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A Peaceable Psychology: Christian Therapy in a World of Many Cultures

Author:	Alvin Dueck and Kevin Reimer
Published By:	Brazos Press (Grand Rapids Michigan)
Pages:	288
Price:	$24.99
ISBN:	978 1 58743 105 0

Reviewed by Luke Penkett.

A Peaceable Psychology is a much needed landmark in the field of psychotherapy and will be essential reading for all working in the area of mental health, including clinicians, pastors, psychologists, and psychotherapists.

So very often where white, western Christians have waded in to daunting situations - even with the best of intentions - much irreparable damage has and continues to be done (although, thankfully, rather less now than in the past). It is essential, nowadays, to not only have compassion but also understanding and empathy with people who are indigenous to the location where the situation has arisen, understanding of the people’s culture, and empathy (insofar as it is possible) with the people’s ethnicity. This, last, the writers argue, can come about by a greater awareness of the context in which the mental health worker him/herself has trained and developed. And though there have been advances in the development of cross-cultural psychology in recent years, in which psychologists have become more conversant with anthropology and related areas, the theory and practice of a psychology that is sensitised to diversity is far from widespread.

Our former universal perspective, through which we have considered our theory and practice to be paramount, is no longer valid. What is required is ongoing conversations which are generated from an enlightened, politically and theologically sensitive psychotherapy and this is what A Peaceable Psychology offers.  

With the paradigm of Christ meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, the writers, humbly and professionally, come alongside the suffering on their own ground and on their own terms. Our empire mentality, they rightly argue, has to give way to a much deeper knowledge and acceptance of the local, with its own political and theological context, no longer marginalised but at the centre of our focus. Dueck is a licensed psychologist and Professor of the Integration of Psychology and Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary and Reimer is Professor of Psychology at AzusaPacificUniversity. Their clients and students are fortunate indeed.  

Their book offers nothing less than a way of, first, challenging their colleagues’ assumptions when coming to a traumatic situation, and, then, enabling healing to take place - healing that, primarily, takes close account of language and concept and is brought about through empowered local mental-health workers.

The book is well end-noted, with an extensive bibliography and thorough-going index.