Page 17 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

Christian Psychology as a Challenge

Werner May: I have read that you have the I think there are people and pockets within
hope that it is possible to do the work of the the mainstream who would resonate with this.
Christian psychology for mainstream au- For example, last year at APA I gave a talk on
diences yet within an explicitly Christian per- Gordon Allport where I provided some new
spective. Why do you believe this? evidence for a tight connection between his
supposedly secular and neutral psychological
Russ Kosits: I admit that the first time one en- constructs and his Christian faith. At the end
counters this idea it may sound outrageous. (I of the talk I asked the audience members this
use the word “outrageous” quite deliberately, question: if Allport had wanted to “come out of
because it was precisely this idea that Marsden the closet” and overtly explore the deep connec-
ably defended in his classic 1997 book The Ou- tion between his mainstream contribution and
trageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, and in his Christian faith, could he have? Most in the
many ways I’m simply trying to apply Marsden’s audience instinctively agreed that he could not
ideas to psychology). There’s a lot that can be have. And at the end of the talk a former presi-
said about this, but we could start off by framing dent of the Society for the History of Psycholo-
it as a diversity and fairness issue. Mainstream gy suggested that we hold a symposium on “clo-
psychological science was originally concei- seted” religious psychologists in the 20th centu-
ved as a scientific and neutral endeavor. Since ry. Such a symposium—if we could show that
roughly the 1960s, however, there have been a mainstream psychologists who happened to be
number of movements within psychology that religious felt compelled to keep their worldview
challenged this claim to worldview neutrality. silent—could help to justify a more truly plural
Feminist psychology has shown that the disci- public square in psychology.
pline is not neutral, but had been rather sexist
in some of its assumptions. LGBT psychologies In August, I’ll be participating in a symposium
have provided evidence that the discipline has entitled “toward a diversity of worldviews in
been biased against homosexuals and other psychological science” at the American Psycho-
sexual minorities. Critical psychologies have logical Association meeting in Toronto – the
demonstrated that the discipline has been We- very fact that this symposium was accepted also
stern and individualistic. Aboriginal studies seems to be evidence of at least some openness
have highlighted how Western assumptions of to this possibility.
science have been experienced by aboriginals
as violent, requiring them to eschew their own Another sign of hope is an upcoming special
indigenous identities. There are other examp- issue of the Journal of Positive Psychology - a
les of this as well. They’ve all argued in one way mainstream journal - which will explore the
or another that psychology has not been neu- possibility of a distinctively Christian positive
tral vis-à-vis their most deeply held values and psychology. Amazing!
identities and that this situation has been un-
fair. They wanted to do scientific work in a way Perhaps the most inspiring development - that
that’s consistent with their own worldviews. In gives me hope for structural change - has been
a sense, what I’m arguing—and as many other the work of Jonathan Haidt, a very well-respec-
Christians have argued and continue to argue— ted mainstream social psychologist who iden-
is that we need to have an equivalent playing tifies himself as an athiest. In 2011 he gave an
space within mainstream psychology, where important address the annual meeting the So-
Christians also are free to “be themselves” and ciety of Personality and Social Psychology en-
— as Alvin Plantinga puts it — bring all that titled, “The Bright Future of Post-Partisan So-
they know and believe to their work as psycho- cial Psychology”, in which he argued that liberal
logists. This would be a vast improvement over political values dominate the field of social psy-
the dualism, self-censorship, and compartmen- chology and that this creates a situation that is
talization which has had such a profound im- not only unfair to conservatives but also is to
pact on Christian work in psychology. the detriment of social psychology itself. Politi-

16