Ruling the Environment: The Failure of Modern Psychology

Today while I was teaching Biblical Worldview at GPS I was struck by the contrast between Genesis 1:26-27 and the presentation I was making about Behaviorism. At the risk of being too simplistic I would present the following thought.

Behaviorism (And even Cognitivism) seems unable to escape the idea that humans are ruled by their environment. Psychologically we are responders to Stimuli who can be conditioned to respond in desired ways. If humanity is composed of a material substance that reacts to the surrounding that impinges upon our senses, we are inevitably ruled by our environment. Cognitivism recognizes the reality of mental states in the process, but cannot escape the reductionist dillema of determinism. Under this form of thinking. Environment rules humanity.

Enter Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, “Let us make man 1 in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

The significance of being created in the image of God is attached to the task that is made possible by the reality. Mankind is to exercise dominion (over all the earth). The passage highlights a fundamental difference of Psychology advanced by a Biblical Worldview. Man has been created to rule the environment, not to be ruled by it. Any Psychology that fails to account for or consistently ground our responsibility to actively engage the world around us is a dismal failure.

Laura Bush and the Land of Judson

The First Lady's Op-Ed about the conflict in Burma ends with a wonderful reminder that the pen is mightier than the sword. While I read the article I could not help but think of Adoniram Judson and His many sacrifices to bring freedom to the hearts of the people of the Golden Shore. I read his biography earlier this year and was deeply moved by the beauty of God's victory through those who sacrifice themselves to further His kingdom. Here is the ending by Mrs. Bush.

Meanwhile, the world watches--and waits. We know that Gen. Than Shwe and his deputies have the advantage of violent force. But Ms. Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders have moral legitimacy, the support of the Burmese people and the support of the world. The regime's position grows weaker by the day. The generals' choice is clear: The time for a free Burma is now.

Paul Vitz and The Psychology of Atheism

I teach a Biblical Worldview class to 11th and 12th graders at Grace Preparatory School. Currently we are doing four classes on the subject of Psychology. The class is meant to introduce the students to a variety of disciplines and help them understand how the teaching of the Bible prepares us to assess the area of study and provides a foundation for succesfully understanding importants areas of knowledge. As I was preparing for the classes I came across an article that I had read previously and was reminded of how much I was fascinated by it when I first read it. In short, Paul Vitz creatively turns some of Freud's more popular psychoanalytic theories back on Freud himself, especially for the sake of analyzing his mmotives for rejecting God. Here is a taste of the fun to be had if you read the entire article.

Nevertheless, Freud is quite right to worry that a belief can be an illusion because it derives from powerful wishes- from unconscious, childish needs. The irony is that he clearly did provide a very powerful, new way to understand the neurotic basis of atheism.

Read the rest of the article here.

May My Ambitions be Undergirded with Discipline

I am starting this blog as an opportunity to write as a discipline. I have recognized for a long time the benefit of recording what you are learning and thinking about. I have no interest in using the journaling as a form of catharsis, but rather to discipline myself to think about issues that are going on in the culture around us and ponder ways that we can live as salt of the earth. No single thought has become so pervasive to my way of life and thought as that teaching of Jesus which calls us to be so. Maybe through writing I will occasionally glimpse what being salt of the earth looks like. It certainly cannot only look like journalings of devotional thoughts, so I will be joined by my wife as we write about our lives together with our two daughters, here in Stafford, VA.