Resurrection Psychology

An interesting read by Margaret Alter called Resurrection Psychology.  The book connects healing from a psychological, physical, and emotional perspective connected to the Biblical passages of the life of Jesus.  She sees therapy as a “value-connected” process and each of her examples are drawn from her clinical work as a psychotherapist.  The real life stories illuminate how she believes that Jesus’ life on Earth provides much of the answers and support for how humans are fragile and can move towards self-healing when connecting to the messages and stories of Jesus' life.  Some of the chapters focus on things such as the central part of forgiveness, why there are laws, how to respond to a life of “perfection,” creating the holiness of understanding one’s “humanness,” the function of responsibility, being ok with uncertainty as we won’t know the path anyway, creating your vocation for concern, how to approach evil and restraining from it, and finally, the significance of having scars.  The last chapter really wrapped things up as the physical scars we have are really much more rooted into the scars of hurt, loss, and insecurity.  This was a compelling way to look at psychology, especially for those who come from a Christian background, although I’d say a good read for those who are from other belief systems and even the Christopher Hitchens crowd as well.  It’s a series of ten discreet chapters, so not necessary to read all to get a flavor of the book.  Those with Christian background will certainly know the stories which Alter shares to make her thesis.  A good read for those in understanding the curious nature of this life.