Page 117 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 24

Nathaniel Marino, MA
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Program Coordinator,
Undergraduate Psychology
Email: nmarino@hc.edu
Department of Psychology
College of Educa�on and
Behavioral Sciences

"Why would you describe yourself as a Chris�an psychologist?"

Ques�ons to Nathaniel Marino (USA)

May I first ask how it came about that you stu- ded to earn a bachelor’s degree first, so I
died psychology? thought what be�er area to major in than psy-
chology, since that is the field that study’s
The move to pursue to psychology was born “people.”
out of my Chris�an beliefs. I confessed my be-
lief in Jesus as the Christ at an early age, large In the last 2 years of my undergraduate stu-
in part because of my parents leading and dis- dies, I was ge�ng involved heavily in psycholo-
cipleship along with my hometown church. gical research and found that I had a knack for
And looking back during my youth I recognize academic work, but s�ll thought the ministry is
that I was always an inquisi�ve and self-reflec- where I should go. I remember having a con-
�ve person. I remember asking my Pastor versa�on with my philosophy professor, who
when I was in primary school, “Why did God was also a mentor to me, and he asked me
make me ‘me’ and not someone else?” Based what I planned to do career-wise. And I said to
on that, it is no surprise that I ended up in psy- him that I feel called to Chris�an ministry, but
chology. I always asked these kinds of existen�- not necessarily the pastorate. I told him that I
al ques�ons about humanity and as I learned want to teach, speak, and write on these topics
more about the Lord, he brought deeper into that I have been fascinated with my whole life,
the realm of knowing and understanding hu- and from a dis�nctly Chris�an perspec�ve.
man beings. Thus, I am fascinated by all the What he told me is one of the founda�onal
people think, feel, and do more than any other things God used to change the course of my
topic of inquiry. During my high school years, I career. He said, “oh you want to be a profes-
thought that God was calling me to full-�me sor.” “You mean what you do?” I replied, which
voca�onal ministry. My deep fascina�on and I thought was only teaching just like teachers in
love for people in combina�on with my devo�- K-12 educa�on. And he said, “teaching is only
on to God and his people, I think naturally lead part of the job of a professor, but we speak at
me to thinking that I should be a formal minis- conferences and events and publish our wri-
ter for God’s church. I therefore believed that �ngs to contribute to our fields.” And the rest
a�aining a Master of Divinity degree was the of that conversa�on was spent with me asking
goal I needed to pursue. But of course, I nee- many ques�ons which I synthesized into 3

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