Page 41 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

Foundational Discussions in Christian Psychology

hensible human relationship (father-son relati- is not the healing of human relationships, but
onship), is always an open dialogue, in which the healing of the human soul from sin. Con-
the unknowable is more than the knowable. The sidering this, one of the most disputable points
Orthodox Christian theologians speak of the in the article is the idea of redemptive counsel-
two ways of knowing God, which accompany ling that mimics the redemptive relationship
each other: apophatic and cataphatic theology. Christians experience with God. According
The apophatic theology states that human lan- to Christian doctrine of redemption we “are
guage is not enough to describe God, and His bought with a price”, the great price of the blood
essence is unknowable. As Met. Kallistos Ware of God (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 6:20). Thus, we all
puts it, „Apophatic theology, in its true and full are once and already redeemed by Jesus Christ,
meaning, leads not to an absence but to a pres- Who sacrificed His life to cleanse the world of
ence, not to agnosticism but to a union of love. sin and to make man free from his sins, which
Thus apophatic theology is much more than corrupted human nature. When we speak of sin
a purely verbal exercise, whereby we balance we refer to relationship based on God‘s given
positive statements with negations. Its aim is covenant and broken. So, the counsellor is not
to bring us to a direct meeting with a personal able to make a client free from sin by any means
God, who infinitely surpasses everything that because it is not his or her domain. This is to be
we can say of him, whether negative or positi- overcome by more strict definition of the relati-
ve.“ (Met. Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way, onship between human and divine in a person
1979). However, God revealed Himself in the whether in his personal prayerful relationship
person of Jesus Christ, and this is the way of ca- with God or in Christian therapy.
taphatic theology.
In the light of this the role of psychotherapist
Relationship can be described in a wide spec- that mimics the redemptive relationship with
trum of personal interrelations and with God. It the patient is unclear. Does it mean that the
reflects personal qualities and attributes, social sacrifice of God‘s Son is not enough? Why and
roles, anthropological identity. Relational the- how can the counsellor be a prototype of Jesus
rapy in its healing process of injured relation- Christ: if we believe in His Resurrection, and
ship emphasises loving, compassionate and fle- eternal life, so He is with us and through the
xible approaches, by this offering a framework Eucharist in us? Why cannot the psychothera-
in which to counsel. The religious views and re- pist heal just by being fully human in his or her
lational theology background of a therapist are human relationship with God, with other peop-
central to the relationship healing process. The le and with the patient, thus being a model of
article is very positive about this. However, the healthy relationship in therapy?
core of the relationship between man and God

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