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Authors

Robert Gleave

Abstract

The foundation of any psychological theory or therapy assumes that we can discover rules that apply to all circumstances. Any attempt to create a Gospel-based therapy–by the very nature of the attempt–is an attempt to articulate a set of principles that apply to all people in all circumstances. The gospel must be dynamic and cannot be reduced to all-encompassing rules; rather it must be a present tense lived experience with the complexity of everyday oppositions in "real time." A gospel theory, therefore, would employ the very system that it intends to overthrow, and every attempt fails. I argue that the whole point of the Gift of the Holy Ghost is to have help with the "moment-to-moment decision-making" of life. It provides for ongoing teaching and the "one-on-one" tutoring needed to develop judgment and wisdom. I suggest it is a more prudent course to get very well grounded in both the Gospel and our professions, and then to use our best informed judgment and our agency to create a relationship and a synergistic interaction that our clients can use in their own way–expressing their own judgment and agency to meet the unique challenges and circumstances of their own lives. I submit that we will meet the needs of the real individuals that enter our offices better by "being" in tune with the Spirit than by trying to sum up the gospel in psychological terms or sum up psychology in gospel terms.

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