Black Liberation Integrative Psychology: Implications for Clinical Theory and Practice

Abstract

Many of the frameworks that have guided our field on how psychology and the Christian faith can be conceptually and practically integrated have been critiqued for being so cognitively and rationally focused that they miss other avenues of knowing and being. These avenues include the experiential, relational, and embodied wisdom that is central to many non-Western cultures. Thus, there stands a profound need to consider additional and alternative approaches to integration that can more readily speak to the experiences of broader, more diverse audiences. James Cone, a seminal 20th-century African American theologian, is widely respected as the primary founder of Black liberation theology (BLT). BLT is predicated on the assumption that knowledge is primarily built on lived experience, and that one’s theology (orthodoxy) can and must always remain informed by one’s lived experience in the world (orthopraxy). This framework identifies Jesus’ ministry on earth as one of aligning with the oppressed and disenfranchised in society. Furthermore, BLT posits that Christians must embrace diversity in the body of Christ, including different ways of knowing and gaining knowledge. This article aims to draw from the work of Cone and the principles of BLT to identify and explicate implications for a Black liberative approach to integration, discussing how such an approach might be applied through the frame of Relational Cultural Theory (RCT). Specific clinical contexts in which such an approach might be effectively leveraged will be explored, along with examining a program that is currently utilizing such principles. Questions for further discussion and processing are also included.