Psychotherapy as “Work in the Spirit”: Thinking Theologically about Psychotherapy

Abstract

This article is an exploration of the meaning, value, and function of psychotherapy within a theology of work. Using Volf's (1991) three-fold model of “work in the Spirit,” psychotherapy is seen as cooperation with God, as eschatological work, and as pneumatological or Spirit-centered work. Psychotherapy's most basic goal is to repair the broken personality. The work of psychotherapy is cooperation with God in God's own work of preserving and transforming the original, now-fallen creation. The fruit of such work—the healed and restored human person—will be the raw material from which God will build the new creation. Thus, the work of psychotherapy is God's work in both its intrinsic and instrumental value, as it honors the original creation and makes way for the new. Finally, psychotherapy is seen as God's work in that it is empowered by the Holy Spirit, who gifts, calls, and enables psychotherapists to participate in God's own preserving and transforming work in the world.