This article investigates the nature of the dark night of the soul from a biblical, psychological, and experiential perspective, particularly in the context of St. John of the Cross' “developmental spirituality.” As there is a “developmental psychology” that provides an understanding of the dynamics at work in a person's life as they progress through life, so there is a “developmental spirituality” that investigates the various dynamics involved in the spiritual growth of the human spirit across time and the divers manners in which the Holy Spirit works within the person at different times. Hopefully, the reader will better understand his or her own developmental spiritual life (and, if applicable, that of his or her client) since conversion with regard to what God is doing in the dark nights of the soul, and thus learn how to cooperate with the Spirit who is doing work in the depths of the human heart.

The voices of other cultures need to be heard in the growing field of the integration of psychology and theology. This study phenomenologically explored the experience of integration for Chinese Christian therapists practicing in Hong Kong. The emerging themes placed the context of integration outside of the Hong Kong culture, with psychology and Christianity as foreign to the Chinese culture. Integration was founded on a dynamic and committed relationship to God. The centrality of relationship with God led to the sharing of personal beliefs with clients as well as encouragement to seek religion in their own lives. The power of theology to meet needs that could not be met elsewhere and provide meaning where none could be found, resulted in deference to the truths of theology.

There are many dedicated Christians who are in the grips of a great moral temptation, which attempts to deal with spiritual failure, guilt and shame by means of spiritual effort and disciplines in the power of the self. This article theologically-psychologically explores this moralism as a type of legalism similar to what Paul confronts in Galatians in order to address: (1) why we are tempted to be moralists on account of original sin and early parenting; (2) How to determine whether one is tempted by moralism in light of a theology of guilt and conscience; (3) How to avoid moralism by opening the heart to our Justification and the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (4) What will happen to us if we fail to resist moralism. The goal is to clarify the implications of the Cross and the Spirit for daily Christian living in resisting moralism and moving from moral to spiritual formation.

There exists a serious gap in the minds and lives of many believers between what they know to be the goal of sanctification and growth and where they know they actually are in their life. The church and its leaders would be better equipped to address this “sanctification gap” if its ministries were informed by a robust Spiritual Theology, understood in two senses or forms that are interrelated: (1) its more general form of drawing out the spiritual and existential implications of theology in order to better understand and participate in the process of transformation; (2) its fullest sense as a theological discipline in its own right that attempts to integrate (a) the Scriptural teaching on sanctification with (b) observations and reflections of the Spirit's actual work in the believer's spirit and experience. This paper addresses the nature of Spiritual Theology and a brief justification for it including various examples, for the sake of equipping leaders to meaningfully address transformation in the church.

No abstract