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religiosity, is the exception to cultural and historic norms, Bibliography
and more likely to emerge in technologically advanced, Abernethy, A. D., Houston, T. R., Mimms, T., & Boyd-Franklin, N.
urban environments where like-minded people reinforce (2006). Using prayer in psychotherapy: Applying Sue‘s differential to
enhance culturally competent care. Cultural diversity and ethnic mino-
one another’s (lack of) belief. To accept Professor Poole’s rity psychology , 12 (1), 101-114.
dualism separating professional practice from individual
Barrett, J. L. (2004). Why would anyone believe in God? Lanham, MD:
spirituality, we effectively deny the ontological charac- AltaMira Press.
teristic of spirituality and desire for communion with
Boyer, P. (2001). Relgion explained: The evolutionary origins of reli-
deity that characterizes a majority of humanity. Conver- gious development. New York: Basic Books.
sely, Professor’s position allows for the presence of this
Johnson, E. L. (2007). Towards a Philosophy of Science for Christian
ontological characteristic without insisting it be explicitly Psychology. Edification , 1 (1), 5-20.
manifested.
Poole, R., & Cook, C. C. (2011). Praying with a patient constitutes a
breach of professional boundaries in psychiatric practice. British Jour-
The issue ultimately comes down to the perspective nal of Psychiatry , 199:94-98.
through which we choose to see help for those in dist- Sue, S. (1998). In search of cultural competence in psychoptherapy and
ress. If we choose to operate strictly within the limits counseling. The American psychologist , 53 (4), 440-448.
imposed by professional standards boards and ethical Wilson, M. N., Philip, D., & Kohn, L. P.-E. (1995). Cultural relativistic
guidelines for specific professions, than we are so cons- approach toward ethnic minorities in family therapy. In J. F. Aponte, R.
Y. Rivers, & J. Whol, Psychological interventions and cultural diversity
trained to adopt the limited view of human beings impli- (pp. 92-108). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
citly prescribed by those standards. There are times when
such a position is necessary and, thank the Lord, He is
not constrainedby thosestandards. Alternatively,we may
accept Eric Johnson’s parameters of a Christian psycho-
logy, namely that we concern ourselves both with “the
empirical object of actual, individual human beings and
their features– and… God’sunderstanding andappraisal
of that object” (2007, p. 8) and thereby availing ourselves
to “the most comprehensive understanding and appraisal
of human beings available” (Johnson, 2007, p. 10). Such a
comprehensive understanding suggests we may reject the
dualism inherent in the formal psychiatric approach to
treatment, andare freeto employall ofthe meansof grace
available, including prayer.

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