Throughout history, Christian thinkers have thought deeply about psychological questions, long before the birth of modern psychology. However, Christian interest in psychology has literally exploded over the past fifty years. Christians have published countless works that describe our personality, our limitations, our dysfunctional development, our relationships and their problems, and so on. They have adopted different positions regarding their attitude towards modern psychology: some accepting it without reservation, others rejecting it with equal vehemence, and many choosing an intermediate position.
However, Christians have had little opportunity for public dialogue regarding these different positions. This present book provides an opportunity to understand the intellectual crisis that is shaking the Church in the area of psychology and helping relationships, and it does so by presenting five major evangelical points of view regarding the link between psychology and the Christian faith. It specifically addresses the value of psychology in general for Christians as well as issues related to psychological study and counseling practice for believers.
Each of the contributors responds to the other essayists, noting the points on which they agree as well as the problems they observe. Here are the five points of view that are defended:
• the point of view of transformational psychology (John Coe and Todd Hall);
• the biblical counseling perspective (David Powlison);
• the point of view of levels of explanation (David G. Myers);
• the integration point of view (Stanton L. Jones);
• the point of view of Christian psychology (Robert C. Roberts and Paul J. Watson).
Author: Eric L. Johnson
ISBN: 9782924743157