A Christian Spirituality and Psychotherapy

"York appropriately challenges the field of psychotherapy to develop a mature perspective in relationship to spirituality and theology. He suggests that pathology is really "a case of mistaken identity" taken from early authority figures in childhood instead of from our Creator who lovingly affirms us. York combines brilliant personal and professional experience with a profound intuition and spiritual awareness of our grounding in the Indwelling Spirit of divine love."

--Merle R. Jordan, Emeritus Professor of Pastoral Psychology, Boston University School of Theology



"In this book, Dr. York tackles the fundamental truth of relationality: God is Love. Through his own experience and an analysis of the intersections of psychology, theology, and gay identity, York reminds us that to love ourselves is to love God. To sin is to deny our inherent capacity for love and God's redemption."

--Julius Sokenu, Dean of Student Learning, Moorpark College



"Richard York's book is charming and stimulating at the same time. It is an amazing confluence of theological profundity, philosophical rigor, and experiential discernment. I am especially excited that he views the relational self as perhaps the key to this confluence in psychology. Even if you don't agree with his theology or psychology, you will find the book filled with personal and professional insights."

--Brent D. Slife, Professor of Psychology, Brigham Young University



"This book provides an emotionally rich and intellectually interesting overview of the value of spirituality in psychology. The author, drawing from his years of theological training, spiritual direction, therapeutic experiences, and clinical experiences, provides a compelling model for how and why spirituality represents an essential element of the individual that needs to be explicitly managed in the therapeutic context. Although the field of psychology has traditionally avoided spiritual and religious issues, the author argues that the field has indeed developed concepts and issues that are not very different. A greater appreciate for peoples' relational dimensions, especially their relations to transcendent realities, can provide psychological methods and theories with greater clarity of our essential needs and improved validity of the lived human experience. Although I do not always agree with Dr. York's positions, his book does provide a very interesting approach to integrating the theological and psychological sciences. Although he takes a theistic approach, it is one I find to be well balanced and disciplined by his thorough knowledge of both theology and psychology. He is not a proselytizer of any specific religion, and in fact takes the Judeo-Christian tradition to task for its sin-focused approach to describing the human experience. Always the humanist, Dr. York strives to give more depth and balance to the secular models of human functioning pioneered by modern psychology. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in how religious and spiritual concepts can be integrated into contemporary psychology. Whether you agree or disagree with Dr. York, you will come away from this informative and nuanced work with a new-found appreciation for the many competing and conflicting forces that meet at the intersection of psychology and religion."

--Ralph Piedmont, PhD, Loyola Graduate Center