Page 24 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8
P. 24

Christian Psychology as a Challenge



             A. May:  In  2001,  you  finally  founded  the    When the above-mentioned church decided to
             Institute  of  Christian  Psychology  (ICP).  How   abort their plan for accreditation at the end of
             long had it taken to prepare this and what was    2000, I proceeded with the establishment of the
             your motivation to start?                         Institute of Christian Psychology in 2001.

             N. Joubert:  I  started  in  1999  with  the      At  this  stage  I  approached  a  registered  Chri-
             development  of  Christian  Psychology  as  a     stian  Private  Higher  Education  Institution  in
             subject for a Bachelor degree. This development   South Africa, Die Afrikaanse Protestantse Aka-
             was on request of a church that planned to apply   demie (APA), with the proposal to firstly, inclu-
             for accreditation and registration of their Bible   de the planned Christian Psychology curricu-
             School as a private higher education institute.   lum in the 3 year Bachelor programme offered
             At the time my idea was to develop Psychology     by the (APA) and secondly, to support my idea
             as  a  major  subject  that  includes  modules  on   to apply for accreditation of a 4 year Bachelor
             Christian Psychology.                             in Psychology degree, which includes Christian
                                                               Psychology modules.
             My motivation to agree to this request stemmed
             from my PhD research and practice work. The       This led to major curriculum developments du-
             literature study I undertook for my PhD high-     ring 2001 – 2003. The curriculum development
             lighted the needs of clients to be able to discuss   was  executed  in  conjunction  with  a  develop-
             their spiritual issues in counseling. It also poin-  ment of a teaching and learning strategy, which
             ted to the lack of training in this area in the cur-  comprises  a  combination  of  contact  and  di-
             riculum  of  Psychology  learning  programmes     stance modes of delivery. All distance learners
             offered by most universities.                     receive DVD’s of all lectures, which entail the
                                                               video recording of all lectures. In 2008 a deci-
             My  vision  was  to  legitimize  and  professiona-  sion was made to develop a full online teaching
             lize Christian Psychology by means of a well-     and  learning  strategy  and  this  process  kicked
             developed accre-                                                               off  in  2009.  Last
             dited  academic                                                                mentioned  was
             programme.  In                                                                 only  completed
             a  pluralistic  so-                                                            in its current for-
             ciety where state                                                              mat at the end of
             universities  are                                                              2013.
             not  allowed  to                                                               This     process
             include  religion                                                              taught  me  that
             in  their  acade-                                                              the work is never
             mic    program-                                                                done  in  Higher
             mes,  unless  it  is                                                           Education    be-
             Theology,  such                                                                cause  one  needs
             an evolution was                                                               to stay abreast in
             essential to meet                                                              a field where new
             the   needs   of              From the last visit to Mongolia 2015:            developments
             Christians. I was            the participants, Willem and Nicolene             are paramount.
             thus  passionate
             and highly motivated to embark on the deve-       As a result I now view my vision and mission
             lopment of an academic programme featuring        of  the  professionalization  and  legitimation  of
             Christian  Psychology  as  a  major  subject.  The   Christian  Psychology  as  a  life-long  mission,
             idea of a registered Christian Higher Education   which could take many forms. Offering a formal
             Institution in South Africa where such a lear-    academic program is one way of teaching and
             ning programme could be offered stroked me as     training  prospective  Christian  psychologists,
             a vision from God.                                but informal learning and offering continuing
                                                               professional development programs (CPD) are
                                                               alternatives and could be equally effective.
                                                           23
   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29