Description
Becoming Fully Human: Reflections on Human Development, Attachment theory, Interpersonal Neurobiology and Trinitarian theology.
The glory of God is humans fully alive, said the old saint Irenaeus of Lyon. Shalom or flourishing is another way of understanding being fully alive.
The journey of Christian faith is a journey towards becoming fully human – not an escape from our humanity. Since we are made in the image of the Trinitarian God who is Father, Son and Spirit, bound together in a mutual reciprocal relationship, our humanity is inherently relational. We therefore cannot understand our humanity and our Christian formation without understanding the significance, function and importance of relationships, and the embodied nature of relationships. Another lens to view this reality is through the lens of attachment theory, the science of relationships, blended with insights from interpersonal neurobiology.
From a psychological, developmental perspective, we all grow older, but we don’t all grow up. In this seminar we will explore, from a Christian perspective, what it means to be fully alive, fully flourishing in each developmental life stage. Once we understand what leads to flourishing (or in psychological terms, the conditions for maximal emotional and psychological maturation) we can then gain some insights about what might be missing when we witness non-flourishing, stagnation or developmental ‘stuckness’, in our own lives or in the lives of those we care about and care for.
This day seminar will:
• Provide participants with a holistic view of human development: the process of spiritual, emotional and psychological maturity
• Integrate Trinitarian theology and an attachment based developmental paradigm of human relational flourishing, blended with insights from neuroscience of what psychological rest and growth entails.
• Offer a framework for understanding God, as a relational community of love, the primary attachment system of the Cosmos, the function of community, the significance of relationships, the influence of parents, Christian formation and all dimensions of personal growth.
This seminar is suitable for:
Christian Counsellors, Spiritual Directors, Pastoral workers, Youth workers, Pastors and Relational Theologians or anyone interested in spiritual formation blended with Attachment theory/psychological and emotional maturation.
