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Charles Zeiders (USA) Charles Zeiders
The Role of Dream interpretation (USA) Psy.D. is clini-
in Christian Psychology cal director of Chri-
stian Counseling and
Therapy Associates of
the Main Line. He is a
Dreams and visions hold venerable places in postdoctoral fellow of
the Judeo-Christian scripture and are time-ho- the University of
nored religious experiences. As Christian social Pennsylvania’s Center
scientists we must retain the utmost respect for for Cognitive Thera-
the dream. We must arrange our dream-related py, a member of the
professional theories and clinical best-practices Department of Psychiatry of Bryn Mawr Hospital,
around Scripture, tradition, and reason. Rightly and is adjunct instructor of Graduate Counseling
understanding the potentially divine nature of at Eastern University and Pastoral and Theological
the dream will enhance our theory and praxis. Studies at Neumann University. He is author of The
While many dreams are strictly psychological Clinical Christ: Scientific and Spiritual Reflections
in nature, other dreams have an inspirational on the Transformative Psychology Called Christian
quality to them that recommends them as co- Holism and Wall Street Revolution and Other Po-
ming from God. I am concerned with this latter ems. Dr. Zeiders’ many publications may be obtai-
type of dream. ned at www.drzeiders.com.
Holy Scripture includes the dream as a means
by which God provides revelation to the actors
in the Old and New Testaments. In Genesis God that God provided King Solomon with
28 Jacob was worried and running away from qualities necessary for transformational leader-
home. He had stolen his brother’s birthright ship of the troubled Israelite Kingdom. Scriptu-
and undoubtedly was scared and depressed. He ral evidence implies that dream sleep represents
had no reason to expect that God would reite- an arena in which dreamers potentially interact
rate the covenant He made with Jacob’s grand- with God and enjoy developmentally transfor-
father Abraham. God, however, did just that— mational graces.
in a dream where a ladder connected heaven Like the Old Testament, the gospels and Acts
to earth, God to Jacob. When he awoke, Jacob demonstrate that God blesses indidividual and
said, “Surely God was in this place and I did not collective consciousness through dreams. In a
know it.” The obvious clinical importance of the vision (phenomenologically similar to a dream)
dream is that God provided an inner experience angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah that his
to make Jacob conscious of God’s permanent wife Elizabeth would give birth to The Baptist
endorsement. Hope replaced Jacob’s pessimism who would prepare the way of the Lord. St.
and a sense of cosmic safety replaced his world- Joseph the Carpenter learned that his fiancée
ly insecurity. Mary conceived a child of the Holy Spirit, lea-
Via the dream, Scripture teaches, God provides ding him to marry Mary and assume the role of
wisdom in the night. In 1 Kings 3 young King protector of the Holy Family. Later, when the
Solomon lacked the psychological development megalomaniacal King Herod sought to kill the
or political sagacity to effectively assume the Christ Child for political reasons, an angel ap-
strife-ridden kingdom he had inherited from his peared to St. Joseph in a dream, instructing him
father David. Following religious ceremonies at whisk the Holy Family to the safety of Egypt.
Gibeon, Solomon encountered God in a dream. Because St. Joseph listened to the dream and
God asked the apprehensive monarch what gift acted on its instructions, he saved baby Jesus
he would like to receive from Him. Solomon re- from state-sponsored massacre of toddlers and
plied that he was young and unskilled in leader- infants. St. Joseph’s understanding of the dream
ship and desperately sought a wise heart useful as a divine communiqué created the conditions
for good governance of a great people. of safety that allowed Jesus Christ reached ma-
So pleasing was Solomon’s unselfish request of turity.
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