both (p. 52). Anyone who has done a good job in such using the methods and models of modernism.
observation, Kuyper wrote, has ably served both commu-
nities. Following Kuyper, then, a Christian psychology So, given Christianity‘s broader sources of psychological
would not reject all descriptions of human nature obtai- knowledge, what would be some distinctives of a Chris-
ned by secularists. When one considers the broad range tian psychology? A basic list would include such topics
of topics with which psychology deals, it seems likely that as the nature of the image of God and a recognition that
there would be many features of human nature that can this is the most fundamental feature of human nature,
be well described by any careful researcher, regardless of the ultimate concern of humans, uniquely Christian mo-
their world-view. Based on the doctrines of common gra- tivation, the profound alienation of humans from their
ce (which Kuyper expounded more ably than anyone up Creator and original sin, the development of sins and
to his time) and the image of God (and the implication vices, the nature of salvation (and the soul-healing that
that all humans are endowed with reason), Christians can flows from it), apostasy, stages of Christian spiritual de-
affirm that there are plenty of aspects of human beings velopment and some of its unique features, the indwel-
that all rational, similarly trained persons can basically ling of the Holy Spirit in the Christian, the causal role of
agree upon, e.g., descriptions of brain functioning, ani- God in human good and in the Christian life, Christian
mal learning, human memory structures and processes, self-representations (e.g., the old self and new self), some
cognitive development, the nature of emotions, persona- specifically Christian goals towards which humans are to
lity traits, most behavioral symptoms of psychopatholo- develop (including the nature of human personhood and
gy, many social processes, and so on. Christian maturity), uniquely Christian virtues (faith,
hope, humility, and agape-love) and uniquely Christi-
According to Kuyper, Christian and non-Christian dif- an understandings of a positive psychology, the relation
ferences in scientific understanding are most likely to between the body and the soul, ethical and spiritual psy-
arise when observed facts are interpreted and gathered chopathology, distinctive means of counseling and psy-
together, we would say, into theories and written into chotherapy that make use of divine salvation, and tran-
texts. There the effects of regeneration will make them- scendent norms for social relationships. Those who are
selves felt, because world-view assumptions, existential inclined and capable need to do research on such matters,
import, and complexity affect the interpretation of ba- along distinctly Christian lines. Of course, Christians in
sic observations and the writing of texts. Consequently, psychology should also explore topics where there is
Kuyper also believed that some sciences {those that deal more cross-communal agreement (e.g., between secula-
with more complex phenomena) will be more affected by rists and Christians). But this is already being done (e.g.,
palingenesis than others. (He suspected, for example, that human forgiveness research). What has not been done—
the human sciences [e.g., psychology and history] would at least not enough to constitute an alternative version of
be more affected than the natural sciences [e.g., physics any topic in psychology—is research and theory-building
and chemistry].) If all this is true, we would expect Chris- that is distinctly Christian.
tianity would not offer a distinctive approach to psycho-
logical topics that are relatively simpler, have less existen- What Options Are There?
tial import, and are less affected by community-specific Some will worry that the project of a Christian psycholo-
world-view assumptions (for example, the topics found gy will contribute to a Christian intellectual ghetto: Chris-
in the first half of an introduction to psychology course), tians speaking only to Christians and having no impact
but will have a relatively greater impact where the topics on the world-at-large. But this need not be the case. On
are more complex, have greater existential import, and the contrary, the more Christians rediscover their own
are more affected by community-specific world-view as- identity as Christians, the more likely they are to make a
sumptions (those dealt with more in the second half of an distinctive impact on the contemporary field as Christi-
introduction to psychology course). But even in the latter ans. For example, there is no intellectually legitimate re-
areas, the doctrines of common grace and the image of ason that should prevent Christians from getting articles
God legitimize Christians dialoging with and learning published in mainstream journals on Christian theories
from the work of non-Christians. of the self, motivation, and counseling techniques.

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