Etyczne aspekty stosowania psychologii w przestrzeni życia religijnego

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to present the contribution of psychology in the area of religious life and to vocational discernment and christian formation. The vocation to the priesthood and its discernment lie outside the strict competence of psychology. In some cases, recourse to experts in the psychological sciences can be useful. It can allow a more sure evaluation of the candidate’s psychic state. It can help evaluate his human dispositions for responding to the divine call and it can provide some extra assistance for the candidate’s human growth. The use of psychology and psychotherapy must be combined necessarily with compliance with fundamental ethical principles. In particular, the current challenge is now to respect ethical principles in the context of new forms of psychological manipulation, which appear today in various forms of religious life.