Christopher Ross
Adjunct Faculty
I received my PhD in counselling psychology from the University of Calgary and my MSc in clinical psychology from Edinburgh University.
Prior to joining Martin Luther University College, I taught in the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, and taught psychology of religion at York University.
I also practised as a clinical psychologist in a variety of settings including the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, and at the Southdown Institute, Aurora, which provides psychological treatment, spiritual wellness and prevention programs for clergy and vowed religious.
The main focus of my research is the psychology of individual religious differences: how personality differences relate to the ways religion, spirituality, and other world-views shows up in the lives of individuals and communities.
Research / Areas of Expertise
- Interpretation and assessment of quantitative methods in religious studies.
- Questionnaire design.
- Application of findings in the social scientific study of religion to pastoral counselling, spiritual direction and consulting to religious groups and organizations.
- Matching mindfulness and meditation methods to personality type.
- Ontario Association for the Application Personality Type: Founding Member and Director Award (1999).
- Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Award for representing Buddhism at World Religions Conference (2003, 2010 and 2014).
I am willing to supervise graduate students interested in psychological approaches to the study of religion in both individual and community aspects.
- Personality, religion and leadership: The spiritual dimensions of psychological type theory, with Leslie Francis. 2020. Lexington Books, Lanham, MD. Senior author.
- “Buddhism, Healing and Pastoral Care,” with R. Doering in Psychotherapy: Cure of the Soul, ed. T. O’Connor. Waterloo Lutheran Seminary: Waterloo, ON., pp 83–96, 2014.
- Felicity Kelcourse and Christopher Ross, “Personality, Individuation, Mindfulness” in Transforming Wisdom, Eds. Felicity Kelcourse & K. Brynolf Lyon, 76-95, Cascade: Oregon. August.
- “Type-wise: Using Jung’s Theory of Psychological Types in Teaching Religious Studies Undergraduate and Graduate Students.” In Teaching Jung, ed. Kelly Bulkeley and Clodagh Weldon, Oxford University Press, pp. 127–150, 2011.
- “Type and reconciliation across the life-span and life-times”, Type in Depth, 2019 (2) http://typeindepth.com.
- “Reading the Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-10) through the lenses of introverted intuition and introverted sensing: Perceiving text differently” Theological Studies, 2019, 75 (4), with Leslie J. Francis and Duncan Strathie (Junior).
- “Engaging conversation with the Matthean periscope on Pilate and Judas through Jungian psychological lenses: The SIFT approach”, Theological Studies, 2018, 74 (4). ISSN: (Online) 2072-8050, (Print) 0259-9422, Leslie Francis (Junior).
- “Type patterns among evangelical Protestants in Ontario.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 2012, 15, 997–1007, with Paul D. G. Bramer.
- “New Kadampa Buddhists and Jungian psychological type.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 2012, 15, 1055–1064, Christopher Silver and Leslie J. Francis.
- “Jungian typology and religion: a perspective from North America.” Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 2011, 22, 166–191.