ABSTRACT
The twin acknowledgement of this exploration is to both the psychological world, with its proper interest in the Mental State, and the theological world, with its emphasis on Word and Sacrament. The skandalon of the particular always causes a collision that can never be avoided in any discussion involving Christian theology in general and Christology in particular. There are complex conscious and unconscious processes unleashed in the development and resolution of psychotherapeutic transference phenomena. This chapter exemplifies the discriminating power of allusion. Authenticity may be setting-specific, within a therapeutic setting or in a doxological setting. Deictic stress is the term used to describe enunciatory emphasis—a statement can "say" several different things depending upon inflection and weight. Psychological growth and integration cannot avoid some private journey along a way of sadness. Religious "dismissals" of psychology are equally invalid. Reciprocal ripeness is all.
