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The purpose of this Journal of Psychology and Christianity (JPC) special issue isto advocate for, and theoretically and empirically contribute to, a salient, burgeoning body of literature on emic Christian worldview psychologies. From our perspective, there are a plurality of psychologies, both secular and religious, not just one, and all psychologies are emic, inevitably tethered to worldview communities that hold core, untestable, implicit and explicit worldview assumptions that are commonly unacknowledged in the peer-reviewed psychology literature. In this introduction article, we briefly define worldview in secular psychology and Christianity, discuss the reasons and goals for the current special issue, and offer a cursory review of the theoretical and empirical author contributions that are included. Overall, our aim is to draw much needed and long overdue attention to the centrality of worldview in the study of the mind and human behavior. We also wish to theoretically and empirically contribute to this growing line of research that we argue is essential for the 21st century betterment of an increasingly global society. In doing so, we hope this will lead to an abundance of worldview sources to draw upon to optimally understand psychological health across religions and cultures and, consequently, ameliorate psychological suffering.
Introduction
Every theory of personality constitutes a system of statements regarding the meaning of being human in the world. Each theory is founded upon distinctive images of the human condition and the essential relationships between man and the world. These images are, at least in part, subjective and pretheoretical in origin; rather than being results of impartial reflection upon empirical facts accessible to everyone, they are bound up with the theorists personal reality and precede his intellectual engagement with the problem of human nature.
-George Atwood and Robert Stolorow, Faces in a Cloud
A Story of Two Fish1
According to an old tale that seems to have been circulating in society for some time, two fish are swimming in the ocean when a third fish swims up to them and asks, "How's the water?" then quickly swims away. Upon the third fish's exit, the first fish turns to the second and confusingly asks, "What's water?"
In this short, incisive story, some might even call it a fable, two of the three fish are unaware...