Understanding Male Homosexuality: Developmental Recapitulation in A Christian Perspective

Abstract

Current attitudes and developments in society and the Christian community place more responsibility on Christian counselors and psychotherapists to be aware of biblical wisdom and scientific knowledge in working with homosexually oriented clients. Several etiological explanations are reviewed; those relating to family pattern dynamics appear promising and are related to biblical teachings regarding marriage and the familly. The concept of developmental recapitulation as a means of guiding therapy is discussed and related to a mode of multiple therapy with male clients having homosexual concerns.

Shifting Psychological Knowledge and Conservative Christian Media Controversies: Blaming the Judeo-Christian Tradition for Anti-Gay Prejudice in Psychiatry and Psychology

“…However, by 1974 relationships between conservative Christians and some psychiatrists and psychologists opposed to declassification were beginning to form. In addition to the introduction of the replacement category "ego-dystonic homosexuality," we can see the forging of that relationship in publications from the then newly established Journal of Psychology andTheology, which between 1974 and1980 published three positive psychological articles on the Christian therapy of homosexuals (Powell 1974;Evans 1975;Strong 1980). Furthermore, the first peer-reviewed study of ex-gay practices suggesting change is possible was published in 1980 in The American Journal of Psychiatry (Pattison and Pattison).…”