2003 Shepherd's Conference, A
Ministry of Grace Community Church 818.909.5530. © 2003 All Rights
Reserved. Grace Community Church. A CD, MP3, or tape cassette copy of this
session can be obtained by going to www.shepherdsconference.org
The Failing Attempt of Integration Psychology
(Handout – Study Notes)
Separating Psychology from Scripture
John Street
Chairman of Biblical Counseling, The Master’s College
Introduction
A. Development of “Christian” Psychology
•
At the end of the19th
and the beginning of the 20th century most major colleges and
universities included psychology as a part of their core social science
curriculum.
•
Fed by the hostility of
Enlightenment’s higher criticism, liberalism brought radical changes in the
universities of the 1800’s which gave rise to the Fundamentalist-Modernist
clash of the early 1900’s. Most Christians then refused to send their young
people to these universities of skeptics which were originally founded upon
Christian principles, because their Christian faith was repeatedly assailed,
sparking many denominations to create their own “Christian” colleges. These
new “upstart” fundamentalist colleges were to provide a safe, Christian,
academic alternative to the larger secular universities that rejected and
ridiculed their faith.
•
But suffering from an early lack
of academic respectability and having a desire to be recognized by
accreditation associations these same “Christian” colleges quickly accommodated
their core curricula to what was commonly accepted as minimal in the social
sciences while still maintaining a high regard for the Bible and “typically
began to offer courses in psychology in the 1920s and 1930s” (Psychology
& Christianity, eds. Eric L. Johnson and Stanton L. Jones, p. 31).
•
Even then psychology was not
easily accepted by Evangelicals as a legitimate discipline of study for
Christians since it smacked of modernistic positivism while encroaching upon
areas of spirituality and the soul that had traditionally been the jurisdiction
of the church.
B. Definition
of Psychology
•
In one of the earliest Evangelical textbooks on psychology,
written by Hildreth Cross (1952) of Taylor University entitled An
Introduction To Psychology: An Evangelical Approach, she defines psychology
as “the study of the whole man (or organism) affecting and being affected by
the total environment. This definition is broad enough to include the study of
both man and animal…and, in the case of the former, his spiritual nature.
It also includes the effects of a physical environment, a social environment
and—yes—the influence of spiritual forces acting upon him” (italics
added, p. 25).
•
Much of modern psychology refuses to recognize the spiritual and
defines psychology as “the scientific study of behavior and mental processes…
‘behavior’ encompasses not just what people do, but their thoughts, feelings,
perceptions, reasoning, memory, and biological activities” (Robert Feldman).
Nevertheless the intangible aspect of the inner man or soul is critical to the
practice of psychotherapy.
•
Is psychology a scientific discipline and is the scientific claim
sufficient to warrant the integration of psychology and the Bible?
•
Did psychology arise among Evangelicals as a result of conviction
or concession?
•
What right does the psychologist have to speak to matters of the
soul?
C. Dispersion
of Psychology
•
Today most Evangelical churches, colleges, and seminaries accept
psychology and psychotherapy as authoritative disciplines. Many Evangelical
pastors will refer one of their flock to a psychologist for counseling.
•
There are over 230-300 distinct schools of psychotherapy and
counseling in the United States alone.
•
What does this say about speaking with confidence and authority?
I.
History of Psychology and Christianity
A.
Religious and philosophical background of psychology
“From its beginnings in
supernatural beliefs, magic and taboo, psychology has matured to a science of
such broad proportions that professional psychologists today must specialize on
narrow fragments of the broader discipline.”
History of Psychology
1. Non-western contributions
·
Animism – objects or trees have an indwelling principle or
“soul,” and in “hylozoism” the belief that matter has life or sensation.
·
Egyptian Physician Imhotep (525 BC)
·
Ancient Mesopotamians used incantations as psychosomatic medicine
·
China – Buddhism; Chinese humanism
·
Japanese Psychotherapy – Zen Buddhism
2. Classical contributions
·
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
·
Heracleitus of Ephesus (540-480
BC)
·
Socrates
3. Medieval contributions
·
Augustine of Hippo
·
Thomas Aquinas
4. Renaissance contributions
·
René Descartes (1596-1658 AD, some
call him the father of modern psychology because he makes a sharp distinction
between the mind and the body.)
B. Biological and physiological roots
1. The Pythagorean physician Alemaeon of Croton
(6th century BC)
•
He identified thinking or consciousness as the distinguishing
feature of man and localized these functions in the brain.
•
He is accredited with tracing perception to the sensory organs of
the body and emotions to the heart.
2. Charles
Darwin (1809-1882)
•
He held that emotions in man were inherited in an evolutionary
sense, reflecting emotional behavior that served the survival of lower animal
species.
•
Sigmund Freud formulated his
theories about the unconscious from presuppositions of Darwinian evolution.
II. Prevalent Theorists in
Psychology
A. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
•
Founder of psychoanalysis
•
Developed “free association” to allow material repressed in the
unconscious to emerge to conscious recognition.
•
Believed all religion to be a neurosis
B. Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
•
Founder of analytical psychology
•
“Religious mythology can be a solution for mental problems.”
•
Unconscious mind shares a collective unconsciousness of wisdom
and ancestral experience passed down from prior generations.
•
Freud believed the goal of therapy was to make the unconscious
conscious.
•
In doing so, Freud made the unconscious an unpleasant place of
seething desires, a bottomless pit of perverse and incestuous cravings, a
burial ground for frightening experiences that come back to haunt the
counselee.
•
Jung was never entirely convinced of Freud’s theory of the
unconscious.
•
Therefore, through a series of dreams and analysis Jung developed
a three-fold theory of the psyche.
C. Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
•
Best known for his contribution to client-centered therapy
•
Was a secular humanist and later became involved in the occult
•
Believed man had everything within himself to deal with life
III. Is Psychology a Genuine Science?
A. What do some leading
psychologists and philosophers say?
•
Psychologist Roger Mills: “The field of psychology today is
literally a mess. There are as many techniques, methods and theories around as
there are researchers and therapists. I have personally seen therapists
convince their clients that all their problems come from their mothers, the
stars, their biochemical make-up, their diet, their life-style and even the
‘kharma’ from their past lives.” (“Psychology Goes Insane, Botches Role as
Science,” The Natural Educator, July 1980, p. 14)
•
Sigmund Kock: “The hope of psychological science became
indistinguishable from the fact of psychological science. The entire
subsequent history of psychology can be seen as a ritualistic endeavor to
emulate the forms of science in order to sustain the delusion that it is
already a science.” (“The Image of Man in Encounter Groups,” The American
Scholar, 1973, p. 636)
•
“Throughout psychology’s history as ‘science’ the HARD knowledge
it has deposited has been uniformly negative.” (Kock, “Psychology Cannot be a
Coherent Science,” Psychology Today, September 1969, p. 66)
•
Jonas Robitscher: “His advice is followed because he is a
psychiatrist, even though the scientific validity of his advice and
recommendations has never been firmly established…their insistence that they
are scientific and correct and that their detractors, therefore, must be
wrong.” (The Powers of Psychiatry, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
1980, p. 8, 183)
•
E. Fuller Torry: “The techniques used by Western psychiatrists
are, with few exceptions, on exactly the same scientific plane as the
techniques used by witch doctors.” (The Mind Game, New York: Emerson
Hall Publishers, Inc., 1972, p. 8)
•
Karl Popper: “Psychological theories of human behavior ‘though
posing as sciences,’ had in fact more in common with primitive myths than with
science, that they resemble astrology rather than astronomy myths. They contain
most interesting psychological suggestions, but not in testable form.”
(“Science Theory and Falsifiability,” Perspectives in Philosophy, Robert
N. Beck, ed., New York: Holt, Richart, Winston, 1975, pp. 343, 346)
•
Martin & Deidre Bobgan: “As we move from the natural science
to the so-called behavioral sciences, we move away from reputability,
predictability, reproducibility and controllability. In addition, the cause
and effect relationship, so evident in the natural sciences, is ambiguous or
absent in the behavioral ‘science.’ Instead of causation (cause and effect),
psychotherapy rest heavily upon covariation (events which appear together which
may not necessarily be related). From cause and effect, where there is a
direct relationship, psychotherapy utilizes covariation even though the events
which seem to be related may in fact have nothing to do with each other.” (Psychoheresy, Santa Barbara, Cal. : Eastgate
Publishers, 1987, p. 37)
•
Whether psychotherapy or psychology is a science or not is at
best debatable.
•
It would be better viewed as a philosophical system of thought
disseminated as a worldview – behaviorism, humanism, determinism, existentialism
and simple pragmatic utilitarianism.
B. Three myths about
psychotherapy
1. Psychotherapy is pure
science.
•
“Psychotherapy is today in a state of disarray almost exactly as
it was 200 years ago.” (Gregory Zilbroorg, “Progress in Psychotherapy”,
p. 108)
•
They Say You’re Crazy, this book deals with how decisions
are made by a “small clique in the psychiatric establishment as to what is
mental illness and who shall be hospitalized against their will and judged
competent or incompetent.” (Paula J. Caplan, research psychologist at Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education)
•
Contrary to popular belief, it is frequently admitted within the
ranks of psychiatry that no conclusive evidence exists to show that any form of
mental illness is biologically caused.
•
The U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment of the United
States Congress (1992) published a report titled The Biology of Mental
Disorders. The report concludes: "Research has yet to identify
specific biological causes for any of these disorders" (p. 14).
•
In a psychopathology textbook used for second-year medical
students, the authors state, "psychiatry is the only medical specialty
that…treats disorders without clearly known causes" (Maxmen & Ward,
1995, p. 57).
•
Colin Ross, discussing the chemical imbalance model for
schizophrenia, claims that the "dopamine theory of schizophrenia is a
political strategy," with the goal of obtaining additional research grants
(Ross, 1995, p.108).
•
In a recent consensus conference sponsored by the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) in November of 1998, the panel of experts concluded: “There are
no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction" (p. 2). In
their report, they went on to state that the same can be said for "most
psychiatric disorders, including disabling diseases such as schizophrenia"
(p. 2).
•
Peter Breggin, M.D. (1997), was formerly a teaching fellow at Harvard Medical School and full-time consultant with the National Institute of Mental
Health. As author of Brain Disabling Treatments In Psychiatry,
he declares that "there are no known biochemical imbalances in the brain
of typical psychiatric patients" (p. 5).
•
Dr. William Wirshing (1999), a researcher and professor of
psychiatry at UCLA, stated to a room full of psychiatrists that “we have been
lying to everyone for years concerning the chemical imbalance model.” No one in
the audience challenged him.
•
In an article approved for continuing education by the American
Psychiatric Association, the author states, “We don’t know how psychotropic
medications really work” (Khan, 1999).
•
Dr. Ty Colbert, President of the Center for Psychological
Alternatives to Biopsychiatry states: “Believe
it or not, it is freely admitted even within the ranks of psychiatry that no
conclusive evidence exists to show that any form of mental illness is
biologically caused….In contrast, there is considerable scientific evidence to
show that psychotherapy can be more effective than psychiatric medication for
disorders such as depression, mania, ADHD, anxiety, and even schizophrenia.”
2. People who experience
problems, whether mental, emotional, or behavioral, are mentally ill.
•
“Mental illness” is an oxymoron. The mind cannot get sick, only
the brain can!
•
“The term mental illness is nothing more than a figure of speech,
and in most cases a poor one.” (Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Mental Illness)
3. Psychotherapy has a high
rate of success.
•
May 20, 1996, Newsweek, “1 in 5 Americans suffer from some form
of mental illness.”
•
That means 20% of this class is sick!
•
Truth is, there is not a high rate of success; but there is a
high rate of diagnosis.
•
“Underneath the melodrama of who’s right or wrong, all therapists
have one thing in common. Much is promised and little is delivered…” (Bryan
Karasa, Director of the Department of Psychiatry at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center)
C. Can
Research Psychology offer the pastor anything?
•
“Psychology should be a legitimate and very useful neighbor to
the pastor. Psychologists may make many helpful studies of man (e.g., on the
effects of sleep loss). But psychologists – with neither warrant nor standard
from God by which to do so – should get out of the business of trying to change
persons. It can tell us many things about what man does, but not about what he
should do.” (Jay E. Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 12)
•
“I am concerned here to make but two observations only: 1) the
psychiatrist should return to the practice of medicine, which is his only
legitimate sphere of activity; 2) the minister should return to the God-given
work from which he was ousted (and which, in many instances, too willingly
abandoned).” (Jay E. Adams, The Christian
Counselor’s Manuel, p. 10)
1. Property rights to the soul
•
What metaphysical right does any
self-proclaimed empirical discipline have to claim exclusive authority in
issues of the soul?
•
Psychotherapy has systematically
claimed jurisdiction in speaking authoritatively of spiritual matters. It has
won the cultural battle, since a psychologist is a recognized societal
authority in court, while a pastor is not. Is not that to be expected in a
sin-cursed world? But, why is this to be the accepted practice of many
churches and Christians?
•
God and the Bible alone claim sole
jurisdiction in matters of the soul (2 Peter 1:3, 19-21).
2. Medical metaphors—the redefined rhetoric of
soul care
•
Medical psychiatry is not apathetic toward Christianity, it is openly
hostile. It has systematically changed the language of “soul problems” to
medical terminology.
•
“Although Freud did not invent the idea, he was exceptionally adept at
naming some of the complaints of physically healthy persons symptoms
that pointed to underlying diseases, called neuroses, which he
offered to relieve by means of a species of conversation called psychoanalysis”
(Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Psychotherapy, p. 17-18).
•
Instead of sin, man is sick. The terminology alone makes
the client a victim with a disease. Psychologists are, first and foremost,
rhetoricians. The therapy of psychotherapy is primarily conversation.
•
Medical labels for soul problems only drives man further from the
remedy.
3. Environmental determinism
•
For Freud this means that man is a “socialized animal.” Man’s problems are
due to his wrong environmental influences as he has matured, physically and
emotionally. It essentially says that, at least in psychological jargon, man
is not responsible for the way he has turned out.
•
Biogenetic psychology reduces man to the sum-total of his chemical
parts. He is nothing more than an evolved animal, hardwired to think, feel and
act at the dictates of his physical components. “Once an alcoholic, always an
alcoholic.”
•
Scripture speaks of man as a depraved sinner, not as a determined victim.
Man is responsible for his choices and often achieves above and beyond his
expected capacity. Supernatural transformation through the work of the Holy
Spirit and the Word brings about unexpected and lasting change.
4. Psychical determinism
•
Underneath every man is a “dynamic unconscious” which controls his every
thought, feeling, and deed. These unconscious factors are kept from conscious
recognition by repression and no one has control on its effect upon his life.
•
This dynamic can express itself in enigmatic ways such as dreams, tongue
slips, unusual emotions, and unhealthy relationships. A specially trained
therapist or analyst is the only person who can unlock their meaning.
•
Biblically and scientifically, there is no such thing as a subconscious.
What is often confused by many “Christian” psychotherapists as manifestations
of the subconscious is the ruling motivations and desires of a counselee’s
heart that have become idolatrous.
5. Professionalism
•
Integrationism has imported into Christianity a philosophy of soul-care
that requires professional degrees in psychotherapy in order to be creditable
in serious counseling situations. Christians plagued with major problems of
anxiety, fear, depression, suicide, chemical abuse, eating problems, anger, or
a host of other problems believe they cannot receive bona fide help for their
problems until they visit a mental health “professional.”
•
With this professional mentality comes an oppressive fee structure that
drains limited insurance plans and bank accounts. Many Christians who see a
“professional” psychologist quickly find themselves in debt and still in need
of help.
•
Biblical counsel and help for serious problems do not require diplomas
in psychology or expense of professional offices and fees. Properly taught
Christians should be able to counsel one another (Romans 15:14; Galatians 6:1;
1 Thessalonians 5:14). The cure of souls is an ecclesiastical duty.
6. Hedonistic teleology
•
Contemporary Christians view psychology’s promise to bring them lasting
satisfaction and happiness compatible with their purpose in life. Churches have
noted this radical departure from classic Christianity and attempted to appease
this desire with contemporary forms of worship that have immediate appeal in
addressing “felt needs.” There is an essential agreement between “Christian
psychology” and the “seeker-friendly” church. Both appeal to the sensual. The
frequent themes of contemporary worship sermons and Christian psychology are
amazingly similar, if not identical—addressing topics that revolve around the
contemporary loss of pleasure and satisfaction in life. The person who is
experiencing sensations of guilt, anxiety, panic, shame, or depression is
searching for an answer. Seeker services and Christian psychologists claim to
offer the cure and promote the notion that such feelings are abnormal and
unacceptable.
•
Biblical Christianity understands that in a sin-cursed world these
feelings are not abnormal but are to be expected. Personal happiness and
pleasurable feelings are not the ends of the Christian life in this world. God
is. Our greatest joy and happiness is found in Him alone. Psychologized
Christianity abhors the thought of ultimate self-sacrifice and suffering
(Hebrews 11:24-26), even labeling Christians with such commitments as being
deficient of self-love and esteem.
7. Insight Gnosticism
•
Freud introduced insight-oriented therapy to psychology. Only the
psychologist has the insight to be able to identify what operates in a persons
“out-of-awareness” mind. He or she is the only one qualified to be able to
probe and interpret certain cryptic enigmatic clues that are given off by the
“subconscious.” These are considered to be clues essential to the patient’s
well-being. A variety of techniques are used to surface these clues including
hypnosis, catharsis, free association, dream interpretation, facilitated
recall, revivification, rebirthing, and more.
•
Akin to Gnostic teachers of New Testament times, the psychologist
believes he or she possesses special abilities and insights into the psyche
that alone qualifies him or her to uncover these “subconscious” soul problems.
•
In Scripture the key to the problems of the soul is not buried in the
subconscious but in the heart. These problems do not require someone with
secretive insights into the levels of mental consciousness. The Bible vividly
and openly reveals these idolatrous desires to anyone who is willing to read
and study its insight (Ezekiel 14:1-11; 1 Corinthians 10:6-14; Colossians
3:5-17).
8. Evolutionary science
•
“Christian” psychology borrows heavily from the secular psychologies,
all of which produce mountains of scientific research built upon evolutionary
presuppositions. Animal behavioral studies are considered authoritative in
human developmental theory. These studies have been used as the foundational
evidence for legal and educational principles for child-rearing (e.g., hitting
an animal makes it aggressive, and therefore, corporal punishment of children
turns them into violent adults).
•
Evolutionary theists find a kindred spirit with “Christian” psychology
since they have integrated evolution into their Christianity.
•
Christians who assume the Genesis account to be a non-poetical actual
record of creation (24-hour days) should find themselves at odds with both the
“Christian” evolutionist and psychologist. Man is not an evolved animal. He is
a distinct and unique creation of God. Made in His image and likeness. Animal
studies will never produce the authoritative material necessary to deal with
the man’s soul. Only God’s Word can do that.
9. Self-reliance
•
Part of the atheistic assumptions of psychology is the self-empowerment
of man. Man has the ability to be able to find his answers within. This
philosophy predates Freud and stems from Enlightenment thinking. Freud simply
applied its implications to the talk-therapies. The patient has all the
answers concealed in the deep crevasses of his subconscious. He needs to get in
touch with the fundamental goodness inside and one of the ways the patient is
able to demonstrate his mastery over his problems is his revelation that he
finally is in touch with himself.
•
Scripture makes it evident that man cannot trust himself. He will
always view the circumstances of his life in such self-favoring ways (Proverbs
16:2; 21:2). When man honestly looks within he finds evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11;
9:3; Mark 7:21-23). From a biblical standpoint self-reliance is
self-destructive and self-defeating.
10. Self-determinism
•
Stemming from self-reliance is the extended thought of
self-determinism. Certain psychologies such as existential, logotherapeutic,
rational-emotive, and cognitive therapies promote responsibility to self. If
you are true to self you are able to master your future and form it into
whatever you desire, overcoming your problems by tapping the answers inside.
•
Contrary to anthro-centric
psychologies, soul cures are to be conceived vis-à-vis with God. When this is
done Jesus Christ is seen as the solution and His cure receives the glory.
Psychologists who are Christians will always have difficulty giving Jesus
Christ exclusive credit, much less glory, for the cure because biblical truths
had to be supplemented by modern psychological insight in order to be
compelling and relevant.
B. Conclusion
Integrational
psychology has failed to build a biblical schema for counseling problems of the
soul. It is a system heavily reliant upon and inspired by the secular
psychologies in theory, terminology and practice. Scripture is not the source
of their therapeutic methods because, in their view, it merely contains a
primitive psychology. It is simply a beginning point for some non-specific
psychotherapeutic cures, but it is not a sufficient etiology or remedy for
major disorders (Proverbs 30:5-6). In contrast, the biblical counselor is
fully committed to both the sufficiency and superiority of God’s Word in
soul-cure of even the most bizarre non-physiological problems (2 Peter 1:3; 2
Timothy 3:16-17).
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Shepherd's Conference
Collection" by:
Tony Capoccia
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