Psychology and the Church

Book excerpt: Today's psychology with increasing openness to spirituality, multiple ways of knowing, cultural diversity, and community emphases and provides a promising context for studying Christian communities. And today's church with increasing reliance on technology and science, growing engagement with contemporary culture, and a willingness to elevate various Christian psychologists to a near-prophetic role may be more open to the influence of psychology than ever before. This book highlights exemplars who are blending the strengths of the church with the skills of psychology in applied settings to promote psychology and spiritual health. The volume is divided into five sections. The first section includes three survey and interview studies assessing psychologists' and clergy perspectives on collaboration. Each of remaining sections is comprised of three to six vignettes demonstrating how psychologists are working with the church, organised by congregation-based collaboration, clinically-focused collaboration, research-focused collaboration, and community-focused collaboration.