Page 185 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

Trauma Recovery Training at a Seminary? Introducing Global Trauma Recovery Institute

Elena Strigo (Russia)
Comment

to „The Role of Christ in Psychology“

The Role of Christian Psychology in the Face of Jesus Christ?!

The article by Diane Langberg is a thought-pro- speak of health standard or God-likeness. For
voking investigation presenting the core and Jesus Christ, even His passions at the Cross were
up-to-date problem for Christian psychology challenging but not traumatizing. He defeated
and clinical practice - the concept of person. In death. At the same time, any patient with a dis-
her article Diane Langberg directs our attention torted personality has to work hard in therapy
to the personality of Jesus Christ as a framework to improve himself just to reach many ways of
for Christian personality theory in Christian functioning which are so easy to every „nor-
psychology. In opposition to the existing theo- mal“ person. While for both the aspiration of
ries and clinician‘s views and thinking, which the likeness of God is a spiritual goal to achieve.
tend to be a manifestation of egocentricity and We have to think more profoundly and present
lead to wrong assumptions, Christian psycholo- a more grounded understanding of Jesus‘ per-
gy needs an understanding of an existing perso- sonality disclosing itself in His suffering, and its
nality as a basis for its theory. It is stressed that correlation with the same of our clients to make
the personality of Jesus Christ gives us a rich our theory more anthropologically verified and
picture of a whole and healthy human person. clinically reliable. We have to go from the idea-
From this point the second thesis is issued: the lized picture of His personal attributes to the
model of health can by no means be derived deepest essence of Christ‘s personality and it‘s
from fallen creatures as they represent only the meaning for those who suffer and recover. We
broken pieces of wholeness, and their narcis- also need the practical dynamic methodolo-
sistic experience could hardly give us full and gy coming out of this research. For psycholo-
clear picture of what it means to be human. gy and clinical practice to be Christian, it still
Consequently, the author points out, we need has to be opened to the question what it means
a model of health from which to judge, which for the person to be Christ-like and what is the
model is grounded in knowledge and under- role of Christian psychology in the Face of Jesus
standing of the person of the Son of Man, Je- Christ.
sus Christ. In this respect the four concepts: of Jesus Christ is definitely an ideal person. Every
voice, of relationship, of power and emotions, believer finds their own way of understanding
are meant to reveal to us our humanity made His personality and learning from Him through
in the image of God. This study of the person religious experience and personal comprehen-
of Christ, in author‘s opinion, would also pro- sion of His being, within or outside Christian
foundly impact clinical work. Dr. Langberg psychology. However, I doubt we could just
stresses again that all these aspects of human take His Person as a clinical model, specified
being are twisted by the Fall, so we must learn and methodologically patterned for the needs
from Jesus Christ how to use and express them of theory and practice.
in the right way in a world full of fallacies. First of all, it‘s important to mention that Jesus
The personality of Jesus Christ was presented Christ has not come to demonstrate the per-
by Dr. Langberg as a picture of the attributes fection of His human personality as an unsur-
of a healthy, mentally sane and mature per- passed model of mental health, and, least of all,
son, which, on closer examination, is a picture to contrast His divine humanity to the patholo-
of any righteous, mature and healthy person, gy of the rest of humankind. His personality is
who is able to love, control his power drives an undivided part of His mission, which is inse-
and emotions, and possesses good and kindly parably connected with His godhood. In the ar-
motivated knowledge of people. For the clarity ticle, fallenness and pathology are equated; that
of notions we have to distinguish whether we may put the client and the therapist in a very

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