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Stephen H. Farra

Stephen FarraUndergraduate(Resident Faculty)
Director of Psychology Program
Psychology

Dr. Farra grew up in a missionary family before attending Wheaton College and Graduate School. At Wheaton, Dr. Farra met his wife Sharon. After graduating with his Master's degree, he taught psychology courses, coached cross-country, and served as the pastor of a small church in Minnesota while concurrently completing his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. He and his growing family moved even further north to the Brainerd Lakes area, where he directed two mental health clinics, one of them in a regional medical center, before moving to South Carolina to join the faculty of CIU. Dr. Farra and Sharon have been blessed with six children; two are graduates of CIU. Besides the study of human psychology, Dr. Farra loves church ministry, singing in quartets, macro photography, and deep-sea fishing.



Education and Experience:

B.A., Wheaton College; M.A., Wheaton College; Ph.D., University of Minnesota; Associate Professor of Psychology and Cross-Country Coach, Northwestern College, 1975-85; Founder/Therapist/Operational Director, Christian Counseling and Reconciliation Service, Brainerd, MN, 1985-95; Supervising Psychologist, Center Lakes Medical Center, Crosby, Minn., 1991-95; Court Appointed Examiner, Cass County, Minn., 1991-95. 1995


Contact Stephen H. Farra


Articles and Other Resources
  • A response to the "totally sufficient" Biblical Counseling movement

    - This file gives Dr. Farra's response to the "totally sufficient" Biblical Counseling movement, most recently embraced by the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention.

  • Accountability Psychology: A Biblically Consistent, Clinically Powerful Psychology

    - Dr. Farra's monograph outlines a comprehensive biblical psychology - a model that is biblically consistent, scientifically credible, clinically powerful. Accountability Psychology is an updated and expanded version of a paper presented to the Society for Christian Psychology in October of 2006. Dr. Farra argues that what has been sorely missing in our attempts to create a biblical model of human psychology has been exegetical/conceptual and scientific/empirical quality control. To be biblically and scientifically credible, he writes that we must move from "integration" to biblical consistency, and from clinical anecdote to evidence.

  • DVC / A Christian Psychologist Looks at The Da Vinci Code

    - Dr. Stephen Farra examines the parallels between the The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and the teachings of Wicca. This is a longer version of the short article found here.

  • DVC / PDF Slide Show on the Da Vinci Code

    - This PDF slide show reveals the hidden agenda behind The Da Vinci Code. Dr. Farra argues that The Da Vinci Code presents the Wiccan Way to a new generation.

  • DVC / The Da Vinci Code: The Wiccan Way?

    - This is the short, newspaper version of Dr. Farra's article on The Da Vinci Code.

  • Faith and Health

    - Dr. Farra attended the Faith and Healing conference sponsored by the Medical School of Harvard University in 1998. Since then, he has been among those who have gathered and presented results in this important and emerging area of health care research.

  • From Freud to Frankl: Psychiatry Becomes Human

    - Dr. Farra's monograph compares the lives and works of world-famous psychiatrists Sigmund Freud and Viktor Frankl. Originally published in 1979, updated in 2007, the monograph reveals some remarkable similarities and many striking differences in the orientations and actions of these men. The most important differences, Dr. Farra argues, have to do with Frankl's theistic beliefs and practices - beliefs and practices that were tested in the Nazi death camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. Buidling on the base established by Viktor Frankl, Dr. Farra argues this thesis: when Psychiatry becomes and remains theistic, then and only then, will it become and remain human.

  • Response to Soulforce and the Wider Homosexual Agenda

    - This paper (really a series of "talking points") was written at the request of the Student Life Office at CIU, in preparation for the arrival of Soulforce, an activist homosexual organization. Senior members of Soulforce bring their bus load of young demonstrators ("volunteers") - on their own time table, with their own film crews, banners, and promotional films. Soulforce demands an open forum with the students of various Christian colleges and universities, to "educate" them and dialog with them. If a Christian college or university does not provide open access, they (members of Soulforce) will demonstrate against the school, and often purposefully plan to get arrested for trespassing - in front of their own cameras, and those of the local media (invited by Soulforce ahead of time). Dr. Farra first presented these "talking points" about a week before the arrival of Soulforce. When they arrived on Oct. 6, 2008, members of Soulforce were allowed to interact with students and faculty in a designated area on the grass, near the in-gate of the university. But, they were not allowed to drive or park their bus on campus, set up banners or show films, or run a seminar in any of the university's buildings. Within these strict parameters and boundaries, some meaningful exchanges did take place. In the end, Soulforce left campus late in the afternoon on Oct. 6th, 2008 without organized demonstrations or arrests.

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