Page 18 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

Christian Psychology as a Challenge

cally conservative social psychologists are likely So how might we frame all of this as missio-
to see things and raise questions that liberals nal? Biblical theologians make a persuasive
won’t see or ask. I’d simply like to extend Haidt’s case that “kingdom” is the central concept of
argument and talk about the bright future of a the New Testament, and the claim of the gospel
religiously diverse psychological science. Or, is that Christ is the Lord of all, including - as
to adapt the title of his 2014 follow-up article: Eric Johnson once famously put it - the Lord of
religious diversity will improve psychological psychology. The best “deeply engaged, strongly
science. perspectival” (another term for transdiscipli-
nary scholarship) Christian psychology will of
All of these things give me hope that things are necessity be persuasive, missional, making the
moving in a more truly plural direction. case for Christ’s lordship over psychology. In a
truly plural public square Christians should be
Werner May: And you want to add a missio- allowed to make that case. Non-Christians cer-
nal context to Christian psychology? Please ex- tainly are free to make the case for naturalist,
plain what you mean by that. or feminist, or LGBT, or aboriginal, or Buddhist
perspectives, so, certainly Christian and other
Russ Kosits: If we were to have a more genuinely religious perspectives should also be allowed.
plural mainstream psychology, part of that plu- And if Christians (and other people of faith)
ralism would be the freedom to persuade. Per- aren’t allowed in appropriate contexts to be per-
suasion is a fundamental part of all scholarship. suasive, to show why they believe their perspec-
We try to make the best case for our own per- tive to be compelling, then we don’t have true
spectives, and Christian psychology attempts to freedom in the mainstream, we don’t have a
be persuasively Christian. Now, clearly Christi- true pluralism or democratic context. We have
an psychology is for the good of the church and repression instead.
for the good of Christians. Indeed, much Chri-
stian psychology is really intended for Christi- Werner May: It is not a provocation - I quote
an audiences only. But I think that a full-orbed you - that “the Christian worldview… is ac-
Christian psychology will also aim to be for the tually the only worldview that can make ulti-
good of the mainstream. If we could show that mate sense of the science of psychology”?
the Christian worldview resolves antinomies
and contradictions that have long plagued the Russ Kosits: Yes, I have actually written that!
discipline, we may — as the apostle Paul puts it And it’s very much connected to my previous
— win some. But there’s a risk involved in such point. If Christianity really is “the true story
an exchange because Christians would need of the whole world,” (Goheen, Bartholemew,
to be open to the persuasion attempts of other Wright) then certainly that would give us an ex-
worldviews and inevitably those groups will planatory advantage in psychology (since meta-
also continue to win some to their cause. narratives/stories/ultimate-level interpretations
already form an integral part of psychological
Now we often hear that scholarship should not science). Imagine that! In our current intellec-
“proselytize,” and to some extent that is fair. But tual context it seems that Christianity is perpe-
to frame the issue in this way is misleading. It’s tually on the defensive and Christians are redu-
to suggest that worldview-level persuasion at- ced to defending their right to believe—even
tempts are out of play in mainstream scholar- privately. We’re told that traditional Christian
ship. I think that’s manifestly false. Naturalism, belief has been disproved by the presence of
the “orthodoxy of the academy,” is continually evil, by cultural pluralism, by biological evolu-
being propounded. So why can’t Christians (and tion, etc. And it is important to have provisional
other ideological minorities in the discipline) answers to such critiques. Yet Christians often
join the game, so long as they do so respectful- feel as the apostle Peter felt when Jesus sugge-
ly, thoughtfully, and in a manner appropriate to sted the twelve apostles go elsewhere - where
the public square? else can we turn? Naturalism seems implausible

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