Welcome to the Society for Christian Psychology!
Learn about about our mission to work out a distinctly Christian psychology. Inside the website you’ll find:
- A weekly Blog. Our blogger this month is Todd Hardin, Minister of Care and Counseling at Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN
- A growing list of resources, including information about Christian psychology, ancient and contemporary Christian psychologists, sample articles, recommended books, sister organizations and institutions, and .pdf copies of our journal, Edification, and copies of our newsletter, Soul & Spirit
- Conferences of the SCP and other related organizations
- Grant and research opportunities
- Information on how to become a member of the Society. Consider partnering with us in the project of a radically Christian vision and practice of psychology.
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News & Announcements:
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The Society for Christian Psychology will be holding an academic conference on the theme Towards a Christian Positive Psychology at Regent University on October 18-20, 2012. A stellar group of Christian scholars from psychology, philosophy, theology, and psychiatry will be presenting, including Robert Roberts, Ellen Charry, David Myers, Julie Exline, Rebecca DeYoung, James Spiegel, Kevin Timpe, Warren Kinghorn, Charles Hackney, Eric Johnson, Jonathan Pennington, and Craig Steven Titus. For titles see our conference page. Registration has begun!
Check out the winter, 2011 issue of the CAPS journal, the Journal of Psychology and Christianity. The special issue is focused entirely on Christian psychology. It contains articles by a number of our members, and Tim Sisemore, one of the editors of our journal, Edification, supervised the special issue. Congratulations Tim, and thanks to CAPS for becoming a clearinghouse for all Christian approaches to psychology!
Bryan Institute for Critical Thought & Practice and Richmont Graduate University will be sponsoring a symposium on November 2-3, 2012, based on the new book “Christianity and Counseling: Five Views.” Speakers will include Thomas Plante (levels-of-explanation), Mark McMinn (integration), Gary Moon (transformational psychology), Stuart Scott (biblical counseling), and the editors Stephen Greggo and Timothy Sisemore. Diane Langberg will represent the Christian psychology position. It will be held at the Chattanooga Convention Center. For more information see www.bryan.edu/facc.
The Christian Assocation for Psychological Studies (CAPS) held their annual conference on March 29-31, 2011 in Washington, D.C. A highlight of the conference was the keynote with Mark McMinn and Ed Welch, who shared their own perspectives on the counseling wars of the past decades and how they have grown to appreciate each other. Mike McFee led a Christian psychology discussion forum on his translation of emotion-focused therapy into a Christian framework.
Check out the report on a Christian psychology conference at Donetsk Christian University in the Ukraine at http://slavahalanskiy.blogspot.com/2012/04/church-meets-new-challenges-of-society.html
The Association of Biblical Counselers held their annual conference on April 26-28, 2012 on the theme: “Wonderful Counselor: The Supremacy of Christ in the Cure of Souls.” Speakers include Paul Tripp, Leslie Vernick, Tulllian Tchividjian, and Bob Kellemen.
Interdisciplinary Residential Research Opportunity: “Religious Experience and Moral Identity”
The Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) in Princeton, New Jersey, has selected “Religious Experience and Moral Identity” as the topic of its 2013-2014 resident research year. Offering eight Research Fellowships of up to $70,000 and two Postdoctoral Fellowships of $40,000, provided with support from the John Templeton Foundation, the Center will welcome proposals from scholars in theology, philosophy, and ethics, as well as scientists working in psychology and neuroscience. For more information, visit http://www.ctinquiry.org/news/newsstory.aspx?id=79&hide=true.
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Our Blog was one of the top 25 Psychology blogs of 2011 on www.thebestcolleges.org!
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Call for Papers
Acknowledging Powerlessness: Philosophical Perspectives on Twelve Step
Spirituality
Over the last fifty years, Twelve-Step programs have had a profound
impact on culture world-wide. But these programs have not received much
attention from philosophers. We propose to begin filling this gap by
publishing an anthology of philosophical essays about various aspects of
Twelve-Step spirituality.
We invite all who are interested in contributing to this volume to submit
an abstract of 300 to 700 words. Please include a resume with your
abstract. After selecting the authors and essays to be included in the
volume, we’ll be submitting the project to publishers who have expressed
interest in it. We expect to include about 15 papers in the anthology,
each between 12 and 18 pages. We hope to receive proposals that employ a
variety of philosophical perspectives and methodologies. Essays should
be both philosophically substantive and accessible to the thoughtful
non-professional. Articles that involve reflection on personal experience
are welcome. Contributors need not be philosophers but their essays are
expected to be philosophical in nature.
Writers are encouraged to explore any aspect of Twelve Step spirituality
that they consider philosophically provocative. The following are only
some of the many issues that might be addressed:
What is addiction and does it render one morally impotent?
Is addiction a disease and, if so, of what sort?
Is a recognition of powerlessness compatible with accepting
moral responsibility?
Are the “Twelve Steps” compatible with the moral life as understood by
philosophers such as Aristotle and Kant?
Does living virtuously require depending on others as the Twelve Steps
imply?
Is it irrational to believe that one’s sanity depends on a power greater
than oneself?
Is Twelve-Step spirituality compatible with atheism?
Is Twelve-Step spirituality distinguishable from religion?
Is a spirituality that emphasizes imperfection compatible with virtue
ethics?
Is there an intelligible order to the twelve steps that can be
philosophical articulated?
Are the “Twelve Steps” rationally defensible?
Does humor play any role in the practice of twelve-step spirituality and,
if so, what?
Abstracts should be received by June 1, 2011. We intend to inform
authors by August 1 as to whether their proposed essay is to be included
in the volume. The due date for completed essays will depend on the
publisher’s timetable for publication. We hope it will be no later than
December 1, 2011. Abstracts and resumes, as well as queries, should be
sent to either Jerome Miller at jamiller@salisbury.edu, or Nicholas
Plants at plantsnr@pgcc.edu.
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James K.A. Smith, PhD
Professor of Philosophy
Executive Director, Society of Christian Philosophers
Research Fellow, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
