Thursday, March 31, 2011

Ancient Christian Wisdom & Cognitive Therapy

Fr. Alexis (Trader) of the Karakallou Monastery on Mount Athos has written a book entitled, Ancient Christian Wisdom and Aaron Becks Cognitive Therapy: A Meeting of the Minds, available at Amazon.com.  Secular psychology and Orthodox theology are ultimately incompatible. (You may read a previous article on "Theology and the Limitations of Psychology.")  Nevertheless, one should not be surprised when concepts or practical techniques developed within the realm secular psychology reflect the insights of the Fathers that have been passed down within the Orthodox Church over the past two thousand years.  

The introduction to the text, "Speech and Reason: Timeless Truth and Secular Echos," has been posted on the Orthodox Christian Information Center website. The books 9th chapter, "Cultivating the Garden of the Heart: Patristic Counsel and Cognitive Techniques for Schema Reconstruction," is available as a pdf document.

Fr. Alexis has written a four-part article regarding his book.  These may be found on four different blogs.  The first part appears on Mystagogy.  The second part appears on Second Terrace.  The third part  appears on the voice of stefan.  The fourth part appears on biblicalia.