Integration Of Theology And Psychology

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The integration of theology and psychology is a controversial subject. Some Christians have taken the position that psychology is an inherently evil invention of man that should be invalidated and ignored.
Other Christians, particularly those in the “psychology industry,” have become enamored with the “…scientific credibility” that psychology seems to present and have tended to give psychological research and methodology a higher regard than Scripture itself.
Both of these propositions seem to be extreme; where is the balance?
In one’s opinion, it is possible to integrate theology and psychology. Even though integration of theology and psychology is a controversial subject according to our authors, scholars have been doing important integration work over the past several decades. In addition, McMinn and Campbell stated, there are credible graduate programs that have been developed, as well as Christian clinicians who have provided therapy that is sensitive to both psychology and …show more content…

Regardless of what position, view, or perspective one may favor, the fact still remains, that what seems rational to one therapist may seem quite irrational to another (IP, 32). According to IP, sometimes therapists forget that they themselves are prone to faulty thinking (IP, 32). Rather than choosing one of any particular view, one must find value in can be found in the integrated view of functional, structural, and relational (IP, 34). The sincere Christian theologian is more apt to have a primary allegiance to one particular orientation in psychology, but still it is reasonable to find value in all three perspectives (IP, 34); in which psychology has functional, structural, and relational perspectives, and although these terms do not mean exactly the same thing to psychologists as they do to theologians, there is substantial overlap (IP,

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