|
"How can you be a Christian
and work in that field?" It was that question, asked
by a dear friend, about my work at a community mental health
center, which prompted me to study and try to understand Christian
attitudes toward psychology. Why do some Christians accept psychology
while others call it a dangerous, idolatrous, and ungodly rival
religion? Can science tell us anything useful about the human
condition? How does psychology and my worldview fit; or do they
fit at all? My search for answers led to my dissertation on
Christian homeschoolers' attitudes toward psychology.
The realization that my first daughter Katie
would soon graduate our homeschool and head for college prompted
me to write Homeschool Psych: Preparing Christian Homeschool
Students for Psychology 101. I did not want Katie's first exposure
to psychology to be in a college psychology class. I knew that
although there are many Christians who work in psychology research,
teaching, and counseling, psychology departments are home to
some of the more anti-Christian intellectuals on college campuses.
I knew that psychology professors have high levels of agnosticism
and atheism and that they would attack Katie's Christian worldview
as unscientific, irrational, prudish, exploitive, controlling,
inhibitive, oppressive, and naïve. It was true when I took
Psychology 101 thirty years ago, and it is even more true today.
I wanted Katie to be prepared and now I want to help you prepare
your kids. Are they ready?
You have probably heard the statistics about
Christian students walking away from their faith after the first
year in college. If those statistics are true, and if they have
anything to do with the teaching in college, I believe that
it is less about evolutionary biology or in-your-face humanism
and more about the subtle worldview challenges embedded in psychological
theories. So why not reject psychology completely? I believe
that it is a mistake to reject psychology by equating the entire
discipline with the whacked-out worldview assumptions of its
modern "fathers." The human mind is the greatest of
God's creations and it is right and proper for Christian students
to study it, if they are prepared. It is good that our students
want to understand and help people who are hurting, if they
approach it from a Christian perspective.
My Mission Statement
My mission is to reclaim psychology for Christ.
My goal is to equip every Christian, especially Christian high
school students, to recognize at the worldview level, the assumptions
and philosophies underlying modern psychology's theories. My
objective is to prepare Christian students to bring their Christian
worldview to the contemporary psychological conversation and
to become part of the future intellectual leadership in psychology.
My wife Tina and I have homeschooled each of
four children throughout their eductation. Two of our children
are at college and two are still at home. Tina writes product
reviews and the "About Our Cover" selection for The
Old Schoolhouse Magazine and is the Tie Dye Maven of Tina's
Tie Dye.
Report Abuse
|
 |
