Welcome to the Society for Christian Psychology!

We are excited you are here! Come on in and find out about our mission to work out a distinctly Christian psychology. Inside the website you’ll find:

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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, Rebecca DeYoung, and Julie Exline. For more information see our conference page.

The Christian Assocation for Psychological Studies (CAPS) will be holding their annual conference on March 29-31, 2011 in Washington, D.C. There will be many interesting talks, including a few by some of our members. A Christian psychology forum will be held late Friday afternoon focusing on clinical applications of Christian psychology.

Also 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!

The Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation held an excellent conference recently on the theme of Psychological Disorders. It was a model for understanding psychopathology (including the contributions of secular scientists) through the lens of Scripture. For those interested in obtaining copies of the talks visit www.ccef.org.

Biola University’s Center for Christian Thought : Request for Proposals: “Neuroscience and the Soul”

Biola University’s Center for Christian Thought will grant multiple semester- and year-long residential research fellowships for the 2012–2013 academic year. Fellowship recipients will comprise an interdisciplinary group of approximately eight researchers per semester focused on the theme “Contemporary Neuroscience and the Soul.” Questions to be addressed include:

*Does the difficulty of solving the so-called “binding problem,” where this is a matter of explaining the phenomenon of the unity of consciousness, suggest an argument for the existence of the soul?

*Does recent evidence that various “mindfulness” techniques can affect neuro-architecture suggest anything about (a) which views of soul are most plausible, and (b) how the soul might causally interact with the brain?

*What further can be said about claims by Benjamin Libet and others that there is tension between recent findings in neuroscience and the existence of freedom of the will?

*What philosophical theories of soul best accommodate the deliverances of recent neuroscience?

*What are the most promising strategies for integrating the findings of contemporary neuroscience with Christian theological anthropology?

Proposal requests will be for $70K to $90K (plus a modest stipend for housing and relocation expenses) for projects lasting the full 2012-13 academic year and $35K to $45K (plus a modest stipend for housing and relocation expenses) for projects lasting one semester that academic year. Fellows will be in residence at Biola University for either the fall term (August 25, 2012 to December 18, 2012) or the spring term (January 28, 2013, to May 20, 2013) or both.

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Research Participants Needed! A research team at the University of Louisville is conducting a study about the association between well being and prayer. Please take 30—45 minutes to complete this online survey. You will not be asked to divulge your name and responses will be kept completely confidential. To access the survey, simply click here ( http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RYGTN77.
This research is being conducted under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Pössel, and any questions about the study should be directed to him (Patrick.possel@louisville.edu). Thanks for your participation!”

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THE FOURTH NATIONAL ACC FINLAND CONFERENCE

The 4th National ACC Finland conference will be held from 27 to 29
January, 2012 in Tampere, Finland. There will also be a two days
training event on the 26th and 27th in Trauma therapy from Christian
systemic and multidimensional perspective. The keynote speaker of the
Conference will be Prof. Nicolene Joubert from South-Africa (see
http://icp.org.za/about ) and she will also do the whole training
event. For more information, see ACC Finland webpage
www.accfinland.org  or contact hi.acc.info@gmail.com

* Some poetry by German Christian psychologist Werner May (IGNIS) about 9/11, being published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary

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Visit the website of the Biblical Counseling Coalition.

Our Blog is one of the top 25 Psychology blogs of 2011 on www.thebestcolleges.org!

CE Credits-
Readers of The Journal of Psychology and Theology can earn C.E. Credits. An online homestudy program offers C.E. credit to licensed and certified Christian counselors. They compose quizzes to verify that readers have studied a particular issue. Then they provide a certificate of completion that the counselor can send to their local board to verify C.E. credit. Go to www.studycredit.com for more details.

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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

616.526.6419

http://www.calvin.edu/~jks4