THEISTIC PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY : A THEOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC CRITIQUE
March 1, 2010 D. Helminiak
A trend in psychology incorporates God as an essential explanatory component in psychological theory, blurring the epistemological boundaries between religion and science. This trend, exemplified by publications such as Richards and Bergin's A Spiritual Strategy for Counseling and Psychotherapy, appeals to claimed knowledge sources like inspiration and revelation, threatening to undermine evidence-based science and establish particularistic religious beliefs as standard accounts. While including a spiritual dimension in psychology is welcome, elaborated approaches that are open to varied theological applications already exist, such as those by Assagioli, Frankl, and Wilber.