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Text Box: Welcome to the second issue of Edification. We have been encouraged by the response to our first issue and look forward to continuing the dialogue that has begun. We also welcome to our board C. Stephen Evans and Larry Crabb, both of whom have been advocating for a long time for a Christian psychology. Each one epitomizes a necessary focus for the movement. Evans is one of the leading evangelical philosophers of our generation, and one who has spent considerable time reflecting on the human sciences. As a participant in the Christian philosophy movement, he early on recognized the potential for a Christian psychology and was the first to challenge Christians in psychology to develop their own version (Wisdom and Humanness in Psychology: Prospects for a Christian Approach; Baker, 1989). As an expert in Sören Kierkegaard, he was aware of Kierkegaard’s rich Christian psychological theorizing and understood what might be possible if the Christian psychological community were to seek more intellectual independence from the modern psychological community (see his Sören Kierkegaard’s Christian Psychology, Baker, 1990). There is a continuing need for the kind of philosophical reflection Evans has demonstrated if psychologists in the Christian community are to free themselves from the constraints of modernism that have inhibited the development of a thoroughly Christian psychology thus far. Though he has not been as inclined as Evans to use the term “Christian psychology,” no one has more vigorously advocated such a direction over the past decade than Larry Crabb. In contrast to Evans the philosopher, Crabb has written as a counselor and, more recently, as a spiritual director, articulating at a popular level many themes integral to a radical model of

Text Box: Christian soul-care. An integrationist in the 70’s, by the 90’s Crabb had shifted in his understanding of the task of a Christian counselor and wrote about the unique soul-healing resources of Christianity in Finding God (Zondervan, 1993), Connecting (Word, 1997), and, most recently, Soul-Talk (Integrity, 2003). More time in this issue will be spent introducing readers to another board member who has also been developing a counseling approach based on the distinctive therapeutic assets of Christianity, Sandra D. Wilson. Like Crabb, she is a widely-sought speaker and has written a number of books, including Released From Shame (InterVarsity, 2002) and Into Abba’s Arms (Tyndale House, 1998) where she shows the relational healing possible through our personal relationship with God. A selection from Into Abba’s Arms and an interview with her is found within. In addition, Diane Langberg, chair of the board of the American Association of Christian Counselors, a member of our board, a therapist for 25 years, and expert and author on the treatment of child abuse (Counseling Survivors of Sexual Abuse, Tyndale, 1998), offers some thoughts on the value of repentance for Christian counseling. It is hoped that Christians involved in people-helping will be encouraged by the potential demonstrated by Crabb, Wilson, and Langberg. Christian psychology will not provide alternative theories of neural transmission, vision, animal learning, or cognition. However, in areas of psychology like counseling, where world-view assumptions more substantially affect interpretation and practice, Christian models should be abundant. Crabb, Wilson, and Langberg have all been pointing the way. We hope you find this second

Text Box: Edification

An Interview with Sandra Wilson	2
Why Do I Try So Hard But Change So Little?	5
An Inward Look	9
Locating Christian Psychology	12
Works of Christian Psychology: New Additions	15
Meet the Board, Special Contributors, and Staff	16
The Mission Statement for the Society of Christian Psychology	16