Acting-out and the dynamics of victimization

Conclusion The trauma of child abuse resides not only in the event itself but also arises from dynamics of victimization which causes secondary trauma. Acting-out among adolescents is symbolic of these dynamics. This article has explored an ecological perspective to present a relational model of pastoral care, uplifting the impact of victimization on both the individual and the community, as well as the individual's interaction within the community.Before we nail another acting-out adolescent to the cross, we must admit here and now that the deviance manifested in victimization and its corollary, the conformity of silence, are oppressive social forces which contradict our call to transform blindness into witness, silence into revelation, and separation into reconciliation. Jesus advocated against conformity to social inadequacies, and pointed to something greater as he reconciled the separated, helpless victims to the love of a caring God.     

Jung and the mystical theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church: Comments on common ground

The authors present a comparison of the cosmological, theological, and anthropological assumptions that underlie the mystical traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and certain of Jung's mystical observations about the universe, God, and humankind. It is argued that, one touchstone of scientific validity being the universality of observations independently made, the common ground of the two divergent systems of Eastern Orthodox and Jungian mysticism suggests a universality and scientific validity in Jung's assumptions about the great unknown.Bishop Chrysostomos is Academic Director of the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies at the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery in Etna, CA. He received his doctorate in psychology at Princeton University.     

Towards a spiritual psychology: The synthesis of the desert fathers

The author presents a model of spiritual enlightenment based on an analysis of the aphorisms and experiences of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th century monastics of the deserts of Egypt contained in the standard 18th century Greek Orthodox compilation of their writings. It is argued that the attainment of a hierarchy of four basic virtues, humility, obedience, repentance, and love, incorporated into the religious system of these early Christian contemplatives exemplifies a sophisticated knowledge of contemporary dynamic and social psychological phenomena. The author identifies three steps in the process of enlightenment proffered by this system, beginning with the practical spiritual life, in which the specific control and understanding of dynamic and social psychological principles come into play; moving on to an intermediate level of action based on natural knowledge, as it is derived from psychological self-understanding; and culminating in a level of personal self-intergration and self-realization that is mystical in nature. Thenovus homo as understood in the Christian West is contrasted with the enlightened person as he emerges from this interactive hierarchy of virtues and levels of self-knowledge in the system of the desert Fathers. The paper is written with a heuristic tone and suggests that further attention be directed toward the interaction between psychological principles and mystical notions in traditional Eastern Christian literature.This paper was originally presented by the author at the invitation of the Theological Institute of Lund University, Lund, Sweden, in the autumn of 1987.