Page 101 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 23

For a Thomist, Chris�an psychology is not defined by its material object Former contribu�on
(which it shares with all other psychological systems) but its unique formal here:
objects. While all of these are theologically inspired, they give rise to diffe-
rent theore�cal and applied interests based on the denomina�onal commit- emcapp.ignis.de/5/#p=77
ments and personal idiosyncrasies of the individual psychologist or psycho- emcapp.ignis.de/9/#p=30
therapist. For this reason, I would not look to Chris�an psychology to solve emcapp.ignis.de/10#p=62
the diversity, much less disagreements, we find in secular models. emcapp.ignis.de/19/#p=27
emcapp.ignis.de/22/#p=66

Returning to Paren�’s ar�cle, I am not sure what to make of his “integral
psychotherapy of the person.” Psychology and psychotherapy—whether
secular or Chris�an—will, on the level of formal object, always be par�al
and so in dialogue with each other, a confused and confusing mix of views.
But how can it be otherwise?

At least within the sacramental Chris�an tradi�ons, integra�on is found only
in the source and summit of the Chris�an life, the Eucharist, and then only
as a foretaste and promise. Un�l the Kingdom of God, this is our lot, and it
is only in the Kingdom that the “glory of God, ... man full alive” is realized.
For Chris�ans to hold otherwise is to immanen�ze the eschaton.

Finally, at the beginning of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tells us that a
science is never more precise than its object. This means that philosophical
and methodological disunity, clash, contradic�on, and pointed disagree-
ment are features, not bugs, of all human knowledge, including psychology.

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