As biblical counselors, we have something of a checkered history with research. For more about what I mean by that, you can read my blog post Biblical Counseling and Scientific Research.
As biblical counselors, we will sometimes say,
“I quote from research. Here’s an example!”
But read the examples closely and you’ll note that often we are quoting a secular researcher debunking another secular researcher.
There’s a label for doing this: the co-belligerent use of research.
- We wage war against a common enemy by quoting those who we might otherwise disagree with. It follows the adage: “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” For example, a biblical counselor who is anti-DSM would only quote secular psychiatrists who were also anti-DSM.
- Put another way, we can be prone toward only quoting secular research that is negative about secular research!
- Or, put yet another way, we can have a tendency only to quote research that seems to agree with our preconceptions.
The Noetic Effect of Sin
As biblical counselors, we talk about the noetic effect of sin on the mind of an unsaved researcher—because they are not regenerate, their conclusions are negatively impacted.
My question:
But shouldn’t this negative impact also impact unsaved researchers who appear to agree with us…?
The Biased Worldview of Secular Researchers
We’ll also talk about the biases of unsaved researchers. So, another question:
If we are going to consider the biases of researchers, should we not consider the biases of researchers even when they agree with us?
The tendency in the co-belligerent model is to ignore biases and ignore the noetic effect of sin when the findings seem to support our conclusions. This is less than a stellar model of the fair, wise, balanced, accurate, honest, truthful, and biblical use of descriptive research, neuroscience research, and evidenced-based research.
Two Examples
In Biblical Counseling and Scientific Research, I explored how biblical counselors might address three recent articles on the serotonin theory of depression.
And just this week I had this to say about how biblical counselors were using co-belligerent research related to Abigail Shrier’s book, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up.
Some biblical counselors are very much against evidenced-based research, descriptive psychological research, and common grace findings. Yet, when a book seems to affirm things we affirm (even though Bad Therapy really does not), all of a sudden we are wowed by it. So, I would ask:
Do we really need a book like Bad Therapy, which is not based on biblical ideas about parenting, and does not present biblical solutions?
Are the Scripture’s teaching on parenting not sufficient enough for us?
It seems that we biblical counselors should be consistent: either we don’t see common grace secular research as potentially legitimate, or we do. We shouldn’t pick and choose which common grace secular research we applaud simply on the basis that it seems to affirm what we affirm.
Those who know me, know that I believe there is a place, under the lens of the sufficient Word of God, for evidenced-based research, descriptive psychological research, and common grace findings. Thus, I try to be consistent in my reviews of books that agree with my positions and in books that disagree with my positions. And I hope to be consistent in my use of research that agrees with me and that disagrees with me.
The Point: A Fair and Balanced—Biblical/Honest/Truthful—Use of Research
Perhaps we could be asking ourselves questions such as:
- Do we fairly analyze articles that agree with our presuppositions as well as ones that disagree with our presuppositions?
- Do we assess the noetic effect of sin and the potential biases related to research articles that agree with our presuppositions and the ones that disagree with our presuppositions?
- Do we fairly engage with and accurately quote research articles—even ones that raise points of contention with views we currently hold?
- What have we learned from scientific literature that is positive and not co-belligerent that has made an impact on our counseling?
- Are we friends of good science and do we desire to promote the research and development of hard data in every area of human existence?
- Based upon the Creation Mandate in Genesis 1, do we have a healthy appreciation for scientific research in the field of social science—explored, evaluated, and assessed under the lens of Scripture?
Thank you, Bob! I totally agree with your comments. May I quote you?! 😉
This world – and especially each and every person made in the image of very God – is so complex that we can never know all that is evident to learn. But the our more we understand about how God made our brains to function, the better our counsel will be and the more helpful we will be to those we are committed to help. While it is absolutely essential to put every new fact and nuance under the lens of scripture, it is likewise very naive to categorically dismiss anything new as untrustworthy.