Joshua J. Knabb, Christian
Meditation in Clinical Practice: A Four-Step Model and Workbook for Therapists
and Clients (IVP Academic, 2021)
Drawing on research around mindfulness, Knabb
argues for the benefits of a distinctively Christian approach to prayer, meditation
and contemplation resourced by various branches of the Christian tradition.
Three introductory chapters set out his approach with comparisons to Buddhist
and secular meditation. Five subsequent chapters propose interventions for repetitive
negative thinking, impaired emotional clarity and distress intolerance,
behavioural avoidance, perfectionism and mentalization.
Chapters include templates for keeping logs,
exercises and questions for review. Audio recordings for some exercises are
available at: ivpress.com/Knabb1 etc. to Knabb5
https://www.ivpress.com/christian-meditation-in-clinical-practice-ebook
Some things I thought worth jotting down:
Definitions of Christian meditation (p9) heavenly
mindedness and communion with God (p11)
About one in five adults will struggle with
depression during their lifetime to the point of meeting the criteria for a
formal psychiatric diagnosis; one in three for an anxiety disorder (p22)
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM) over 300 diagnoses. The danger of pathologizing normal
experiences of psychological suffering (p23)
Domains to consider:
Thinking / cognition (e.g. repetitive
thinking)
Feeling / affect (impaired emotional clarity
or distress intolerance)
Behaviour (avoidance)
The self (perfectionism)
Relationships (p24f)
Assessing types of meditation consider: (1)
the type of attention (2) relationship to cognitive processes (3) the goal
(p36f)
Buddhist three marks of existence: impermanence,
unsatisfactoriness / suffering, no-self/ non-self (p38)
John Ball, A Treatise of Divine Meditation:
meditation as “the steadfast and earnest bending of the mind on some spiritual
and heavenly matter, discoursing on it with ourselves, until we bring it to
some profitable point, both for the settling of our judgements, and the
bettering of our hearts and lives.” (Puritan Publications, 2016, p25) quoted on
p43
Puritan Edmund Calamy on The Art of Divine
Meditation (1680): “a dwelling and abiding upon things that are holy; it is
not only a knowing of God, and a knowing of Christ, but it is a dwelling upon
the things we know; as the bee that dwells and abides upon the flower, to suck
out all the sweetness that is in the flower.” p23 quoted on p48
Biopsychosocial-spiritual model, dynamic
interaction of biological, psychological, social and spiritual (p51)
Summary of Christian meditation p54f
Comparison of Christian, Buddhist mindfulness
/ loving kindness / secular meditation pp56f, including table
Lectio divina
/ divine reading – p41 – read, meditate, pray, contemplate
(1) Bite – read slowly
(2) Chew – ponder the meaning
(3) Taste – pray, thank, praise, recognise
(4) Savor – rest in God
p58, See further Guigo II, The Ladder of Monks,
2012
D. Benner, Opening to God: Lectio divina
and life as prayer (IVP, 2010)
Developing the mental skills of attention,
present moment (non-judgemental) awareness and acceptance (some openness,
flexibility, curiosity, non-striving etc.):
Four stage process: notice, shift, accept, act
(diagram p12)
(1) noticing mind, brain, body behaviour
patterns such as repetitive thinking, worry, anxiety, self-criticism,
judgementalism, perfectionism, avoidance of distress / conflict, emotions
(2) shifting to a more spiritual / heavenly
God-centred perspective
(3) accepting the active loving presence of
God with us
(4) acting. Fellowship with God and
contentment in him as the basis of Christian living. (see esp. pp61-67
Gently and repeatedly bringing the mind back
to God, perhaps by using some short phrase of Scripture
Cultivation a spiritual awareness of God’s
active, loving presence in the here-and-now which avoids worrying about the
past which cannot be changed and the future which is uncertain
We may seek to anchor ourselves in the present
with God rather than allowing our thoughts to be on auto-pilot (p65)
Description of heavenly rather than earthly
mindedness p69ff – rather than always looking at the ground around us, we might
focus on Jesus who walks with us as our companion and on heaven as our
destination (p64)
What are our relational habits / our self in
relationship dynamics? (p63)
Try to slow down to notice any repetitive
thinking and to understand your mind with a bit of humility and distance (p80)
Puritan Thomas Goodwin wrote: "our thoughts, at best,
are like wanton spaniels, they indeed go after their master and come to their
journey's end with him, but they run after every bird, they wildly pursue every
flock of sheep they see." (Knabb, p75)
“God is the most glorious object our minds
could even fasten upon, the most alluring…. But I appeal to your experience,
are not your thoughts of him most unsteady? Do you not have as much trouble
holding your thoughts on Him as you would holding a telescope on a star with a
palsy-shaking hand?... So when we are at our business, which God commands us to
do with all our might [Eccles. 9:10], our minds, like truant children… will go
out of the way to see any sport, will run after every hare that crosses the
way, will follow every butterfly buzzing around us.”
We should view our thoughts with a healthy
dose of humility. Goodwin says, “As wanton boys sometimes scribble broken words
which make no sense, so our thoughts sometimes are – and if you could but read
over what you have thought, as you can what you have written, you would find as
much nonsense in your thoughts as you will find in madmen’s speeches.” (The
Vanity of Thoughts, Knabb, p101f)
God’s attributes, especially his four omni-s
should lead us to trust him:
Omnipotence – he is in control
Omnipresence – his is with us
Omnibenevolence – he loves us
Omniscience – he always knows and chooses the
best for us (p121)
Drawing on W. Brueggemann, The Message of
the Psalms: A theological commentary (Augsburg Publishing, 1984), Knabb pp125-128
suggests using the Psalms as a model for how to lament. He suggests considering
Psalm 13 as an example. The lament Psalms combine two main elements: (1) A
complaint or plea to God to help remedy a present situation and (2) praise to
God for listening to the petition.
Or in more detail:
(1) Calling personally on God
(2) presenting a specific problem to God
(3) asking God to intervene
(4) expressing a reason for the request
(5) confidently stating that God has heard the
request
(6) concluding by giving God thanks and praise
for hearing the request, regardless of whether or not the situation is
resolved
Greek, eleos, mercy, compassion /
kindness to the suffering. Cf. Greek, elaion, olive oil, used in healing
wounds, soothing comfort p129 citing K. Ware, The Jesus Prayer (2014)
Some “C”s for Christians to consistently
cultivate / contemplate:
Closer communion with God
Calm confidence in God
Contentment in God
Commitment to God and his will for me
Conformity to / conversion to Jesus Christ –
Christlike-character – Companionship with Christ
In the desert tradition some logismoi,
tempting compulsive thoughts / distractions from God and some alternative
virtues:
(1) Gluttony
(2) Lust / fornication
(3) Money / material possessions
Love of God (charity) self-control
(temperance)
(4) Sadness
(5) Anger
(6) Boredom / discouragement / restlessness
Patience and courage
(7) Vanity / fame
(8) Pride
Good judgement (prudence), understanding and
wisdom
(p165f)
Cf. Brother Lawrence - Mindful activity e.g.
doing the dishes slowly, carefully, deliberately, gently, lovingly, with
present attention - not impulsive, hurriedly, distractedly (p172f) –
worshipfully!
A summary of steps in Puritan mediation:
(p191f):
(1) Select a short passage of Scripture on
which to focus
(2) Pray for God’s help
(3) Shift from earthly focus to heavenly
mindedness
(4) Meditate – focus sustained attention of
the passage
(5) Move from brain to heart
(6) Feel (God’s love and grace)
(7) Commit to act on the basis of the meditation
(8) Pray
Human self in relationship processes /
dynamics – self and others
Metacognition – thinking about thinking – an element
of distance (objectivity / humility / compassion) from one’s own thoughts – a bird’s
eye / balcony / helicopter view
Mentalization (chapter 8, p203ff) minds minds.
It involves the recognition that I have a mind and so do other people! It is an
attempt to understand the relationships between (1) minds and intentions (the interior
worlds), and (2) actions and behaviours (in the external world). It attempts to
understand how I might appear to others (from the outside in) and why others
might be acting as they do (from the inside out). How people think of things
may not correspond to objective reality nor to how I think of them! Mind reading and its limitations.
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