Page 168 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 4

Letters to the Editor

In my opinion, EMCAPP is a dialogical space, which of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation
itself determines a discussion forum in the best Euro- (CCEF), whichwas foundedin 1968.It isalso wellknown
pean traditions. Within this movement, representatives that the Academy for Christian Psychology (IGNIS) was
of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant faiths find in their created in Germany in 1986, and in Russia, in the nine-
respective traditions the historical foundations for the ties, after the perestroika, seminars on psychology and
development of Christian psychology and/or of the inte- religions began at the Chair of General Psychology of
gration model. And as a result of reflection about psycho- the Moscow State University, which made it possible to
logy from a Christian perspective and about Christian develop a Christianity-focused psychology (within the
psychology itself, there comes up the fourth issue now of Orthodox context). However, we can say that Christian
Christian Psychology Around the World, a journal that psychology has a longer history than the actual inception
unites both interfaith dialogue based on anthropology dates of the above-mentioned movements (admittedly,
and scholarly research that provides an opportunity for there are many more of them than I have listed). Despi-
professional identification within a worldview perspecti- te the extensive history of the development of Christian
ve. psychology, the tradition of theological anthropology, the
multifaceted experience of empirical research, the theo-
For me as a representative of the Ukrainian Association retical groundwork for the psychology of religion and the
of Christian Psychologists, Psychotherapists and Pastoral development of various integrative models (it will be re-
Care (UACPPPC), the present journal is of great value. called that, according to Brian E. Eck, there are 27 models
Why? Our association has only recently become orga- of integration), take into account the accumulated know-
nized. In a sense, we perceive ourselves as trailblazers ledge in Christian psychology as an interdisciplinary field
(once this term was applied to Christian psychologists of research. Nevertheless there remain many problems.
by Gary R. Collins, one of the founders of the American Considering one of the goals of Christian psychology and
Association of Christian Psychologists, at the time when integration models, which consists in coming to a more
the Psychology and Theology journal was in the making comprehensive understanding of human personality
in America). First, each issue of the journal makes it pos- and its public/ecosystem worlds in the perspective of the
sible to see a variety of approaches in the work of Chris- Scriptures, there arises a need for the development of me-
tian psychologists and therapists, to learn about the work thodology that will allow the integration of new know-
of those scholars to whose country the current issue is ledge. And while a considerable part of scholarly work
dedicated; second, this allows the reader to join a wider in the domain of theological disciplines and Biblical stu-
circle of Christian psychologists, to evaluate personal pa- dies is a further development and a detailed elaboration
radigms of integration, to make a personal assessment, of that which was already revealed (let us remember the
and to continue to grow; third, the journal provides an Neo-Patristic synthesis of faith), the integration of theo-
opportunity to see a broader spectrum of Christian tradi- logy and psychology blazes a new trail.
tion in a historical retrospective, which makes it possible
to connect with works of predecessors (such as Eduard I am confident that the present journal provides an op-
Thurneysen who inspired Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, portunity tomove onin thedevelopment ofscholarly and
and who was a close friend of S. Freud; P. Tillich who Christian dialogue, which will make it possible to form
influenced R. May) and to nurture the connection with new ways of integrative models, detailing various metho-
this scholarly theological tradition in the long term. The dological aspects.
foundations set forth above allow us to perceive ourselves
among the trailblazers. Therefore, we are grateful to Wer- May God help all of us and Werner May in the publica-
ner May for the privilege of co-operation with EMCAPP tion of the journal.
and for allowing us to be part of this movement through
the journal. Vacheslav Khalanskiy - PhD student at Institute of Social
and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Peda-
In America (within a Protestant context), Christian psy- gogical Sciences of Ukraine.
chology and/or the respective integration model has
been actively developing since 1956 in the work of CAPS
1
(Christian Association for Psychological Studies), and
1 We do not consider a later period. There is an idea (in a
historical retrospective) about the existence of „two psycho-
logies“. In particular, works by Robert C. Roberts and Daniel
N. Robinson emphasize the idea of psychology as „a science
of a considerable age“: the modern (experimental) psychology
originating with Wilhelm Wundt, and the historical psycholo-
gy whose sources are found in Hellenistic texts and the ancient
Writing of the Jews.

8
168
1
6