Page 119 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 24
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inquiry into that nature of humanity has a long ze and ar�culate the biblical and theological vi-
history in Chris�anity that predates the advent sion of humanity’s nature and purpose. The
of modern psychology. From this vantage point, central ques�on for me and my students was,
Chris�an psychologists see modern psychology “if the secular vision of humanity in psychology
as a con�nua�on of historical psychology while is not the true vision, then what is Chris�anity
bringing in all the advantages of modern philo- ’s?” In this period of my teaching, I did much
sophical thought and empirical methods. Chris- comparing between the secular and Chris�an
�an psychologists derive a vision of humanity claims regarding things such as humans’ essen-
from the Chris�on scriptures and theology and �al nature, humans fundamental meaning and
further define and refine this vision through en- ul�mate purpose, what is healthy and prosocial
gagement with Chris�an philosophy and psy- behavior. I would present the standard view-
chological science. points and conclusions mainstream psychology
I iden�fy as a Chris�an psychologist because would draw on a topic and then I would cri�que
now whatever topic I study or teach begins with it from a Chris�an perspec�ve and provide the
a biblical and theological inves�ga�on into the alterna�ve. This was immensely helpful for my
topic and then I proceed to consult the psycho- students to have a conceptual replacement for
logical literature and think of how the psycholo- the secular psychological views we were decon-
gical findings and considera�ons integrate into struc�ng.
the Chris�an vision that I have laid out. My pa-
radigm for approaching psychology is explicitly More recently in the past couple of years my te-
biblical and theological and this framework ori- aching has shi�ed substan�ally from presen�ng
ents my development of a dis�nctly Chris�an the secular view of psychology, cri�quing it, and
psychology and my engagement with secular presen�ng a Chris�an view as an alterna�ve, to
psychology. moving from the Chris�an view to the secular.
What sparked my most recent stretch of growth
How is this iden�ty as Chris�an psychologist as a Chris�an psychologist was a conversa�on I
expressed in your teaching? had with a friend and fellow Chris�an psycholo-
gist Nicholas DiFonzo. He was lamen�ng over
Along my journey of becoming a Chrisitan psy- the standard prac�ce in Chris�an psychology
chologist my teaching has followed suit. At the textbooks ini�ally present the standard, main-
beginning when I was shi�ing from the secular stream, secular psychological material that you
to the Chris�an paradigm of psychology, the would find in most secular textbooks and would
many reflec�ve ques�ons I was asking myself I present the Chris�an view later as an alterna�-
would pose to students in my classes. Ques�- ve view and or as a revisioning commentary.
ons about the underlying assump�ons behind Nick’s lament as a Chris�an psychologist was
the various historical and mainstream theories that the Chris�an view based primarily on scrip-
I was teaching (e.g., man is intrinsically good, ture and theology and informed by psychologi-
and actualiza�on is his goal) and about the “ru- cal science should be the standard view and the
les” of the field that govern what topics and secular view should be the alterna�ve. This
phenomena are legi�mate to study and which point here has drama�cally changed the way I
ones are not (e.g., only natural and materials approach every topic I study and teach on in
things are real therefore valid to scien�fically psychology. I feel compelled to develop a bibli-
study). Through these ques�ons my students cal theology of the topic I will discuss and build
would begin to cri�cally reflect on the very a posi�ve psychological view on it to then teach
things out of mainstream psychology I was tea- my students. A�erward I will then teach the
ching them. standard, secular view as an alterna�ve to the
As I con�nued to grow, I started to move from Chris�an view which I have inten�onally and
cri�cally ques�oning mainstream psychology to explicitly made primary for them. My goal is
reflec�ng on Chris�anity’s alterna�ve vision of forming my students with a thoroughly Chris�-
humanity. Discussing and reflec�ng with my an view of psychology into which they will com-
students really helped me begin to conceptuali- pare the compe�ng secular views.
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