The Reciprocating Self: Human Development in Theological Perspective
Overview
On the basis of a theologically grounded understanding of the nature of persons and the self, Jack O. Balswick, Pamela Ebstyne King and Kevin S. Reimer present a model of human development that ranges across all of life’s stages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, elder adulthood. They do this by drawing on a biblical model of relationality, where the created goal or purpose of human development is to become a reciprocating self—fully and securely related to others and to God. Along the way, they provide a context for understanding individual development issues—concerns, tensions, worries or crises encountered by the self in the context of change. Awareness of these issues is most pronounced at developmental transitional points: learning to talk and walk, beginning to eat unassisted, going to school, developing secondary sexual physical features, leaving home, obtaining full-time employment, becoming engaged and then married, having a child for the first time, parenting an adolescent, watching children move away from home, retiring, experiencing decline in physical and mental health, and, finally, facing imminent death. Throughout, Balswick, King and Reimer contend that, since God has created human beings for relationship, to be a self in reciprocating relationships is of major importance in negotiating these developmental issues. Critically engaging social science research and theory, The Reciprocating Self offers an integrated approach that provides insight helpful to college and seminary students as well as those serving in the helping professions. Those preparing for or currently engaged in Christian ministry will be especially rewarded by the in-depth discussion of the implications for moral and faith development nurtured in the context of the life of the church.
Top Highlights
“‘What we need today is a better understanding of the person not just as an individual but as someone who finds his or her true being-in-communion with God and with others, the counterpart of a Trinitarian doctrine of God’” (Page 23)
“Reciprocity is the glue that holds the relational polarities of uniqueness and unity together” (Page 40)
“Chapter three seeks to provide a biblical basis for such an ideal relational context. The biblical depiction of God’s relationship to human beings is used as a model for how God desires human beings to be in relationship with each other. We argue that a reciprocating self can develop best in a relational context that is characterized by unconditional love commitment, gracing, empowering and intimacy.” (Pages 17–18)
“In nonreductive physicalism there is no soul, but rather human beings have biologically embedded capacities that facilitate knowing and relating to God. This involves having the cognitive, affective, sensory (or perhaps otherwise) capacities needed to relate to God, others and self.” (Page 26)
“This book seeks to provide a Christian response to the empty self by drawing on theological anthropology and RDS in order to provide an alternative view of selfhood—the reciprocating self.” (Page 22)
- Title: The Reciprocating Self: Human Development in Theological Perspective
- Authors: Jack O. Balswick, Pamela Ebstyne King, Kevin Reimer
- Edition: Second Edition
- Series: Christian Association for Psychological Studies
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Life cycle, Human › Religious aspects--Christianity; Developmental psychology › Religious aspects--Christianity; Maturation (Psychology) › Religious aspects--Christianity; Christianity › Psychology
- ISBNs: 9780830893485, 9780830851430, 9780830827930, 0830893482, 0830851437, 0830827935
- Resource ID: LLS:RCPRCTNGSLF2ED
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-19T17:08:53Z