Lectureship brings together schools of psychology, theology, and intercultural studies
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02/19/10
“Psychology Of, With, and For the Poor" was the topic of this year’s Integration Symposium, offered February 17 to 19 by Fuller's School of Psychology. The symposium featured John Fantuzzo, award-winning Fuller alumnus and current professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, with Penn Chaplain Charles Howard and ministry leaders Saul and Pilar Cruz-Ramos.
In his official welcome to symposium participants, President Richard J. Mouw reflected that this year’s focus on the poor and marginalized is “an agenda that emerges out of the very heart of God.”
Dr. Fantuzzo and Chaplain Howard opened the symposium with a lecture and discussion Wednesday morning entitled “Good News to the Poor: A Christian Response through Relationship, Vocation, and Disciplined Gifts.” Beginning with the story in the Gospel of John about Jesus feeding the five thousand, Howard pointed out that the “nameless little child” who offered his meager supply of fish and loaves proved that “God used one from among the poor to bless the poor.” Fantuzzo reflected on his early years working with the urban poor in West Philadelphia, when a young woman confronted him with three questions: “Who are you? Why are you here? What do you have to offer us?
“In that special moment, I knew that I was not enough,” said
Fantuzzo. “God broke my heart, stripped me of my Fuller PhD, and I knew, ‘I do
not belong here.’” He and Howard addressed each of the three questions,
beginning with “Who are you?” Fantuzzo pointed out that caregivers often focus
on fixing and saving those they work with instead of being with them. It
is important for the caregiver to express with their work, “I am with you.”
However, Howard pointed out, “The full response should be, ‘I am one who stands
with you as I stand with Christ,’” acknowledging our weakness when we try to do
it alone.
Addressing the next question—“Why are you here?”—Fantuzzo
referred to 1 Peter 3:15, which calls for a ready explanation of the hope
within the believer. “I have hope for the poor in Philadelphia,” was Fantuzzo’s
answer, reasoning, “If I pause to consider how God came to me as a poor man,
how can I not do the same and engage with the poor?”
Reverend Howard revisited the third question—“What do you
have to offer?”—and pointed out that the little boy with the fish and loaves
could have kept those gifts to himself. “Perhaps you too could be part of a
miracle,” he encouraged. “Perhaps you can bring your gifts to Christ on behalf
of the multitude.” Fantuzzo shared that the process of discovering one’s gifts
is an important one, and was a major part of his time at Fuller, along with
their cultivation and the willingness to offer those gifts.
Both lecturers stressed that everyone has been given gifts
as well as “multitude moments” where they can offer them. “Who is your
multitude?” asked Fantuzzo in closing. “And how are you going to respond to
their needs?”
Participants had the opportunity to further engage with
Fantuzzo’s three questions in a panel discussion that immediately followed the
lecture, featuring Erin Dufault-Hunter, assistant professor of Christian
ethics, and Sofia Herrera, associate director of Fuller’s Office for Urban
Initiatives.
The symposium offered more lectures and workshops
discussing psychology and the poor through Friday, including an address given by
Saul Cruz-Ramos entitled “Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Collaborative Inquiry”
and a workshop by Fantuzzo and Howard on “Good News to the Poor: An
Integration of Faith, Psychology, and Urban Education.”
For more information about integration in the School
of Psychology, click here.