Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Personal autonomy is a central principle in Humanistic therapy. However, for counselors of the Christian faith, the concept of grace (God’s influence) is also likely to feature in their practice. This raises the question of how to reconcile these potentially conflicting principles. This UK-based qualitative study explored how Christian-faith counselors reconcile belief in God’s influence with the principle of personal autonomy. Eight Humanistic Christian-faith counselors were interviewed, with transcripts undergoing reflexive thematic analysis. Six major themes were found: (1) Psychological Contact with a Relational God (2) Intentionality for God’s Influence (3) Internal Spiritual Locus of Evaluation (4) Surrender to the Space for Grace (5) Thin Spaces (6) Socratic Questions for Tensions. The findings indicated harmony between the two principles, operating at both philosophical and practical levels. This included a growth-through-grace conception of clients’ autonomous development. Suggestions for resolving tensions between grace and autonomy are also made. Implications of the study include the potential for Christian-faith Humanistic counselors to develop practice rationales consistent with the principle of grace, and the benefits of supervision and training in facilitating this integration.
Hodgson et al. (Wed,) studied this question.