Wisdom, Chapter 1 of The Science of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters to the Church

The day before I started this chapter I played flag football with some of my doctoral students. Though I am thirty years their senior, I tried my best to keep up for three hours of great fun. Today my sore muscles scream any time I try to move. My wife, Lisa, would say they are reprimanding me for my foolishness. Typing on the keyboard is about the only motion that doesn’t hurt. It seems both fitting and paradoxical to begin writing about wisdom the morning after punishing my body in the name of a good time. Hopefully I haven’t just destroyed any credibility I have on the topic

Perceiving the Cultural Sea that is Our Home - Spiritual Formation and Western 21st Century Culture

Spiritual formation occurs in the routines of daily living. We are formed by choices made at the grocery store, as we reach for our medicine cabinet, as we consider whether to drive ten minutes or walk thirty. Such seemingly insignificant choices reflect assumptions held about who we are, and how we are supposed to live in the world. Spiritual formation, like notions of civic duty, develops from within a cultural context. Cultural environments give us largely unquestioned taken-for- granted assumptions about how the world is and how we should live in it. This essay explores three of the many Western 21st century assumptions (the autonomous self eradicating pain, and overvaluing efficiency) that affect spiritual formation. Knowing how we are seeing a thing helps us better interpret what we are seeing and how it influences decisions we make. The hope is that in knowing, we can make choices with more intention, understanding that our decisions shape and form our soul

A Third Variable in Obesity: The Effects of Brown Adipose Tissue on Thermogenesis

Approaches to weight management which consider only energy intake and/or expenditure do not consistently lead to favorable outcomes. A third variable, thermogenesis, must also be considered in a comprehensive understanding of obesity· Three types of thermogenesis have been outlined-shivering thermogenesis, nonshivering thermogenesis (NST), and diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). The latter two types of thermogenesis, NST and DIT, may share a common biochemical mechanism which leads to heat production in brown adipose tissue (BAT) which is unchecked by energy needs. Four categories of studies are reviewed which implicate BAT as an important factor in DIT and point to commonalities in NST and DIT. More research is necessary to fully understand the role of BAT in human obesity

Home to Jesus (Chapter 9 on Finding Our Way Home)

Excerpt: Like so many, I was raised in a religious home- praying before meals, attending Sunday services, seeking to follow God\u27s will for my life. I remember getting two Christmas presents in ninth grade-a new pair of skis and a new Bible. Honestly, I was more thrilled with the Bible than with the skis (though both gifts made me ecstatic about my generous parents for a few days). I remember wondering in those youthful years why anyone would choose a life apart from Jesus. As I grew toward adulthood I began to understand their reasons. The faith I had loved as a child began to feel cumbersome, restrictive, and onerous. Still, I held on even as I noticed many of my church friends slipping away, leaving the faith behind as they negotiated the new challenges of love, work, and personal identity. I wondered where their lives were leading as I oscillated between envy for their freedom and sadness for their waywardness

Technology in Practice (Section 2.31 of the Comprehensive Clinical Psychology: Vol. 2. Professional Issues)

The contemporary practice of psychology requires a prudent balance of traditional and emerging communication methods. Interpersonal interactions in the context of human relationship (e.g., speech, emotional expressions, and nonverbal gestures) have been a vital part of emotional healing throughout many centuries, and research findings in the 1990s underscore the importance of relational factors in effective psychological interventions (Whiston & Sexton, 1993). In addition to the time honored interpersonal communication methods of professional psychology, rapid technological advances have propelled psychologists into another sphere of communication. Today\u27s professional psychologist is increasingly expected to attain mastery in both of these communication methods-the very old and the very new

Forgiveness, Chapter 2 of The Science of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters to the Church

Forgiveness is close to the center of everything Christian. It shows up in the heart of the Lord’s Prayer, which is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the centerpiece of how we understand Jesus and his astonishing critical wisdom. “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Matt. 6:12)

Advice to Authors: From the File Cabinet to the Journal Pages

Several suggestions are given for those considering authoring a journal article. These suggestions include timely submission of manuscripts, having a peer review the manuscript before submitting it to a journal, and selecting a journal that fits the style and content of the manuscript. Though authors of journal article must be resilient and capable of handling rejection letters, those who persevere often make significant contributions to Christian scholarship

Counseling and Psychotherapy Within and Across Faith Traditions (Chapter 17 in The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Spirituality)

This chapter begins with general considerations for religiously and spiritually oriented psychotherapy, including the importance of seeing religion and spirituality as d.imensions of cultural diversity, considering clients\u27 welfare and autonomy, and maintaining competence. Three types of religious and spiritual intervention approaches are then discussed: assimilative, accommodative, and collaborative. Assimilative approaches introduce spiritual interventions or considerations into a standard psychotherapy approach. Accommodative approaches involve adapting a standard psychotherapy regimen to include religious or spiritual matters. Collaborative approaches entail a mental health professional and religious leader working in tandem for the sake of clients\u27 welfare. Next, specific issues related to counseling within (when the client and counselor share the same beliefs) and across (when the client and counselor hold differing beliefs) faith traditions are offered. The chapter concludes with some thoughts regarding future directions of religious and spiritual interventions in counseling and psychotherapy

Christianity and Cognitive Therapy (Chapter 3 of Cognitive Therapy Techniques in Christian Counseling)

LEN NERVOUSLY EYED THE DIPLOMAS on the wall, the titles on the bookshelf, and the wilted leaves on the plant I routinely neglect before telling me why he came for help. I guess I\u27m here because you\u27re a Christian and I need help dealing with my feelings . Within this first thirty seconds of therapy, Len had revealed some important information about himself. He was nervous. He wanted to talk with a Christian, probably because he was also a Christian. He was troubled with uncomfortable - feelings, but wanted to be selective about the help he received. Len, like so many clients, assumed there was a standard set of techniques that make up Christian counseling. Clients often come for Christian counseling, not knowing there are many different guiding assumptions and techniques used by Christian counselors