[moderator's note: this post is written by our director, Dr. Eric Johnson of Southern Seminary, and continues his theme of reviewing and reinterpreting key words in the field of psychology.]

Every well-developed psychology should have some model of human maturity, which should include some concept for the process of change and some idea of the goal towards which human maturation is heading. Maslow’s model of both has been widely adopted within modern psychology. It uses the term self-actualization for the maturation process and self-actualizing person as its goal. Should Christians adopt this terminology, or should we use some distinctively Christian terms to label the Christian process and goal?

From a Christian standpoint, there are a number of problems with Maslow’s humanistic notions on human maturation.

1. As understood by Maslow, self-actualization has to be interpreted literally. The self actualizes itself, exclusively. God is not intrinsic to the process Maslow is describing.
2. That is one reason why, according to Maslow (1954, pp. 7, 221), believers in dogmatic religions (like Judaism and Christianity) were unable to attain this level. Christians should assume Maslow understand his concept well and accept his interpretation of it.
3. In the Christianity scheme, the natural self is fallen, so Christian maturation requires the death of the self, in order to attain a new resurrected self (Ro 6:1-11). This is antithetical to Maslow’s model.

Sanctification is the term used in theology for Christian maturation. However, in every conceivable way, Jesus Christ is the real focal point for Christian maturation, so maybe there is a better term.

1. Christ is the image of God, the fulfillment of human nature, and therefore the exemplar of Christian maturity.
2. It is solely because of his life, death, and resurrection that Christians are able to mature Christianly.
3. He sent the Holy Spirit who alone gives us the capacity to mature Christianly and Christ now intercedes for us on the journey.
4. Therefore, the process of Christian maturation is sometimes called conformity to Christ (Php 3:10; Ro 8:29) or Christiformity, and the image of Christ is considered the goal of Christian maturation (Ro 8:29), which has been called Christlikeness.
5. The highest activity of the Christian is love. Christian maturation is intrinsically relational, and is not exclusively oriented around the individual self.

To be faithful to its distinctive orientation, Christian psychology needs terms that capture how central Christ is to the Christian maturational process and goal and how it is a fundamentally relational system, and not ultimately individualistic.

References
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row.