Great Thoughts: Christianity and Psychology
David N. Entwistle’s book, Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity, presents us with ideas and approaches on integrating psychology and Christianity (Entwistle, 2010). Entwistle’s book serves as an introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations, and models of integration (Entwistle, 2010). These issues are prerequisite for scholarly integration which is one of the primary aims of the book. Another aim of this book is to enable readers to think about how integration can be applied and lived out in real life.
Struggle between Science and Religion
Entwistle’s (2010) book begins by going through the historical development of integration. The struggle to reconcile science with faith and specifically psychology with Christianity is at the core of this development. A well known example of a clash between science and faith is the trial of Galileo by the Catholic Church in 1633 for publishing a book laying out strong evidence for a Copernican system. Galileo was found guilty of heresy and forced to recant his views. He was also placed under house arrest for the rest of his life (Entwistle, 2010, pp. 19-20). Freud’s description of religious belief as a neurosis is another example of the struggle between psychology and religion (Entwistle, 2010, p. 160).
Worldview
According to Entwistle everyone has a worldview which is a window through which he or she views the world and assumptions and beliefs that color what he or she sees (Entwistle, 2010, p. 55). Worldviews are gleaned from our experiences, education, and culture. Worldviews affect every aspect of life including theology and psychology. Often worldviews act on us subconsciously so we should make a conscious effort to be aware of them.
Paradigms
According to Entwistle (2010), concerns of psychology and theology are related in paradigms which are models based on models (p. 153). These five models or paradigms are presented along with evidence and proponents and opponents of each. These models are Enemies, Spies, Colonialists, Neutral Parties and Allies. The enemies’ model is an antagonistic model while intermediate models are spies, colonialists, and neutral parties. The last model or allies’ model is the only truly integrative one (Entwistle, 2010, p. 55). In describing the need for integrating in Bacon’s words, God’s Word (the Bible) with God’s works (creation), Entwistle states that in the end God is the author of all truth (Entwistle, 2010, p. 247).
Christianity and Psychology work together for Good
To get back to the application of psychology, applied integration asks how Christianity and psychology ought to be applied to concrete situations such as Alzheimer’s disease, marital conflict, despair, and racism. We explore how psychology and Christian theology can help us to confront personal and social issues.
According to Jones, “Christianity is not just a system of thought, but also of practice” (Entwistle, 2010, p. 219). We must strive to become God’s agents of hope and reconciliation in order to be considered Christian and glorify God (Entwistle, 2010, p. 219). And thus Enwistle’s book ends the same way it began that is by having everything we say or do be for the glory of Christ: In Christi Gloriam (Entwistle, 2010, p. 271).
Wisdom Teachings
Entwistle’s book brought a poignant remembrance to mind. It brought back the memory of the poem from William Wordsword. “Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower …we will grieve not…in the faith that looks through death…in the philosophic mind” (Wadsworth, 2012, para. 10). It brought this back to me because wisdom flows through the ages and is so fragile that is can be lost. It seems to me that we need both the wisdom of God and man through science working together.
My father and I had just finished watching “Splendor in the Grass” in the 1980s’. Being young and foolish, I refused to answer his question of what the poem meant. Not only was I disrespectful and thoughtless but I did not take advantage of his sage advice and wisdom. I deeply regret that now as I had so little time left to spend time with him and just talk.
I just wish I could have him back for a moment to tell him I was sorry and to try to explain to him what the poem meant to me. I believe that the poem tells us that everything is transient and we much take wisdom where we can find it.
Reflection
What I can say about Entwistle’s book is that I really liked it. I thought it was excellent, insightful and full of the rich, dynamic history between science and theology in general and psychology and Christianity in particular. Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity offers detailed explanations and origins of worldviews and philosophies since the ancient Greeks as a backdrop for the formation of paradigms dealing with the integration of Christianity and psychology.
This book is rich in theoretical constructs, in historical background and in paradigms of integration. It is rich in the depth and breadth of these subjects. I believe that use of this book in apologetics would be great in order to let scholars know that science and theology are not incompatible. In fact it is more reasonable to assume that the structured, ordered universe has to have a supernatural force that guides it. As Enwistle states, “Nature then is the result of the creativeness of God and not as the result of some ill-defined cosmological accident” (Entwistle, 2004, p. 100).
However, all this detail makes it somewhat overwhelming and hard to take in. I believe it is also weak in the practical application of the integrative paradigms. When I read Entwistle’s book, I thought it was about actual techniques using integration such as using scripture in psychotherapy or prayer in counseling. I did find a few practical examples of integration in a psychologist respecting a client’s spiritual beliefs and in a minister understanding that a client might need psychotropic medication for a mental disorder like depression.
Love in Action
First of all, I want to make sure that I express Christian love to those who are disabled and the elderly. That may take the form of talking to them directly and making eye contact or just listening to their stories. They have great stories to tell. They are full of wisdom. I may also try and get my mom to give me an oral history of the family so as to validate her life and its relationship to my own.
Secondly, in speaking with a counselee this text encourages me to accept people first without prejudices of gender, age, position or whatever. I want to make sure I hear each person’s story. Each person has a story within them, even a small child. I need to try and include each person in the process of nurturing whether it is dads with kids or kids with parents.
Ecclesiastes 1:13-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
Reference
Entwistle, D.W. (2010). Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Wadsworth, W. (2012, January 1). Intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood. Retrieved March 1, 2012, from Barteby.com: http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww331.html
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