John H. Coe and Todd W. Hall explain Christian psychology, part 2

Thus will be a continuation of our look at Christian psychology as explained by John H. Coe and Todd W. Hall. Like the good presuppositionalist, these Christian theologian-scientists refuse to methodologically or ontologically separate psychological science and theology:

"We argue that our transformational psychology is uniquely committed to a single, unified methodology that is capable of providing a science or "psychology" of both created and distinctively Christian realities-for it makes no distinction between them methodologically. That is, this psychology does not merely have as its data the natural phenomena of the person but includes "Christian realities" as a legitimate datum of science. These "Christian realities" are comprised of the contents of Scripture, the nature of the human spirit, values, sin, our capacity to be indwelt by God, and so on. All of these realities are within the boundaries of our transformational approach to psychological theory and research. This is a correction to a wrong turn in the history of modern science, which bifurcated the world into the "scientific" and the "ethical-religious" by means of a dichotomy between naturalistic and theological methodologies."

Thus, these writers are not mere presuppositionalists, but presuppositionalists whose aim is to define how science must be methodologically and ontologically integrated with science. Transformational psychology, from their perspective, "is less about the relationship between two distinct fields or methodologies (science/psychology and theology) or two distinct domains (natural, psychological realities and "Christian" realities), and is more about doing a single, unified - though complex - science and psychology off reality."

While the methodological naturalist insists on being purely descriptive (a modernist pipe-dream), the Christian scientist is quite open to the fact that he must be prescriptive. Christian theology is a one-size-fits-all theology. In other words, there are behaviors and attitudes that are objectively good and those that are objectively bad. The Christian scientist reserves the right to prescribe such ethical categories and insist on how people should act. This is an essential component of the premodern view of science, according to which scientific investigation is integrated with the rest of our entire worldview, including our theology, and, in this case, our ethics. This ethical approach has crucial implications for our epistemology. The Christian transformational view thus

"any a priori view of science and scientific methodology that insists on being purely descriptive in nature, prohibiting the possibility of providing facts about values and prescriptions for living. In fact, it turns out that transformational psychology rejects the following notions: (1) that Scripture is the only place for finding wisdom or prescriptions for living well in God and (2) that psychology and its scientific methodology are solely descriptive in nature."

Indeed, an essential component of transformational psychology is that science can prescribe certain ways of thinking and behaving that are objectively good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, righteous or evil. Old Testament wisdom literature provides objectively correct and righteous means of behaving.

"the Old Testament wise man (a sage) insists that it is possible to discern prescriptions or wisdom for living from observing and reflecting on creation and human persons in their complex situations in real life. This, in turn, provides a biblical justification for dialogue with the unbeliever's partially distorted wisdom. Thus, the Old Testament sage is a kind of biblical prototype for doing psychology in God, as a science that is both descriptive and prescriptive in nature.

The Old Testament sage had the unique role of instructing or giving counsel to Israel concerning how to live well in all areas of life on the basis of his wisdom and experience (Prov. 1:1-6, 8-9; 4:1; 6:20) and not solely from the prescriptions of the Torah. Of course, he recognized that the essence of this wisdom involves having a right relationship with God (Prov. 1:7), who is the ultimate source of all wisdom (Prov. 2:6) and who has provided wisdom in his written revelation (Tora), revelation that is central to the mental health of a people for the sake of growth in God (Prov. 22:17-29; 29:18)."

The transformational view of psychology acknowledges that the Old Testament wisdom literature refuses to radically separate scientific investigation from ethics and metaphysics by acknowledging that the disposition and belief patterns of the sage fit an individual for studying the natural world, biology, politics, and every other domain typically seen by the methodological naturalist as solely the domain of science rather than theology. Furthermore, rather than merely describing this natural world functionally, he is able to integrate its worldview-significance and meaning with our worldview. Humans are not mere aggregates of atoms or biology even if the microscope is only able to view these things. Instead, the Christian scientist has a view of the human person not reducible to mere naturalistic observation. He is able to glorify God for his wisdom and power in creation rather than merely describe these phenomena as purely natural artifacts.

This has crucial ramifications for the fact/value distinction:

"By observing these dynamic wisdom laws or ordering structures that are evident in and govern nature in general and human nature in particular, the Old Testament sage is able to discover and understand not only straightforward, descriptive information about human beings but also information about healthy versus unhealthy living-what it is to live well in accord with human nature or poorly against the grain of human nature. From these reflections, he is able to discover a set of wise principles of sowing and reaping to avoid folly and live a good and wise life under God in accordance with the created way of human nature (Prov 8:32-36). This is the ground for a natural-law understanding of virtue-vice, good-bad and "creation oughts" (or prescriptions for living well under God).

Thus, the Old Testament sage as protopsychologist and therapist is convinced that one can discover facts about values from facts about nature...beneath the poetic and descriptive for in the facts about human behavioral, interpersonal and intrapsychic psychic phenomena. For example, by observing complex situations of human communication, the sage discovers that it is generally wiser to respond to anger with a gentle answer over a harsh reply, for gentleness tends to lessen strife and harshness tends to stir it up (Prov 15:1).

In general, these facts about values can take the form of a conditional "if... then. . ." statement, which attempts to illustrate the quasi-causal or sow-reap laws that can be discovered by observing and reflecting on human phenomena. In the case of Proverbs 15:1, the implied conditional statement is as follows: lows: If one is to lessen strife and anger in tense situations, then one ought to respond with gentle words. This cause-and-effect structure of things is evident throughout human experience, from the complexities of human communication to the deepest intricacies of human emotions. As Old Testament theologian Gerhard von Rad (1972) insightfully points out from Proverbs 13:12; 15:13 and 17:22, "The law of cause and effect is traced right into the hidden regions of the soul" (pp. 124-25). This is the biblical basis for a natural-law theory of ethics and psychology. Of course, the sage does not explicitly record his moral observations and science of values in such a stilted form. Rather, he employs Hebrew poetry (parallel structure and imagery) for mnemonic and heuristic purposes."

Indeed, part of what separates the biblical scientist from the methodological naturalist is that there is an implied prescription that is naturally observable from descriptive facts. The two are not radically separated as they are for the naturalist. There is a "natural ought" that is assumed from descriptions which any discerning individual can see. Thus, "The general structure of these wisdom and moral principles/laws for healthy living are captured in...conditional statements." But what do these conditional statements look like? If a person is to live well, then that person ought to live in such and such a way. If a person is to live well, they ought to adopt such and such a set of behaviors, attitudes or practices. Thus, the descriptive "is" is intimately paired up with a prescriptive "ought." The two are not separated as they are for the methodological naturalist, who wants a strict fact/value separation.

"The universal conditional reflects the natural ought or quasi-causal structure in general, which the sage recognizes to be governing human persons and situations relevant to believers and nonbelievers alike. The particular conditional reflects the natural ought or quasi law-like structure, which lies behind any particular proverb containing a piece of advice or an implicit prescription relevant to a particular aspect of the human situation."

So we see that Christian psychologists should reject the fact/value distinction. Indeed, it is a distinctly modernist view of the relation of science to Christianity (and of science in general) to think that science can ever be value-neutral. But there is another modernist myth with which Coe and Hall want to dispense: namely, the idea that science is done in a vacuum. On the contrary, there is a distinctly existential and experiental component to doing science. This must be taken into account by the Christian.

We must presuppose the truth of the Christian religion in our psychology, and this is not only true so far as the fact/value distinction is concerned, but so far as our medical treatment is concerned. Since we begin with a distinctly Christian view of the human person, it follows that we must look to the root of human pathology as based in original sin, and health as based in restoration through redemption from bondage to sin.

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