Page 88 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

Church Traditions for a Christian Psychology

hidden expectations. Then the conscience and In a sense , the article by Father Gregory Jensen
worldview of the psychologist seems to be of is a moment of self-identification.
particular importance. It is difficult, however, to accept Father Gregory‘s
supercritical view of psychology as a science and
The Orthodox psychologist bases his work, in practice that is „secular“ in its basis. Despite
addition to scientific, on theological and es- the apparent authority of Archpriest Alexander
pecially on ascetic principles - that is prac- Schmeman, referred to by the author, psycho-
tical tradition. Such a base is the Orthodox logy is very different in its various approaches
psychologist‘s self-identification as such. Ho- and schools.
wever, the tradition of Orthodox ascetic and li-
turgical practice, in some sense, may enter into It will also not be easy to accept the imperative
an internal contradiction with the tradition of that will require “from the Christian clinician
scientific, psychodynamic and materialistic and theoretician a more pointed, critical re-
schools in psychology. sponse” than we see in the philosophy and hi-
story of science.
No wonder, therefore, that the Orthodox psy-
chologist without a critical look at himself can Probably, it is precisely the difficulty of psycho-
not be an Orthodox psychologist. This can be logy that it stands at a crossroads – of the way of
called critical self-identification. spirit and the way of reason.

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