On the Positive Psychology Appropriated by Hope-Based Christian Counseling

On the Positive Psychology Appropriated by Hope-Based Christian Counseling

Simon SM KWAN

Thirty or more years ago, there was strangely a dearth of research in pastoral literature addressing the notion of hope, despite the call for an increased emphasis on the notion in many fields of study, including theology, philosophy, and psychology. The past decades, However, witnessed extensive research into the area. This paper sets out to critically evaluate the various pastoral theologies of hope reflected in recent literature. The main focus will be on the deep influence of positive psychology on the construction of such pastoral theologies. It will begin with a generic sketch of the recent history of pastoral theology of hope, and then narrow down to a study of two approaches advocated respectively by Everett L. Worthington and Donald Capps. Fascinating and insightful though the approaches are, they do not, this paper will argue, critically discriminate between positive psychologies of hope and Christian theologies of hope. CR Snyder's non-dialectical notion of hope will be taken as representative of the positive psychology of hope, which will be compared and contrasted with the dialectical notion of the Christian hope. To conclude, this paper will resort to Don Browning's words: the deep metaphors of the modern psychologies tend to be singular and one dimensional, too uncomplex, and insufficiently rich to take account of the fullness of the actual range of practical living.