Chris Steed

This book approaches the God-question in a different way than normal: from the perspective of psychotherapy. In a world of machine intelligence, the key idea is an analogy of being between human personhood and divine personhood as the only satisfactory way of showing that our inner conscious awareness (nourished by the validation of the self) is responded to in ultimate terms. It aims to extrapolate "from below," from our psychological experience to asking ultimate questions, drawing lines between: -Observation in quantum physics -The maternal gaze -Recognition in social worlds that confer perception in place of invisibility -The power of inter-subjectivity in relational neurobiology and therapy What has to be accounted for is our sense of personhood and how that fits in with a cosmos that is at best neutral. The metaphor of a "wifi" universe is proposed but rather than a soulless device being switched on, how a human psyche comes to a sense of consciousness of its own value is the issue here. A personal God is the best explanation for the evidence of how our personhood and subject status requires correspondence. As engaging with a neutral AI entity is bound to be "soulless," the first-person perspective requires an I-thou relationship. A universe constructed from "nature" by itself or one where the ultimate is impersonal energy just does not cut it or respond adequately to what is inside us. This book offers an account of how the realm described by physics and our inner world can tie up--perhaps the only way they can

This book approaches the God-question in a different way than normal: from the perspective of psychotherapy. In a world of machine intelligence, the key idea is an analogy of being between human personhood and divine personhood as the only satisfactory way of showing that our inner conscious awareness (nourished by the validation of the self) is responded to in ultimate terms. It aims to extrapolate "from below," from our psychological experience to asking ultimate questions, drawing lines between: -Observation in quantum physics -The maternal gaze -Recognition in social worlds that confer perception in place of invisibility -The power of inter-subjectivity in relational neurobiology and therapy What has to be accounted for is our sense of personhood and how that fits in with a cosmos that is at best neutral. The metaphor of a "wifi" universe is proposed but rather than a soulless device being switched on, how a human psyche comes to a sense of consciousness of its own value is the issue here. A personal God is the best explanation for the evidence of how our personhood and subject status requires correspondence. As engaging with a neutral AI entity is bound to be "soulless," the first-person perspective requires an I-thou relationship. A universe constructed from "nature" by itself or one where the ultimate is impersonal energy just does not cut it or respond adequately to what is inside us. This book offers an account of how the realm described by physics and our inner world can tie up--perhaps the only way they can

Finding the Valuable Person proposes a new form of therapy. The big theme is that experiences of being devalued when we are not seen or heard, diminished or suffer indignities evoke responses that show up in distress clients bring. These reactions show a prime human need for our personhood to be valuable and validated that generates soul-hungers (for connection, desire, significance, and hope) that are largely unconscious. It is a fundamental drive that can be explored with clients in the way we are relational, embodied makers of meaning and respond to agency and dignity. This constitutes four domains of the REMA approach to therapy developed in this book. Every counseling approach has its presuppositions: most describe the human person as an individual entity, separated from social context. REMA pays attention to both. REMA is theologically attuned but also incorporates realities such as gender and race that have reshaped society profoundly. For the alignment of biblical faith and counseling psychology, it is profoundly important to be attuned in both directions. REMA is not only an innovative theoretical approach, it is a working model, currently offered in a community setting but of wider application. Anyone can use it

Finding the Valuable Person proposes a new form of therapy. The big theme is that experiences of being devalued when we are not seen or heard, diminished or suffer indignities evoke responses that show up in distress clients bring. These reactions show a prime human need for our personhood to be valuable and validated that generates soul-hungers (for connection, desire, significance, and hope) that are largely unconscious. It is a fundamental drive that can be explored with clients in the way we are relational, embodied makers of meaning and respond to agency and dignity. This constitutes four domains of the REMA approach to therapy developed in this book. Every counseling approach has its presuppositions: most describe the human person as an individual entity, separated from social context. REMA pays attention to both. REMA is theologically attuned but also incorporates realities such as gender and race that have reshaped society profoundly. For the alignment of biblical faith and counseling psychology, it is profoundly important to be attuned in both directions. REMA is not only an innovative theoretical approach, it is a working model, currently offered in a community setting but of wider application. Anyone can use it

The Significance of High Value in Human Behaviour is an innovative conceptualisation of how the quest for a high self-worth works as a psychosocial dynamic, presenting the idea that feelings of impotence and low self-esteem induce a powerful impetus on negative human action. This book gives an account of what it means to base a whole psychological perspective on high value, which has been an understudied aspect of human action. Employing an ethnographical approach, the book uses client observations and social research to promote original solutions in an empathetic and engaging manner for psychological support services aiding isolated individuals. It considers the concept of a valuable self and examines the negative effects within the personality which can be generated when this drive for a valuable self is blocked through human devaluation or violence. The Significance of High Value in Human Behaviour will appeal to academics and post-graduate students in the fields of psychology and psychotherapy, psychotherapists with specialist interests in loneliness and self-worth, and sociologists concerned with the psychology of the self.

Wanted: antibodies for the virus in the mind. Faced with pent up anger against racial injustice, glaring social inequalities exposed by the pandemic, growing global strain, the economy falling off a cliff and the crisis of nature that hadn't gone away, history didn't come much bigger than this. Deep global transformations were needed. 'What will Spring be like?' articulates the social investments that were crucial to help ensure proofing against pandemics and the kind of 'spiritual stockpiling' that builds resilient communities. How did we build on what came to the fore as vital to value (economic value, people's lives no matter the colour of their skin, the value of social solidarity and the value we place on the natural world that had given us such a sharp shock?) The moment became a momentum; then a movement.

Letters from a Shuttered Country was not the first and neither the last of novels to emerge from lockdown. But it will be amond the most impacting. It instantly resonates with readers and unfolds like a contemporary Canterbury Tales as each central character pens a short story that reveals their past. Lush descriptions combine with philosophical and psychologicl insight expressed in poetry and a powerful story of redemption. For all those who have wanted the chance to begin again, mysteries from the past merge into treasures from the future. Letters from a Shuttered Country brings the power to start over, faith, plague and love into a seamless, original story.

The Significance of High Value in Human Behaviour is an innovative conceptualisation of how the quest for a high self-worth works as a psychosocial dynamic, presenting the idea that feelings of impotence and low self-esteem induce a powerful impetus on negative human action. This book gives an account of what it means to base a whole psychological perspective on high value, which has been an understudied aspect of human action. Employing an ethnographical approach, the book uses client observations and social research to promote original solutions in an empathetic and engaging manner for psychological support services aiding isolated individuals. It considers the concept of a valuable self and examines the negative effects within the personality which can be generated when this drive for a valuable self is blocked through human devaluation or violence. The Significance of High Value in Human Behaviour will appeal to academics and post-graduate students in the fields of psychology and psychotherapy, psychotherapists with specialist interests in loneliness and self-worth, and sociologists concerned with the psychology of the self.

In some places, and against prevailing trends, Christian belief and practice is not being chased out of the public square but rather, it is very active in stimulating new forms of civic and social engagement. Like two blades of scissors, an applied theology requiring both being grounded in biblical work as well as social policy, can create faith-based action that develop collaborative platforms that pass muster in today's secular culture. The theological grounding is incarnational; Incarnational suggests identification. The Identification Principle offers a new impetus to holistic and practical engagement by the church with our world. All too often, incarnational ministry is divorced from proclamation and prayer. The author, who is an Anglican minister, is responsible for a large and innovative Christian social project on the edge of city centre, which is developing new forms of community engagement in a way that does not lose the importance of spiritual formation. Word and work go hand in hand. This fresh take on incarnational life, church and society draws together recent academic research and cutting-edge ministry. It presents a renewed theology of Christian action for a new generation of evangelical leaders who have to intuitively hold together action with word and worship. The book offers both theology and praxis. Exploring the role of the atonement, the honour of God and His divine worth, the incarnation and the role of Christ. The author argues the effectiveness of proclamation, intercession, and the confronting of systemic and individual wrongs to create new types of communities that engage culture and re-focuses mission.

Chris and Stephen off Gogglebox are known and loved by millions of viewers for their outrageous humour, filthy language and adorable sausage dogs. But there's a lot more to them than that. The ex-partners have both had their fair share of ups and downs, and here in their joint memoir they carry us through their experiences on a wave of hilarious back-and-forth conversations and killer one-liners. From their childhoods:(Stephen: "Going to allotment was something we'd look forward to. Especially when it got dark and we used to nick everyone's vegetables"Chris: "We lived in this flint house on the edge of the cemetery, and not surprisingly it was really haunted.")To finding fame on Gogglebox, nothing is off-limits. Funny, frank and pretty ridiculous, this is the perfect book for any Gogglebox fan.

We live in a world that has become a resource, a world conditioned by the progressive domination of a monetary scale applied across the board. Our value and worth are contingent upon what we earn, on what we own. Amidst the increasing financialisation that characterises much of the globe, the prevailing ethos is that the only values we can usefully measure are those that can be quantified and expressed in terms of economics. Yet economic value and the value of the human are closely connected: erode the economic and you erode the personal. In the global economic crash of recent years it has been people who have been under assault not just financial value. The vulnerability of a society shaped solely by economic and monetised transactions is exposed when the economy and the monetisation of everything fails. When the economic machine seizes up, it is people who are devalued and dumped. Drawing upon his experience in government, education and the Church, the author asks: Must we be a market society as well as a market economy? Can we devise a non-economic account of describing human value and worth? Christopher Steed argues that the really important issues that frame the contemporary human situation are those that cannot be measured. Quality is also vital to human flourishing: what, after all, is wealth for? In this timely and important work, the author calls for a wider concept of value – one that encompasses both economic value and human value - and for a society that cultivates the importance of the human.