Review of Psychology in the Spirit: Part 2
Note: This is Part 2 of a three-part review of John Coe and Todd Hall’s Psychology in the Spirit. It was originally posted at the Gospel Coalition Review site. Read Part 1.
Reflections on the Theory of Transformational Psychology
At the theoretical level, there are important questions to ponder about Coe and Hall’s proposal that we can glean facts about values from facts about creation. A few such sample questions for further exploration include:
1. Depravity and Gleaning Values from Creation (The Fallenness of the Observer): What is the impact of the fall and human depravity on the ability of the unregenerate person to glean facts and make applications from observation and reflection? Coe and Hall conclude that there is “biblical justification for dialogue with the unbeliever and their partially distorted views” (p. 93). Because, “Fallen human beings retain the image of God and, thus, retain their human nature and capacity-ability (though partly corrupted) to discern what is natural and good from what is unnatural and bad” (p. 164). Is this a robust enough understanding of depravity as it relates to the fallen mind’s ability or inability to understand truth about wise, successful living in a fallen world (see point 2 below)?
2. Corruption and Gleaning Values from Creation (The Corruption of the Things Observed): Even for the regenerate sage, what are the implications and potential limitations of observations and reflections on a fallen planet where “things are not the way they are supposed to be”? As Dallas Willard notes about secular psychology, “For those who must rely upon a strictly secular viewpoint for insight, such questions are especially tough. Why? Because we do in fact live in a world in ruins. We do not exist now in the element for which we were designed. So in light of that truth, it’s essentially impossible to determine our nature by observation alone, because we are only seen in a perpetually unnatural position” (Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 45). How trustworthy is the information gleaned from reflections on the human condition in a fallen world?
3. Depth and Gleaning Values from Creation: What level of depth of insight about life issues does the wisdom literature genre support? How robust and sophisticated can we expect generalized observations about life to be? Beyond common sense natural law and proverbial thinking about cause and effect, how would one develop comprehensive models of healthy living? What might someone anticipate finding in their observations from creation that they would not find more richly nuanced in Scripture—given Scripture’s inspiration, inerrancy, propositional form, and specific purpose of revealing God’s truth for godly living for God’s glory?
4. Prescriptive Confidence and Gleaning Values from Creation: Once we reflect upon generalized principles from creation, how confidently prescriptive can we be? Job’s miserable counselors observed the general principle that God blesses His faithful servants. However, apart from God’s special revelation (contained in the first two chapters and the final chapter of the book and a theology of suffering contained throughout the Bible), their prescriptive counsel was unbiblical and unloving.
Join the Conversation
Of the four reflections, which do you think is most important, why, and how would you respond?
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