Page 117 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

The Society for Christian Psychology

What I Hope from / for the Society for Christian Psychology

Letters by Rob Robertson, Shannon Wolf, Andrew Schmutzer, William Miller, Siang-Yang Tan,
Jason Kanz and Mark Tietjen

My Hope for the Society for Christian Psychology
Robert C. Roberts

I’m delighted to have this occasion to share my hopes for the Society
for Christian Psychology on this occasion of the 10th anniversary of
its founding. The meeting of the Society that I most recently attended
was the one held at Regent University in Virginia in October 2012.
That meeting about the prospects for a Christian positive psychology
gave me a very encouraging impression of the maturing of the Socie-
ty. The papers were consistently excellent. It was the best meeting of
the Society that I have attended (and I’ve attended a number of its
meetings during the past 10 years). My hope is that the Society can
continue to mature, gathering new and younger participants from
the broad spectrum of universities and seminaries, and doing increa-
singly deep and innovative work. Recent work in positive psychology Robert C. Roberts is
and moral psychology is particularly encouraging from a Christian Distinguished Profes-
point of view. For example, the work of Jonathan Haidt is, in my opi- sor of Ethics at Baylor
nion, more interesting for people committed to a biblical psychology University. He works
than anything in recent memory. I am thinking especially of his six on issues in moral
psychological foundations of morality: care, fairness, freedom, loy- psychology with spe-
alty, authority, and sanctity. It seems to me that it gives scope for cial attention to emo-
a full-blooded Christian psychology, if only we can find Christian tions and virtues.
psychologists bold enough and competent enough in the Bible and During the academic
in the relevant anthropological and psychological literature to ex- year 2013-2014 he is
ploit its suggestions. People who think innovatively in deeply biblical a Senior Research Fel-
ways are needed, and the Society for Christian Psychology is an ideal low at the Center of
collegial context for pursuing this work. My prayer is that God will Theological Inquiry
bless the Society with encouragement and young thinkers who can in Princeton, New
fruitfully serve this endeavor. Jersey, working on a
book titled Attention
to Virtues.

What I Hope from the Society for Christian Psychology
Shannon Wolf

When choosing an educational institution for my training as a thera-
pist, I looked for one that would honor my faith while promoting ex-
cellence in scholarship. Wise professors taught me how to integrate
those religious beliefs with the science of psychology. However, the
more I learned, the less satisfied I became. The classical integration
approach was too simplistic for the complexities of human nature. As

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