Mental Health and the Virtues of Community: Christian Reflections on Contextual Therapy

Abstract

The virtues approach is applied to Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy's (1984, 1986, 1987) contextual therapy to assess it for integration into Christian use. After an initial description of Nagy's theory and practice, the contextual framework is examined via a grammatical analysis of four contextual virtues: trust, mutuality, gratitude, and justice. Contextual therapy is shown to escape the major criticisms that have recently been leveled against psychotherapy by communitarians and to have considerable promise for use in Christian communities. For integration, however, two adjustments are required: God and his kingdom, rather than the intergenerational family, must be seen as the normarively primary objects of loyalty, and forgiveness must replace exoneration as a central therapeutic strategy.