Julie Exline
Moriarty and Hoffman have created A THOUGHTFUL BLEND OF THEORY, RESEARCH, AND CLINICAL APPLICATION IN THIS ONE-OF-A-KIND TEXT on people's images of God. . . . A comprehensive and cutting-edge review. . . . The chapters are well-organized and easy to compare with one another, and they contain case material to illuminate the principles being described. . . . A MUST-READ for those in the pastoral and helping professions, including therapists and spiritual directors. . . . Provides a wealth of ideas for future research. WHAT A RESOURCE! (Julie Exline, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University)
H.Newton Malony
WHAT A COMPILATION OF SEMINAL ESSAYS! I predict this volume will take its place among others such as the books by Richards, Bergin, and Shafranske published by the American Psychological Association that have established a firm basis for relating religion to psychotherapy. . . . PENETRATING. (H.Newton Malony, M.Div, Ph.D., Senior Professor, Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena)
Kirk J. Schneider
A MILESTONE IN THE LITERATURE ON EMOTIONAL CORRELATES OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. The authors are to be highly commended. . . . Provides a FASCINATING tour of the research and therapeutic implications regarding the many sided aspects of people's experience of God, from the psychodynamic to the existential-integrative, and from the neuroscientific to the multicultural. THERAPISTS AND COUNSELORS ALIKE WILL GREATLY BENEFIT from the clear and concrete structure of the book, where each of the chapters provides a very useful section on clinical theory and ends with a highly illuminating case. . . . I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TEXT for all those who are interested in the multifaceted challenges of personal and religious devotion. (Kirk J. Schneider, PhD, psychologist, Part-time Faculty, Saybrook, Graduate School and the Existential-Humanistic Institute, Author, Rediscovery of Awe, Horror and the Holy and Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy)
Brian Grant
THE MOST EFFECTIVE COMPENDIUM TO DATE of the widely diverse and highly important conversations on the formation of God-representations, and their modification in a wide range of psychotherapies. It begins with an excellent overview by the editors, followed by a highly useful review of the very diverse literature in the field, particularly marked by a scholarly, appreciative, and challenging assessment of the work of Anna Maria Rizzuto, the discussion's first and most formative contributor. The bibliographies for the 13 chapters are a real gift, allowing the reader to identify a canon endorsed by scholars who differ widely in theological and psychological starting points. When rational-emotive therapists, attachment theorists, and short-term psychodynamic therapists agree that a given paper is central to their shared concerns, you know it's important. Most of the authors agree that a change in client God-image is an appropriate goal and responsibility for much psychotherapy. This book contains a raft of methodologies for attempting that change. Particularly important new territory is explored by Noffke and Hall in their chapter on attachment theory and god-image, and by Garzon on neuroscientific therapy and the god-image. Important methodological, psychometric, and diversity issues are productively engaged. (Brian Grant, PhD, Lois and Dale Bright Professor of Christian Ministries, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana)
