EMCAPP Journal 2

5 According to Kuyper, these two groups will of necessity produce different sciences, since they have, to some ex- tent, different assumptions, values, goals, emphases, and vision, resulting in the drawing of different conclusions— even when they have the same facts at their disposal. Yet Kuyper (n.d.) also argued that, there is a very broad realm of investigation in which the difference between the two groups exerts no influence. For in the present dispensation palingenesis works no change in the senses, nor in the plastic conception of visible things. The entire domain of the more primary observation, which limits itself to weights, measures and numbers is common to both (p. 52). Anyone who has done a good job in such observation, Kuyper wrote, has ably served both commu- nities. Following Kuyper, then, a Christian psychology would not reject all descriptions of human nature obtai- ned by secularists. When one considers the broad range of topics with which psychology deals, it seems likely that there would be many features of human nature that can be well described by any careful researcher, regardless of their world-view. Based on the doctrines of common gra- ce (which Kuyper expounded more ably than anyone up to his time) and the image of God (and the implication that all humans are endowed with reason), Christians can affirm that there are plenty of aspects of human beings that all rational, similarly trained persons can basically agree upon, e.g., descriptions of brain functioning, ani- mal learning, human memory structures and processes, cognitive development, the nature of emotions, persona- lity traits, most behavioral symptoms of psychopatholo- gy, many social processes, and so on. According to Kuyper, Christian and non-Christian dif- ferences in scientific understanding are most likely to arise when observed facts are interpreted and gathered together, we would say, into theories and written into texts. There the effects of regeneration will make them- selves felt, because world-view assumptions, existential import, and complexity affect the interpretation of ba- sic observations and the writing of texts. Consequently, Kuyper also believed that some sciences {those that deal with more complex phenomena) will be more affected by palingenesis than others. (He suspected, for example, that the human sciences [e.g., psychology and history] would be more affected than the natural sciences [e.g., physics and chemistry].) If all this is true, we would expect Chris- tianity would not offer a distinctive approach to psycho- logical topics that are relatively simpler, have less existen- tial import, and are less affected by community-specific world-view assumptions (for example, the topics found in the first half of an introduction to psychology course), but will have a relatively greater impact where the topics are more complex, have greater existential import, and are more affected by community-specific world-view as- sumptions (those dealt with more in the second half of an introduction to psychology course). But even in the latter areas, the doctrines of common grace and the image of God legitimize Christians dialoging with and learning from the work of non-Christians. EMCAPP Some Christian Psychology Distinctives What makes a Christian psychology so important is that thoseareasofpsychologywhereChristianity‘sworld-view would lead one to expect it might make a difference have great existential import and significance, for example, in personality theory, motivation, attribution, psychopatho- logy, and psychotherapy and counseling. These areas are terribly important, making it imperative for Christians to seek to develop their own versions in these areas, ones that are more congruent with their community-specific world-view assumptions, and so ones that presumably correspond more to God‘s comprehensive understanding of human beings than that which can be attained by only using the methods and models of modernism. So, given Christianity‘s broader sources of psychological knowledge, what would be some distinctives of a Chris- tian psychology? A basic list would include such topics as the nature of the image of God and a recognition that this is the most fundamental feature of human nature, the ultimate concern of humans, uniquely Christian mo- tivation, the profound alienation of humans from their Creator and original sin, the development of sins and vices, the nature of salvation (and the soul-healing that flows from it), apostasy, stages of Christian spiritual de- velopment and some of its unique features, the indwel- ling of the Holy Spirit in the Christian, the causal role of God in human good and in the Christian life, Christian self-representations (e.g., the old self and new self), some specifically Christian goals towards which humans are to develop (including the nature of human personhood and Christian maturity), uniquely Christian virtues (faith, hope, humility, and agape-love) and uniquely Christi- an understandings of a positive psychology, the relation between the body and the soul, ethical and spiritual psy- chopathology, distinctive means of counseling and psy- chotherapy that make use of divine salvation, and tran- scendent norms for social relationships. Those who are inclined and capable need to do research on such matters, along distinctly Christian lines. Of course, Christians in psychology should also explore topics where there is more cross-communal agreement (e.g., between secula- rists and Christians). But this is already being done (e.g., human forgiveness research). What has not been done— at least not enough to constitute an alternative version of any topic in psychology—is research and theory-building that is distinctly Christian. What Options Are There? Some will worry that the project of a Christian psycholo- gy will contribute to a Christian intellectual ghetto: Chris- tians speaking only to Christians and having no impact on the world-at-large. But this need not be the case. On the contrary, the more Christians rediscover their own identity as Christians, the more likely they are to make a distinctive impact on the contemporary field as Christi- ans. For example, there is no intellectually legitimate re- ason that should prevent Christians from getting articles published in mainstream journals on Christian theories of the self, motivation, and counseling techniques.

EMCAPP Journal 2

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