His Glory and My Good: A New Song from City Alight
5 months ago
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Christianity and Psychology
If you follow this link, you will find a wonderful excerpt from Bonhoeffer's Life Together which details the differences between psychology and Christianity. This is a short (1-page) document well worth the read, especially in a culture enamored with counseling but bereft of an understanding of sin.
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This brings up the theme of scientism and reductionism as tools to understand mental illness-- which, if used, leads to greater self-delusion reguarding sin's role in our mental state. Reductionism would reduce a person's mental illness to a chemical imbalance that must be addressed with drugs.
ReplyDeleteThe gospel applied removes the trappings, patterns of thought, and delusions that the mind with no understanding of the human condition fails to grasp, therefore confront.
At the least, we should attempt to encourage our brothers and sisters that struggle with mental issues to find reason and purpose of thought only to be found in the context of the Gospel.
Thanks
Phil
Great thoughts. We need to take both seriously the medical/chemical imbalances and the sin issues frequently present. To assume that drugs will fix sinful patterns of living is ludicrous. It may mask it and allow a person to be more tolerable but the root is still decaying. We need both.
ReplyDeleteThat said, we live in a fallen world and sometimes things are just out of balance and intervention is needed. What we need is discernment and boldness to speak the truth and ask probing, difficult questions.