God is, always has been, and always will be Isa The Christian believes that truth exists and it can be discovered through God's Word Ps Truth gives focus to human life; it provides an anchor in a chaotic world Ps Jesus Christ is the truth John He is the primary focus of God's revelation of truth to humankind John 5: Jesus is the answer to the sin problem John 3: He provides redemption and the power for change 2 Cor 5: Through Christ, we can better understand our present life, and we can look forward to eternal life John 6: God supernaturally intervenes in human history.
All human history must be viewed in light of the supernatural intervention of God Dan 2: He existed before the creation of the world and will always exist Ps God sustains the world Acts God will intervene to put an end to the sin problem and to restore this world to its original perfection Rev 7: Human beings were created in the image of God Gen 1: Man and woman were created with individuality, power and freedom to think and to act Gen 1: They are not machines set in motion and left to function mechanistically.
Human beings were created different from animals Gen 1: They were also created in God's image, free, with an indivisible unity of body, mind, and spirit Gen 1: Human beings were created to live in community as the body of Christ Gen 1: Three aspects of humanity—creation, fall, redemption—must be considered to achieve our complete personhood in Christ. For the Christian, all true identity comes from the person's relationship with God John Only in that relationship can we attain perfection through Christ 2 Cor 5: Without God, the self is incomplete.
Human beings chose to rebel against God. Humans were created perfect moral beings, capable of choosing between good and evil Gen 2: Adam and Eve, when tempted by Satan, chose to disbelieve and disobey God Gen 3: Human beings are involved in a constant struggle between good and evil. Because of Adam and Eve's choice, Satan dominates the world at this point in human history Gen 3: All of us are guilty of choosing evil Rom 3: We are naturally inclined that way Rom 7: Only Christ can rescue us from Satan's grasp Rom 7: The Christian's moral order centers in God, not humanity. The knowledge of God provides purpose and meaning for life.
Without a knowledge of God and His Word, life on planet earth becomes purposeless, meaningless, and disheartening John With God there is purpose and meaning to life John 8: Events are moving toward God's climactic intervention to eliminate evil 2 Cor 4: Death is only a brief interlude between now and the resurrection Eccl 9: Trials and suffering have purpose in the life of the Christian 1 Pet 4: They are a part of the process of restoring God's image in us Job 5: As part of God's great plan for the redemption of this fallen world, our lives have purpose and meaning as we share God's love with everyone in our sphere Matt These presuppositions undergird the Christian's thinking about everything in the world.
How do they affect what we think about psychology? Almost thirty years ago, Wertheimer proposed eight fundamental psychological issues which every theory must address. Each is central to understanding how a psychological theory views human beings. Each foundational issue may be viewed as a continuum or as two opposing ends, with theories aligning themselves anywhere on the continuum or ends. As we examine the eight fundamental psychological issues in the light of the Christian presuppositions, we will better understand the task of the Christian psychologist who wishes to integrate her professional and religious knowledge.
The Individual as Master or Victim of Fate. The individual is viewed as purposive and active in searching for goals and creating personal meaning in life free will OR the individual is seen as the behavioral product of accidental forces and experiences, which shape existence through chance determinism. When approached from the Christian presuppositions, this one seems quite clear.
God created human beings with free will--the ability to think, to make choices, to search for goals, and create meaning in life Gen 1: Certainly God did not intend human beings to be victims of fate. Rather He intended them to master circumstances and make wise choices. They have little free choice and are the product of the conditioning they have experienced. More recent learning theorists Bandura, for example have attempted to bridge the gap by introducing elements of individual choice into the conditioning paradigm.
Could it be that the human beings God created are both subject to being conditioned and able to exercise free will and choice? If we do not get hung up on the issue that humans are solely mechanistic, in order to accept some behavioral principles, we can accept the whole view. Human beings were created to exercise free will and personal choice Gen 1: That is their primary mode, we might say. But present day human beings are also subject to the laws governing conditioning. We can acknowledge this without believing that they are solely mechanistic in nature.
Is this conditioning effect a product of sin? Was it present before the fall? I do not know. I do know that it is present today and can be of great use in child rearing, changing habit patterns, and many other aspects of life. Behavioral principles are the reason we tell people participating in the Breathe Free program to avoid their favorite chair where they smoked before and to go for a walk after dinner instead of sitting down to relax. It's a principle of classical conditioning. I also believe very firmly in the exercise of free will and individual choice. Interestingly, sometimes-behavioral principles can be used to make choices easier.
God is committed to choice and free will. It is His modus operandi. But He also used behavioral principles in His dealing with human beings. Can we be wise and use both to help people choose God's way? Human Nature as Good or Evil. Simply stated, psychological theories view the moral nature of human beings as inherently good, or evil, or neutral as in tabula rasa.
Those who view human beings as evil believe people are born thoroughly depraved, egocentric and inalterably evil. They constantly pursue their own selfish needs. The child has inborn antisocial impulses that adults must teach him to curb. Those holding the "good" view, believe human beings are born noble, naturally attracted to the good, creative, compassionate, and generous.
Moral development occurs quite naturally, if the child is shielded from the evil in society and draws from his own inner resources of goodness. Then there are those who use none of these words, but describe human beings as a tabula rasa , or blank slate, at birth, neither good nor evil. Each person becomes what life writes on his or her slate, or what their environment causes them to become.
Psychological theories also speak of an actional nature. People are active, passive, or interactive in relationship to their world. They perceive the environment as having an effect on humans and their moral natures. The active theorists believe that people reach out to influence their world, while the passive theorists describe people as being acted on by their world. The interactionists believe that people interact with the world—their world influences them and they in turn influence their world.
The moral and actional natures combine to describe human nature. None of the major theoretical schools of thought agree on both the moral and actional nature of human beings. Psychoanalytic theory Freud views human nature as evil and passive, while the behaviorists Skinner view it as neutral and passive.
Cognitive theorists Piaget and Kohlberg view human nature as good and interactive. Social learning theorists Bandura believe human nature is neutral and active, while the humanists Maslow, Rogers view human nature as good and active. Again, we do not have an exact match between the Christian SDA presuppositions and a particular theory's view of human nature.
My graduate students in character development have generally concluded that we believe human nature is some combination of good and evil and it is probably interactive with its environment. They appear to be in good company. I quote from Seventh-day Adventists Believe When our first parents disobeyed God, they denied their dependence upon Him and fell from their high position under God.
The image of God in them was marred and they became subject to death. Their descendants share this fallen nature and its consequences. They are born with weaknesses and tendencies to evil" , p. Later in the same book, another comment appears: Although marred, the divine likeness was not completely obliterated. Though fallen, corrupt, sinful, man is still God's representative on earth" p. I am especially fond of the clarifying statement about the nature of human beings on. Not only intellectual but spiritual power, a perception of right, a desire for goodness, exists in every heart.
But against these principles there is struggling an antagonistic power. The result of the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is manifest in every man's experience. There is in his nature a bent to evil, a force which, unaided, he cannot resist. To withstand this force, to attain that ideal which in his inmost soul he accepts as alone worthy, he can find help in but one power.
That power is Christ" These statements do not agree with the descriptions of either good or evil moral nature as described by psychological theory. The perfection, fall, restoration sequence is not present in psychological theory, nor is the image of God. The humanists and the cognitive theorists seem to give the most dignity to human beings, while the psychoanalysts believe them to be totally depraved, with no hint of or desire for goodness. No theory describes restoration in the biblical sense.
This is a crucial area for the interface between the Bible and Psychology. The Christian psychologist must be very careful here, especially as he or she works with people to effect change in their lives. What the psychologist believes about the moral and actional nature of human beings vastly influences the manner in which he or she approaches therapy. I have heard Seventh-day Adventist counseling and clinical psychologists state their position thus: A prospective teacher once told me, in response to my question about his views on the integration of psychology and religion, "I don't see where they interface.
One is religion, the other is psychology. They don't have anything to do with each other. Psychology and religion both describe the moral and actional nature of human beings. If we consider that the nature of human beings is a foundational issue for selecting counseling methods and for child rearing practices, then religion and psychology have a great deal to do with each other. Psychological theories tend to fall into either the parts or the whole camp.
The parts, or andsummative, approaches try to understand any phenomenon by looking at the sum of its known parts. The parts do not interact or influence each other. They are simply analyzed separately. The whole, or transsummative, approaches believe that the whole is something different from the sum of its parts. The parts interact and influence each other, creating a new whole. The parts have influenced each other to make the whole. Music provides a enlightening example. The "Moonlight Sonata" is much more than the sum of the notes on the pages.
The total effect includes the way the notes are influenced by rhythm, harmony, and expression to create a whole musical experience. A human being, created by God, is much more than the sum of its parts—eyes, ears, cells, heart, mind, etc. The parts create the whole as they influence each other and interact to make the living being, created in the image of God. The parts are understandable only as they contribute to the whole. Truth is not decided by putting together smaller pieces to make the whole.
Truth is more than the smaller pieces—it is the whole. The whole actually gives meaning to its component parts. Likewise, God's view of human beings includes the totality of their experience Ps ; 1 Thess 5: An isolated experience does not define the person, in God's eyes. Christ calls us to wholeness and unity in love 1 Cor 1: We grow in completeness in our relationship to Christ. God's Word very clearly indicates that we must bring the totality of ourselves into this relationship Deut 6: If we keep parts of ourselves outside of the relationship, we cannot experience the transsummative nature of being one with Christ.
We restrict our personhood. The redemptive relationship helps us mature in wholeness 2 Cor 5: God is also interested in the small parts of his human subjects. He knows infinite details about each person—when they were conceived Ps But the details do not define the person. God's redeeming grace brings about the transformation of the parts into the whole, a creature made in God's image. This issue is so central to psychology that theorists can be classified according to the emphasis they place on the study of the mind or the study of the body. Is human behavior explained by the mental events inside the person or by the underlying neurophysiological events?
Psychology has dealt with this issue in various ways. Materialistic views look at the body and use objective measures. Idealistic views tend to be phenomenal and use subjective methods, such as introspection. Parallelistic views hold that mental and bodily processes occur in parallel fashion, but do not necessarily influence each other, while the interactionist view believes that the body influences the mind, and the mind influences the body.
Seventh-day Adventists believe that each human being is an indivisible union of the body, soul, and spirit, which "function in close cooperation, revealing an intensely sympathetic relationship between a person's spiritual, mental and physical faculties. Deficiencies in one area will hamper the other two" Seventh-day Adventists Believe The current emphasis in psychology on the study of the brain and on cognitive psychology may eventually pose a serious threat to the Christian psychologist and the integration process.
Cognitive psychology is interdisciplinary, including neuropsychology, computational cognition, neural networks, evolutionary psychology, and contemporary approaches to consciousness. These views are based on an evolutionary axiom: The purpose of the evolution of human beings is the urge to survive, to reproduce the species.
In contrast, the Christian axiom might state that one important reason for the creation of the mind involves our relationship with God, who speaks to us through our minds.
This would include conscience and moral decisions. Some psychologists study people from a subjective viewpoint using cognitive, introspective, experiential, and phenomenological methods. Thought processes are not considered appropriate for study because they cannot be observed externally.
The Holy Scriptures suggests that the internal matters more to God than the external 1 Sam Our thoughts and motives are primary, although our actions are not discounted Mark The right actions for the wrong internal reasons become wrong actions, too. The whole picture becomes wrong.
Right actions for the right reasons—help the hungry because you are helping Me Matt The Christian strives to know the mind of God, to think His thoughts and to translate those thoughts into every day actions Rom How much does past experience account for present behavior? Explaining the meaning of a psychological event can place strong emphasis on what a person has learned and how he or she was conditioned, or on ahistorical insight as an avenue to understanding the event.
Present oriented views emphasize freedom of choice in the immediate situation. Past oriented views are mostly concerned with the person's history of reinforcement and learning. It seems to me that the Bible supports the present oriented view more than the past oriented one Isa 1: Grace can wipe out all the evil of the past and give the person a new beginning without the tendencies of the past, although the scars of past experiences may remain. God looks at the person as he is now, not as he was in the past Acts 3: Although God does consider the person's past—where she was born—when deciding what would be best for her future, He also wipes away that past—"neither do I condemn you"—and focuses on the future—"go and sin no more" John 8: Contemporary psychology does not ignore the influence of either nature or nurture on the person.
The debate consists in the extent to which an individual's behavior is determined by his genetic makeup or his past learning experiences. Are people's lives determined by their genes, or do they have some say about the matter through how they deal with life's experiences? I believe God's Word stresses the importance of nurture—any tendency to evil can be overcome through the grace of Christ. Our individual genes are not an excuse for wrongdoing. Certainly we are creatures with a genetic makeup, made this way by the Creator. But we are more than pawns of genes—we have choices to make Josh Psychological theories tend to focus on simplicity or complexity--a few general laws that are easy to understand, or many complex explanations for psychological events.
The simple explanations focus on sensation, learning, perception and motivation, while the more complex explanations look at psychopathology, affect, and the unconscious. Again, we might explain God's view as a combination of simplicity and complexity. Certainly, salvation has a simple directive—believe and be saved John 3: But explaining how the person came to believe or disbelieve is certainly complex.
Overall, the Bible probably leans toward the complexity of human beings, considering their genetic makeup, life experiences, cultural background, sin tendency, and the influence of the Holy Spirit and God's grace on their ultimate choices. Our examination of the Christian presuppositions and the fundamental areas of psychology has highlighted some of the issues the Christian psychologist must face as she tries to integrate her professional training with God's Word.
How does this work out when evaluating learning theories, therapy models, parenting styles, personality theories, or moral development stages? Theory is fine, but what happens in a real-life helping situation? How do the Bible and psychology combine in the work of the Christian psychologist? The Bible and Psychological Theory and Practice. In this section I will look at a few selected areas of psychological theory and practice and briefly discuss how the Bible might inform each area. Within the limits of this essay, it is not possible to examine any area in depth.
Rather, I will briefly summarize some important issues and make suggestions for further thought and exploration. As mentioned earlier, counseling and clinical psychologists have written the most about the integration of faith and practice, so it seems appropriate to begin with this area.
I would like to suggest that the Christian psychologist must be aware of at least four different questions impinging on the practice of psychotherapy: I am greatly indebted to Jones and Butman for their insights on all four of these questions. The first responsibility of the Christian psychologist is to acquire a Biblical view of the nature of human beings and how God intervenes to help people in trouble. Having done this, the Christian psychologist must next examine each proposed psychotherapy model, comparing its philosophical assumptions and its models of personality, health, abnormality, and psychotherapy with the Christian presuppositions and God's total view of human beings.
This step requires a great deal of clear thinking and evaluating of each aspect of a therapy model. Ideally, this evaluative process would occur at the graduate school level, but most Christian psychologists are not trained in programs with a Christian world view.
Those who are have a distinct advantage in this process, although some Christian schools are more intentional than others about helping their students work through this evaluative process. Most psychologists come to grips with their psychotherapy model after they have confronted the realities of practice. Their previous experience of evaluating models could be very useful at this point. Jones and Butman have done just such an appraisal of psychotherapy models. Each major model is carefully and thoroughly compared with the Christian presuppositions. At the end, they conclude that "none of the theories can be rejected out of hand, but none can be wholeheartedly endorsed by the Christian counselor" p.
Each theory is lacking when compared with God's view of personhood, but some come closer than others to the Biblical viewpoint. One of my graduate students Leader, summarized Jones' and Butman's pages of appraisal in a succinct and informative page chart, which is very useful for a quick, look at the most important issues. While God's Word has a great deal to say about personhood, it does not propose a specific psychology, as we speak of it today. We need the specificity of a comprehensive model of psychology in order to best help hurting people. What would such a model include, if there were one?
Jones and Butman , p. A deep appreciation of the value of being human and of individual human beings;. A vision of our need for a love relationship with our Creator, attainable only through the forgiveness offered through the death of Jesus Christ;. An understanding of the essential place of the work of the Holy Spirit in ultimate healing;.
An understanding of our fundamentally relational natures and need for love and acceptance, including the importance of family and community for us all;. A balance of emphasis on thinking, feeling and behaving, as each has a clear and important place in human life;. An appreciation of the power of sin and evil;. An understanding of the influence of a spiritual world on day-to-day human functioning;. A respect for human freedom and agency, yet one which recognizes limitations to human choice s well;. An appreciation of habit, skill and learning;.
A balanced attention to within-the-person and external-to-the person influences on human action;. A vision of life that suggests there can be meaning to suffering and that we are called to pursue something more than our personal gratification;. A respect for individuals that is grounded in God's love for each person, yet without a worshiping of the individual disconnected from others;. A commitment to holism in understanding the person, but with a sufficiently developed set of specific postulates about molecular processes in personality to guide actual intervention and the change processes;.
A respect for our intrinsically moral natures and the value of obedience to appropriate authority, pre-eminently to God and his Word;. A respect for physical and nonphysical aspects of existence;. An appreciation but not a deification of rationality, balanced with an equally appreciative understanding of our 'transrational' aesthetic, symbolic and story-telling natures;. A recognition of our need to worship and be committed to the one who transcends all that we can know or imagine; and.
A love for Christ's body, the church, and a commitment to furthering the church's work in this world. Such a model does not exist, may never exist. So the Christian psychologist is faced with the task of evaluating the existing models and constructing a working model which will include the most important imperatives of Biblical thoughts about personhood and the change process. Psychological eclecticism holds promise for this endeavor. Eclecticism was defined in by English and English as the "selection and orderly combination of compatible features from diverse sources, sometimes from otherwise incompatible theories and systems; the effort to find elements in all doctrines and theories and to combine them into a harmonious whole" p.
Until the eighties, psychologists viewed eclecticism negatively--a sloppy and undisciplined approach to therapy. However, research has not affirmed that any one theoretical approach is best for helping people change in all situations. Some approaches have been affirmed for specific disorders, but not for all. This has been humbling to proponents of particular theories. In the process of all this emphasis on the research outcomes of different therapies, eclecticism has become much more respectable.
The Christian psychologist can now pick and choose with respectability.
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Pragmatic eclecticism proposes to pick and choose by what is "best for the client" with no regard for theoretical orientation. This is the approach most often endorsed by practitioners. However, it has some significant problems. It provides very little direction for the therapist. Well designed research studies which confirm the "best approach" are still relatively scarce, while very few clients present with one discrete problem, as in research studies. Most practitioners cannot be competent in all theoretical approaches.
Metatheoretical or transtheoretical eclecticism seems to be the approach most often endorsed by researchers and authors. This approach tries to "get behind the theory" and looks for theories or practices common to many approaches, such as common stages in therapy or the verbal and nonverbal counseling responses which all approaches use.
Most of this work has focused on the relationship between therapist and client as an explanation for the effectiveness of various theoretical approaches. Certainly this rings true for the Christian therapist. We believe in the centrality of relationships, with God and with people. Theoretical integrationism or pluralism begins with one theory as a foundation and reaches out to one or two other models which can be assimilated into the major model to help enrich and expand its approach.
The best known "success story" of this approach is cognitive-behavioral therapy, a well accepted and frequently used model. A further "marriage" of cognitive-behavioral and Adlerian therapy has been suggested and there might be merits to this combination for the Christian psychologist. But it would not be complete and probably would need enhancing from aspects of several other models.
The final step in this process involves examining the role of the psychologist as a committed Seventh-day Adventist. How might this impact on the vocation of psychology? In many ways the psychologist deals with sensitive issues similar to those addressed in pastoral counseling, but with the added complication that some clients have no overt interest in religion.
The practicing psychologist must function as a competent professional who does not "force" his viewpoint on clients, but rather is sensitive to the client's needs, while working within the framework of his or her Christian presuppositions. This is a delicate balance, but an achievable one, as demonstrated daily by many Seventh-day Adventist practitioners who complement the work of the church, rather than offering an alternative. The psychologist who takes her Christian vocation seriously will want to examine how she models God to her clients, for she is in a god-like position to many of them.
This is a serious responsibility, which cannot be ignored. Careful study of God's characteristics and how these play out in His relationships with human beings will bring to focus many aspects of God's character which sound like "good therapy": Jones and Butman provide an excellent discussion of these issues. How does a Seventh-day Adventist psychologist's commitment to take the gospel to all the world impact on his practice of psychology? The therapy hour is obviously not an evangelistic campaign, but it is a sharing of the god-like characteristics of the committed Christian with a hurting person.
No ethical psychologist would impose his religion on a vulnerable client. His respect for the client directs him to be open about the therapeutic methods he proposes to use and to always offer the client informed choices. The therapist-client relationship is a delicate balance. The responsibility for this relationship rests squarely with the professional. He will evaluate every nuance of each therapeutic encounter and will always be tuned in to discover a seeker for truth. If he senses that his client wants to learn more about the Seventh-day Adventist church—as in Bible studies—and the therapeutic relationship still needs to continue, he could refer his client to a minister or active layperson for actual Bible studies.
This does not rule out using the Bible and prayer as appropriate during therapy, nor does it rule out leading a person to Christ for forgiveness and salvation. But an extended series of Bible studies might bring about conflicts between the therapeutic relationship and the proselyter role. If therapy has concluded, the psychologist might feel free to give Bible studies himself. The psychologist has many opportunities to find people with such needs.
She can bring the Good News to many people, if handled discretely and within the context of responsible therapy Wilson, Obviously, the questions I have attempted to address in a limited way in this section provide a great challenge for the student of psychology and the Seventh-day Adventist practitioner.
Much serious thinking needs to be done. Even though there may never be a "Seventh-day Adventist therapy"—and it might not even be desirable to have one—colleges and universities where psychology is taught have a responsibility to help their students gain a thorough understanding of the Biblical foundations for thinking about and helping persons.
Furthermore, their students need to be skilled in evaluating and integrating therapy models. As these students move on to graduate school in secular universities, this knowledge will serve them well. Graduate programs in psychology sponsored by SDA universities should provide their students with many opportunities to evaluate and integrate therapy models, basing their work on the Biblical model for understanding human beings within the context of their fallen natures and the restoration process.
Graduate students need to be challenged to think through their approaches to therapy and how they are going to deal with the issues brought up by their Christian beliefs which are not addressed by any of the therapy models. This challenge will not occur if professors have not addressed these issues themselves and are not committed to this process. Which brings me to the careful selection and mentoring of professors of psychology who teach in the Adventist system. Most will have received their training from secular institutions and, in my hiring experience, have not given much thought to these issues.
They will need much mentoring from senior faculty who are known for their solid thinking along Biblical lines. In my experience young professors who have trained in institutions with a Christian world view are much more open to this process. Therapy is not the only area where an integration of psychology and the Bible can successfully occur.
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Moral character development, another area of interest, is actually closely related to therapy as many clients bring moral character issues with them. Moral character development is an area where the interface between the Bible and psychology holds the potential to be very strong, a subject with extensive readings from both fields. I have taught a graduate course on the Psychology of Character Development for over twenty years. My frustration with the purely secular viewpoint led me to develop a page syllabus which attempts to integrate the Biblical viewpoint, Ellen White's writings on the subject, and the secular and religious literature and research.
Over the years my students have produced a number of excellent models of moral character development, which integrate the religious, and the secular viewpoints. While character development was an early subject of inquiry in psychology, the focus narrowed to the area of moral reasoning as Kohlberg began to dominate the field.
By the seventies, psychology had thrown out character development in favor of moral development. In fact, many prominent individuals in the field were convinced that character per se did not exist. Character implied a certain consistency of behavior coming from inner motivation, which researchers concluded did not exist. So character was abandoned in favor of moral reasoning. The general public never abandoned the idea of character and frequently talked about it with respect to politicians, criminals, their own children, and themselves.
But psychology ignored it for at least two decades, proclaiming it did not exist. A few lone voices in psychology, such as Kevin Ryan of Boston University and Thomas Lickona of SUNY, persisted in talking about character, but they were often ignored and sometimes even ridiculed. The social scene of the nineties in America jolted psychologists out of their ivory tower, as the public clamored to understand why flawed character was so frequently on display.
More sophisticated research techniques led some moral development specialists to reconsider the earlier data on the basis of which "character" was thrown out. And so today character is again a suitable subject to discuss in psychology, although not with complete acceptance. Decades of research activity were lost because the focus was on moral reasoning alone, which is actually quite different from the totality of character. His focus was primarily on the development of moral reasoning during childhood and adolescence.
The philosophical underpinnings of his theory have been widely criticized in both the secular and religious realms. If we can get past his philosophy and his definition of justice as the overarching moral principle, and concentrate on the observed stages of development in thinking about moral issues, we can find much useful material for understanding the development of moral thinking during childhood and adolescence and for understanding where adults are coming from in their thinking about moral matters. However, I have observed that many Christian writers swallow the whole package, which I believe is incompatible with the Christian presuppositions because of its philosophical base.
The moral development research literature provides details about how children and adolescents develop morally which are not present in the Biblical account. Yet, an examination of God's dealings with people throughout the history of the Bible brings to light many examples of the stages of moral development proposed by Kohlberg Kohlberg, and others. Throughout the history of God's dealings with human beings, love has always been His ideal Deut 6: He wanted His laws to be internalized through His Spirit and to result in a relationship of love between Himself and human beings and between human beings.
When people were not ready to understand this level-three way of thinking, God attempted to reach them in ways they could understand: He provided a law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, and spelled out in a comprehensive system of rules which brought order to the nation of Israel, suggestive of the second level of moral development Exodus Before Kohlberg's work on moral reasoning, his professors, Peck and Havighurst of the University of Chicago, developed stages of character development which encompass thinking, feeling, and acting and which I believe are quite compatible with the Christian presuppositions.
Although these stages are not well known today, they still provide a basis for understanding character development which I think can be very helpful for the Christian. I suspect they will come back into focus again as the whole field is reexamining the idea of character development, instead of just moral thinking. I have often wished we could pursue a longitudinal study, such as theirs, on character development among children and youth in the Adventist church. I think it could be very enlightening.
The psychological literature acknowledges that moral character development includes moral thinking, moral feelings, and moral actions. Moral thinking has been the focus of the bulk of the research, although interest in the other areas is blossoming as the moral actions of children and teenagers stagger our sense of right and wrong. Teachers and parents are interested in guidelines for teaching values and helping children develop strong moral characters, including feelings and actions—not just dialogue about moral issues, as in the moral thinking model.
Lickona has been very active in helping both parents and teachers understand character development and how to influence it positively during childhood and adolescence. His model is a very practical one which includes moral thinking, moral emotions, and moral actions. While his writing has been for the general public and for the public schools, his ideas are very compatible with the Christian presuppositions. He himself is a very religious person and it shows in how he approaches the subject of character development, even though religion is not mentioned.
In Lickona's model, Moral Knowing includes moral awareness, knowing moral values, perspective-taking, moral reasoning, decision-making, and self-knowledge. Moral Feeling includes conscience, self-esteem, empathy, loving the good, self-control, and humility. Moral Action includes competence, will, and habit. The different components of Moral Knowing and Moral Feeling are complementary. Due to limited space, I will offer only one example of the use of both Biblical and psychological ideas on character, specifically character change during adulthood.
This is a topic on which the research literature is very sparse and where the Bible offers the best explanation and solution. Satan's Counterfeits see Table 2 is based on a spiritual approach to character change. Potential psychological and spiritual results are suggested. Many more could probably be included and other Bible verses could be used. This table is only intended as a starting point for discussion.
Conscience development is another area where the interface between the Biblical and the psychological viewpoints can be very helpful to parents and teachers who are concerned with the young. Parent-child relationships and disciplinary practices have been studied extensively by psychologists. Their insights offer much guidance to parents as they help their children grow in character. I could continue with a similar comment about almost all the topics we consider in a course on character development, except one.
No values, "dead conscience", reject voice of Holy Spirit, neurotic guilt, salvation by works, situational values. No basis for values. Work harder to please God. Recognize problem in life. No repentance, pride of opinion, false repentance, denial of wrong, self-justification and rationalization, rebellion, give up, wrong motives. Continue in wrong doing. Solidify attitude of "I am right" No need for change. No confession; superficial, forced, or false confession. No sense of freedom. Opportunity to start over again.
Eliminate or confuse forgiveness: Can't forgive self, can't forgive others, can't accept God's or others' forgiveness. Depreciate self, damaged people relationshipsneurotic guilt. Improved relation- ships with others. Too difficult—not necessary, partial restitution only. Acceptance of God's view of future potential. Become more like God. No attempt to forsake evil, weak attempt with own will power, failure, lack of trust in God.
No growth in character. The Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the relationship between health and character is unique. The psychological literature does not even hint at this relationship. As I have come to understand it, the core of this relationship lies in the effect of certain unhealthy practices on the functioning of the mind. God speaks to human beings through their minds. To the extent that the mind has been damaged, to that extent communication with God is lessened.
Human Nature: Reflections on the Integration of Psychology and Christianity
In a spiritually based model for character development, communication with God is essential for growth. Clouse has written a significant, very understandable, book integrating psychological and religious thought on moral development. She explores the main theoretical approaches to moral development with their implications for schools, families, and churches. Her integration work is based on a "godlikeness model" strongly reminiscent of a statement from the book Education: Godliness—godlikeness—is the goal to be reached" White, , p.
Unfortunately, in a significantly revised edition under a different title the "godlikeness model" is not so clearly stated. Psychological theory related to moral development is very complex and detailed, and sometimes difficult to understand. Moral Psychology Lapsley, , one of the required readings for doctoral psychology majors in the character development class, has proven to be a challenge for them. I think part of its complexity is related to the difficulty of controlling variables in such a complex issue as character development.
Another part is related to the total lack of religious explanations for moral development and the attempt to explain it from a purely secular viewpoint, sans Holy Spirit, God, and the change of direction offered by salvation through Jesus Christ. I believe the integration of psychology and the Biblical viewpoint is imperative, and a natural, for this subject. He is a leading experimental neurophysiologist, former chairman of the International Neuropsychological Symposium, and the author of several books dealing with the integration of science and faith.
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Pastoral Care in Context: An Introduction to Pastoral Care. Five Views Spectrum Multiview Books. Knowledge and Christian Belief. Here's how restrictions apply. Templeton Press; 1st edition April 1, Language: Start reading Human Nature on your Kindle in under a minute.
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THE BIBLE AND PSYCHOLOGY
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