Abstract
We draw from Miranda Fricker’s theory of epistemic injustice in evaluating the impact of limited cultural diversity within the integration literature. Since culture and social location are frameworks that help us make meaning of the world, failing to actively engage culture in integration is to perpetuate hermeneutical injustice. In this paper, we propose: (1) a theoretical model for actively engaging culture in the integration of psychology and theology, called the Cycle of Cultural Integration (CCI), and (2) practical ways for educators and students to incorporate generational and cultural wisdom that has been embedded among communities of color into interdisciplinary work between psychology and Christian theology.
As I reflect on this, I realize that for my parents, there was very little separation between what it meant to be a Christian and what it meant to be personally and socially accountable. They taught us that one’s personal faith has social and global consequences—that holiness promotes justice.
In his book, Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way, Richard Twiss (2015) recounts how Western colonization in North America impacted Christian missionary endeavors among Native Americans. Twiss notes that Native Americans who converted to Christianity were often forced to give up native musical expressions of worship, and instead, adopt European American music in their church services. According to Twiss, when missionaries introduced Christianity to the Lakota Indigenous tribe, they believed that the hand drums, powwow drums, and Native American dances were unfit for use in Christian worship services, and that the Lakota people had to adopt Euro-American forms of musical expression (in the forms of hymns) played on Western instruments, such as the piano (Twiss, 2015). Consequently, the music of Christianity that was brought into Native American communities (and many other communities all over the world) were often Western cultural expressions of Christian hymns and songs. I’Ching Thomas (2021) recalls a similar situation that she encountered in Southeast Asia. When speaking to a European missionary in the Mekong area, the missionary expressed frustration with the native church’s Christian worship. He was insistent that “if the local Christians didn’t appreciate traditional hymns or sing them soberly, they were not worshiping the right way” (para 13). In situations like these, much of the worship liturgy was a simplistic translation of the missionaries’ own Western forms of music (Twiss, 2015). While these examples do not capture the full breadth of missiological efforts that do take culture in consideration (Bosch, 1991), they are examples of how Euro-American music and instruments were upheld as being true expressions of Christian worship. The pitfall was insisting that worship must sound, look and feel a certain way in order for it to be considered true or authentic, when in reality, these were simply expressions of worship from a culture most familiar to the missionaries.
In this paper, we argue that something similar has been taking place in the field of Christianity-psychology integration. Various cultures and communities have thought about faith, spirituality, and psychological aspects of human personhood long before more formalized approaches to integration were introduced. However, these embodied examples of faith within cultural and generational history have often not been made an active part of the integration dialogue, whether intentionally or unintentionally. In this article, we argue that (1) to practice integration without considering culture and context is to perpetuate hermeneutical injustice; (2) that various cultures and communities have long been integrating faith and spirituality (theology) into their way of understanding people (psychology); and (3) while these embodied ways of integrating faith and spirituality have not always been formally called “integration,” per se, they provide significant examples of integration embedded in certain cultural contexts.
Hermeneutical Injustice
Miranda Fricker (2007) defines two kinds of epistemic injustice: testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice. Testimonial injustice is ascribing less credibility to someone because of their social identity (their gender, ethnicity, race, or something else), such as when someone is not believed by the police because they are Black (Fricker, 2007), or when medical professionals believe a nurse report over an elderly patient’s own report due to stereotypes of elderly patients having memory deficits (Carel & Kidd, 2014). Hermeneutical injustice, on the other hand, occurs “when a gap in collective interpretive resources puts someone at an unfair disadvantage when it comes to making sense of their social experiences’’ (Fricker, 2007, p. 1). In this paper, we will focus on hermeneutical injustice as it applies to the integration of psychology and Christian faith. To consider whether testimonial injustice also takes place in the field of integration would be a worthy endeavor; however, it is beyond the scope of this paper.
Fricker (2007) states that understanding our experiences, along with sharing our knowledge, are basic to who we are as knowers. Having resources to make sense of our stories in our various social identities is a type of privilege. For example, U.S. history books have not equally represented Native American, Black American, Latine 1 American, and Asian-American stories. As a result, many who identify with these racial groups do not have access to as many resources in making sense of their own and their ancestors’ stories and experiences in the printed literature as those who identify as White. Women who are in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) find themselves in a male-dominated field, and their experiences as women in this field are not as widely represented in the literature as men’s. While this is beginning to change, there are hermeneutical injustices when it comes to making sense of one’s own experiences as a woman in STEM due to having access to fewer stories and representations.
For a long time now, the integration community has felt the need for a more diverse approach to Christian integration (Sandage & Brown, 2018; Strawn et al., 2018), but progress has been slow. We posit that one reason that progress has been stifled is that “integration” has been too narrowly defined. This is partially the case because many of the original and influential thinkers of the “integration” literature have primarily been White, male, and from Reformed theological backgrounds (Strawn et al., 2018). These scholars have done the important work of placing the foundation for scholarship in the integration of Christian faith and psychology. At the same time, when we do not actively engage cultural identities, many students of integration who in fact have much to contribute to the literature may find themselves at a disadvantage of language and resources with which to make sense of their integration stories.
When there are individuals whose voices are not heard or represented (even if this is unintentional), hermeneutical injustice is taking place. To name this hermeneutical injustice is an important and urgent task if we are to respond to the call of greater diversity in the integration literature. As we give voice to experiences that have historically been marginalized, we become witnesses to the ways that God has intricately been present in our varying experiences. As such, we move toward “a fresh space to live into and out of God’s whole redemption” (Kim-Kort, 2012, p. xiii). In reclaiming parts of ourselves that have historically been unnamed, we attune to a fuller picture of God’s creative and generative work in our lives, and in doing so, our own transformation becomes vehicles toward bringing greater social justice to others (Kim & Shaw, 2018).
A Way Forward: Cultural Stories of Integration among Historically Marginalized Communities
The extant literature has cataloged a broad array of ways that spirituality is integrated in the psychology of various cultures’ and communities. Take, for example, the way that various cultural communities have coped with trauma, stressors, and chronic illnesses. Much of this interface between psychology and spirituality has not shown up on the radar of more academic pursuits of integration efforts between psychology and Christianity. However, it draws upon a cultural wisdom and represents a rich embodied integration that goes back to centuries (prior to the existence of more formalized academic approaches to the integration of psychology and Christian). In being learners of the way that communities of color have integrated psychology and faith, we find a richness and depth that unfortunately have been missing from the integration literature to date. Comas-Diaz (2016) asserts the importance of recognizing “the centrality of Spirit among communities of color” (p. 153). As we look toward more diverse voices in the integration literature, it is important to acknowledge that an embodied integration already exists within many communities of color. In this next section, we present four particular examples of academic scholarship that note the integral role of spirituality in the psychological experiences of communities of color. We have chosen to focus on literature that highlights salient and relevant themes among Native Americans, Blacks and African Americans, Latine Americans and Asians/Asian Americans. It is important to note, however, that the examples we included below are but examples; they do not represent the totality of the group experiences, given vast within-group differences and considering that race is one dimension of many in people’s experiences and identities. The main point we hope to convey is that communities of color have embodied integration in a variety of ways that are not yet pervasively represented in the academic integration literature, not that these are representative of the ways in which the communities practice or embody integration.
Integration in black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities
Native Americans
Richard Twiss (2015) writes, “there is only one Creator of heaven and earth. There are not ‘many’ Creators. Just one! All of human and nonhuman creation comes from the Creator. There is not a Creator who created Africa and Africans, or Asia and Asians, or Europe and Europeans, and so forth” (p. 17). Moreover, the Creator reveals through general revelation, and this general revelation is accessible to all peoples and cultures (Twiss, 2015). Unfortunately, centuries of oppression have often left little space for the authentic expression of Native American spirituality in the church (see Twiss, 2015, for a more thorough description of the impact of Western hegemony on Native American Christian communities). In his book, Twiss highlights that often there are skepticisms when it comes to accepting cultural expressions of worship that are non-dominant.
Twiss (2015) discusses many areas in which Native American Christians are reclaiming their cultural identities so that the Gospel is expressed in ways that are more fully authentic to the communities. Twiss (2015) argues Native American communities embrace the sacred in their day-to-day lives. This is in contrast to a Western system of knowledge which divorces the cognitive from the embodied and the sacred from the secular (Twiss, 2015). Furthermore, knowledge is understood as not just a body of listed doctrines that remain static, knowledge is relational (both with the divine and with one another; Twiss, 2015). As such: Theologizing is a living relational system; it’s a communal enterprise. I want to suggest that if we view theology as a living conversation—the intersection of human and divine exchange, an invitation to community, or a dialogic connecting point in creation between heaven and earth—we begin to rescue Western theology from rational enterprise and hegemony and set into motion a free-from, organic conversation between Creator and human and non-human creation. (p. 237)
Knowledge, in the biblical perspective, can refer to intellectual understanding of something, but most often when the Hebrew word is used, it refers to a relational knowledge (Achtemeier, 1996) that depends on a personal relationship or personal experience (Genesis 4:1; Proverbs 18:15). In English, the word “know” or “knowledge” most often refers to the intellectual apprehension of facts or ideas. In this way, the English-speaking word often lacks the depth of understanding of the relational component of knowledge that Scripture often describes.
Overall, the priority of relational knowledge and the interpenetration of sacred and secular realms have been present in Native American communities for centuries, and exemplify one aspect of Native American culture that overlaps with biblical conceptions of knowledge and the connection between human and divine realms (Woodley, 2008). This represents an example of how Christians who identify as Native Americans can actively engage their cultural heritage, and in doing so would further enrich the integration dialogue and literature. What would integration look like, for instance, if we begin with an assumption of an intimate, communal knowledge of God and of one another? What might we be missing in the integration literature by privileging cognitive or propositional knowledge as our starting point?
Blacks and African-Americans
Compared to the rest of the American population, Black Americans are most likely to identify as Christians (79%; Pew Research Center, 2018a, 2018b). This is contrasted to Christian-identification in the general American population (71%), among Whites (70%), Latines (77%), and Asians (34%; Pew Research Center, 2018a). Black Americans are also more likely to be religious than Whites and Latines. Black Americans are more likely to endorse a belief in God with absolute certainty (83%), agree that religion is very important in their lives (75%), pray daily (73%), and attend religious services at least once weekly (47%; Pew Research Center, 2018b). In addition to these statistics, the import of spirituality in Black lives goes back centuries, and has remained firmly rooted even through centuries of discrimination, oppression, and injustice.
There is much we can learn from the integration of Christian faith in Black lives across generations. Particularly, the spirituality of Black communities has aided in the search for meaning in the midst of suffering. James Cone (2011), in his book, The Cross and The Lynching Tree, states, Black faith emerged out of Black people’s wrestling with suffering, the struggle to make sense out of their senseless situation, as they related their own predicament to similar stories in the Bible. On the one hand, faith spoke to their suffering, making it bearable, while, on the other hand, suffering contradicted their faith, making it unbearable. That is the profound paradox inherent in black faith, the dialectic of doubt and trust in the search for meaning, as blacks “walk[ed] through the valley of the shadow of death.” (Ps 23:4; chapter 5, pp. 124–125)
In the field of psychology, especially in counseling and psychotherapy, we are constantly challenged to make sense of suffering. In Cone’s description of a “profound paradox,” we see a depth of wisdom that has been informed by generations of wrestling with this tension: of hope on one hand, and of suffering on the other.
One way this dialectic of hope and suffering informs sermons and music in Black churches is in what Banks and Lee (2016) call prophetic preaching. It is a practice of naming the brokenness of this world (ie. systemic racism, injustices, etc.) while empowering the church to move toward the future reality of God’s kingdom both in the world and beyond (Banks & Lee, 2016). The hand-in-hand naming of current realities (which in turn, validates experience) while providing empowerment supports individuals’ psychological health and movement toward social justice at large (Banks & Lee, 2016).
As we listen to these insights from Black theology and spirituality, we find some important themes that can and should shape our integration efforts between psychology and Christianity. First, God stands in solidarity with those who are suffering and with those who have experienced racism or oppression (Cone, 2012). This message can often times can be missed by those in positions of privilege who have not experienced racism, slavery, or lived with oppression (Callaway & Whitney, 2022). In short, each of us must answer the question: How does the reality of God standing with those who are marginalized or oppressed redirect our research or practice within integration? In one sense, and as we will see below, God standing with those who have historically been on the margins means that we must carefully listen and respect those voices that have been marginalized. The various points of view expressed below help also to enlarge our vision of what this might mean to research or practice within integration.
Second, Black theologies remind us that one’s faith and spirituality is never something abstract or disembodied. The wisdom and thought of leaders like James Cone speak to the importance of one’s theology making a difference in the actual lived experience of others within the world. For instance, Cone (1970) notes that Christian theology “is never just a rational study of the being of God. Rather, it is a study of God’s liberating activity in the world” (Cone, 1970, p. 1). In short, a study of God involves God’s action within the world. Or as Howard Thurman notes in Jesus and the Disinherited: The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this Jewish teacher and thinker appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed . . . “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them. (Thurman, 1996, p. 17)
Third, naming the brokenness found within the world due to racism and orienting one’s vision toward justice has been pivotal for Black Christians in America. The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. stands prominently here as one remembers that his vision of justice was shaped by his Christian theology and an understanding of God’s love. Any human law that does not square with the moral law of God is unjust, according to King (1963). Racism is unjust because it involves the diminishment and oppression of humanity based on race, and this does not align with God’s law of love that upholds the dignity and value of humans, regardless of race (King, 2019). As King (1963) aptly noted in his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”(p. 3). Letter from Birmingham Jail is King’s (1963) response to an open letter published by clergy that called his direct actions for civil rights “unwise and untimely.” However, for King, justice always involves both love and action that speaks out, takes a stand against injustices, and actively works toward creating a more just society. Another way that we can imagine Christianity-psychology integration being more culturally informed is to take seriously a Christian theological vision of justice as it relates to racial inequality in America. An embodied theology rooted in a desire to stand in the margins with those who are oppressed would significantly renew and transform how integration molds clinical practice, scholarship, teaching and leadership.
Latine Americans
According to the Pew Research Center (2015), Latines are more likely to attend religious services regularly (39%) and endorse the importance of religion in their lives (59%) than the general American population (36% and 53%, respectively), with 48% of Latines reporting their religions as Roman Catholics and 25% Protestant (Pew Research Center, n.d.). Spirituality and religiosity, specifically Christianity, has been highlighted in the literature to be central to Latine culture and lives (Carneiro, 2013; Garzon & Tan, 1992). One of the themes that has been highlighted in the literature is the depth of meaning that faith and spirituality provides amid suffering, particularly in Catholicism (Garzon & Tan, 1992). The spiritual discipline of Lent and history of saints who have become martyrs underscore the meaning of suffering (Bach-y Rita, 1982, as cited in Garzon & Tan, 1992).
In referring specifically to the experiences of Latinas, Isasi-Diaz (1996) states, “the palabra de Dios . . . refers to the unflinching belief that God is with us in our daily struggles” (p. 158). In suffering, the imminent presence of the Lord becomes a source of both meaning and strength. For many Latinas, spirituality is often the basis for seeing the world, coping with stressors and finding healing. In other words, there is an integration of the “sacred with the secular” (Comas-Diaz, 2016, p. 152). Latines throughout history have drawn upon deep spirituality in coping with stressors, fostering empowerment within the self and others, connection with community (and ancestry), social activism and social justice (Comas-Diaz, 2016).
The integral nature of faith in the well-being of Latines has been documented in research as well. Moreno and Cardemil (2018) conducted interviews with 40 Latines of Mexican origins (half the participants were Mexican-born, and half were US-born) and found that 65% of them endorsed that religiosity is crucial to their well-being. First, they identified social support as an important component of their religious lives (Moreno & Cardemil, 2018). Belonging to a faith community is a protective factor, especially for those who immigrated from Mexico and do not have family in the United States (Moreno & Cardemil, 2018). Second, when giving up control over their stressors to God, many experienced improvements in their sense of well-being (Moreno & Cardemil, 2018). Finally, almost half of the participants stated that their faith-based moral guidelines have kept them from stressors, such as ones that result from substance abuse and sexual promiscuity (Moreno & Cardemil, 2018). Among the many important findings in this study, Moreno and Cardemill (2018) found that Mexican-born immigrants tend to endorse higher religiosity (88%) than U.S.-born Mexican Americans (37%). Moreno and Cardemill (2018) attribute this partly to acculturating to a more individualized culture in the United states, thereby reducing the felt need for social connectedness in religious communities. Our brief review in this section highlights the presence of communal and embodied spirituality in navigating through suffering and stressors in Latine Americans. As we imagine Christianity-psychology integration in the next few decades, incorporating theological ideas such as the role of social connectedness within the church body for spiritual vitality, and the prayerful intention of turning to God during suffering will expand, inform and enrich our integration efforts, as well how integration informs the life of the church.
Asian/Asian Americans
Among Evangelical Protestants, Asian Americans are more likely to attend weekly religious service (76%) than their White counterparts (64%; Pew Research Center, 2013). More Asian American Catholics (60%) attend religious service at least weekly, compared to White Catholics (47%; Pew Research Center, 2013). In addition, more Asian Americans (37%) state that living a very religious life as one of their most important goals compared to the general U.S. adults (24%; Pew Research Center, 2013). Given the heterogeneity within the Asian/Asian American population, it is important to be cautious about making broad statements about the role of spirituality and religiosity in this group. However, the Pew Research Center (2013) data indicate that at least among Christians, Asian Americans seem to have a higher level of religious commitments on several indicators compared to the general U.S. population. In speaking to the heterogeneity of religiosity and spirituality, Siang-Yang Tan (1991) highlights that while “traditional Asian beliefs in the existence of multiple gods, goddesses, and spirits is theologically incompatible with the monotheism of Christianity, these traditional beliefs do translate readily into a Christian worldview that incorporates the existence of the supernatural realm . . .” (as cited in Tan & Dong, 2014, p. 429). In other words, when Asians convert to Christian faith from other spiritual traditions, they often bring a way of living or interacting with the supernatural world that has been practiced in their families for generations.
In the American context, being Asian/Asian American often brings with it an experience of in-betweenness. Existing in these in-between spaces highlight a sense of disparateness and provide a unique opportunity to invite the Holy Spirit into bringing greater integration to our lives. Kim-Kort (2012) writes of the intertwining of Asian/Asian American women’s experiences and Christian theology. While she is not explicitly drawing a connection with psychology as an academic discipline, many of the experiences she writes about are important psychological processes, such as identity, decision-making, and emotions (Kim-Kort, 2012). For example, when it comes to racial relations, Asian Americans often find themselves in between race narratives which usually revolve around Black-and-White relations. She elaborates, “African American communities would often identify Asian Americans with European Americans, while Asian Americans are often relegated to some ambiguous minority status by the dominant culture” (p. 4). Asians/Asian Americans often find it difficult to place themselves in the race relations conversation, while at the same time having experiences that are relevant to the conversation. This often impacts the formation of identity as it relates to society. Further, specifically in addressing identity formation among women: Asian American women are compelled to constantly take into consideration the surrounding dominant culture and expectations of non-Asian men and women. The complicated structure of these relationships often acts as a further barrier to these women when it comes to identity development in the home, in the church, in the political arena, or in the workplace. (Kim-Kort, 2012, p. 21)
The centrality of Christian theology in navigating through these challenges was clear as she describes a type of spirituality that is birthed out of Asian women’s experiences. Kim-Kort (2012) argues that the Holy Spirit is intimately involved in these lived experiences of Asian American women, and in relying on the Spirit, Asian/Asian American women can draw upon these disparate experiences to become more integrated and empowered to bring about change and justice in our surroundings. She states, “It is the Holy Spirit, working through the disruptive nature of the confrontation between the center and periphery of these communities, who help us discover a better understanding of all of our life stories” (Kim-Kort, 2012, p. 78). Thus, the lived experience of being a part of the church community enables healing to occur on individual and communal levels. We invite readers to imagine Christian psychology integration that is informed by the ways the Holy Spirit is present in the in-between experiences of our communities. How might an integrative exploration in this area inform conversations on race and racism, clinical practice, teaching, scholarship, among others? For example, integrative clinical training can increase a focused attunement to experiences in the periphery among clients (such as how Asians/Asian Americans often feel in race conversations), and how the Holy Spirit is at work even in these areas when experiences of invisibility are prominent.
How Does This Impact Personal Integration?
The above are but some examples of literature which acknowledge the ways spirituality permeates everyday psychological experiences (the way we cope, the way we form identity, the way we understand the nearness of God to our experience, etc.). There is so much more on these lines of thinking—each is a whole literature in and of itself—and we are far from having represented each of them in any sufficiency. However, the point is not to provide a complete account of any one tradition, but to demonstrate some key ways many cultural groups have integrated spirituality into their everyday life in rich and enduring ways that positively impacted psychological well-being. In addition to this, many cultural groups had forms of integrated knowledge and wisdom relating to theology and psychology before the term “integration of Christianity and psychology” was coined. As a result, many communities of color have a lived and embodied theology that is practical, rooted in one’s lived experience, and oriented toward action within the world and between other fellow humans. In striving toward greater diversity in Christian-psychology integration, we will be wise to learn from rich cultural traditions that have intertwined spirituality and psychology over the centuries. Only in doing so can we truly expand and enrich the integration discipline in meaningful ways, in a way that goes beyond tokenism.
Moreover, the examples provided here are only a few examples of cultures rich in the permeation of spirituality. There are so many more examples, and culture is so much more than race or ethnicity. In keeping with American Psychological Association’s (2017) updated Multicultural Guidelines, culture is best understood as an intersection of identities and experiences. At minimum, the identities considered must include those in Pamela Hays’ (2008) ADDRESSING model: Age, Developmental and acquired Disabilities, Religion, Ethnicity, Socioeconomic status, Sexual orientation, Indigenous heritage, National origin, and Gender. What we have outlined above are merely a few examples of the depth of spirituality and theological integration that exist that have not been as widely incorporated into the integration literature.
As we reflect on the ways that many communities of color, whether in the United States or globally, have naturally integrated spirituality in their outlook of the world, we are reminded that our lived experience often influences theological themes that become salient for us. For example, the theme of suffering in the face of widespread systemic injustice highlighted by James Cone (2012) to be central to Black Christianity is one which we do not see as pervasively among integration literature in general. The theme of suffering rooted in centuries of saints’ martyrdom among Latine Christians and the invisibility among Asian Americans highlighted by Kim-Kort (2012) finding its resolution in drawing upon moment-by-moment empowerment of the Holy Spirit, are themes that can only enrich the Christian theology-psychology integration literature.
Justice through differentiation
In this paper, we have thus far focused on the importance of naming, honoring, uncovering the cultural influences in which we are embedded. At the same time, while cultural tradition, heritage, and influence should be honored, they do not dictate us. In the same way, no psychological theories, research, tradition or theological tenets should be idols. Rather, theology, psychology and culture are understood in dialogue with one another. As we dive deep into our cultural heritages, we might find customs and values that are not in line with what Scripture teaches. We also might find teachings or values that go against some of the best practices in current psychological research. For example, some may find that their cultural heritage includes a legacy of white supremacy and internalized racism. If this is the case, it would be something to repent from and reflect upon in an ongoing way.
This is where the concept of differentiation is important to highlight. In addressing the clinical context, Sandage and Brown (2018) assert that differentiation allows therapists to honor clients’ cultures as separate from theirs. As such, they are able to remain curious and appreciative without imposing their own cultures or values. The concept of differentiation first emerged in the literature on family therapy, defined as “the ability to identify one’s own thoughts and feelings separately from that of the family” (ChenFeng, 2018a, p. 16). In reflecting on the heritages and cultures in our own backgrounds, it is important to identify differentiated thoughts and feelings in relation to them. This process, of recognizing and honoring cultural influences, while identifying our own relationship with these cultural influences, is an ongoing process that reflects a journey toward maturity. This is called contextual differentiation (ChenFeng, 2018a, 2018b) defined as “identifying one’s own thoughts and feelings as they are influenced by, related to, or different from one’s context” (p. 17). Since this is all a part of the spiritual formation process, we would go further to say that in this process of contextual differentiation, an integrative process would involve seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit. The end goal is twofold: (1) a deeper union with Christ, and, (2) to be a witness and work toward greater justice and shalom in our surroundings. So in this process, it is important to pause and reflect on the following question that Hyejin Shim (2017) poses, “What are the legacies we’ve inherited, which ones will we choose to protect, and which will we dismantle?” In other words, we must find our voices “beyond the voice we’ve been assigned” (Ma, 2008). Our voices cannot be separated from our cultural stories, but ultimately, a part of maturity is to engage in an ongoing process of critically evaluating these influences to find our own unique and original voice.
The cycle of cultural integration
Honoring, reflecting upon and differentiating from one’s culture(s) and context is a process, especially when we apply this to the integration journey which involves a number of sources of knowledge (such as theology and psychology). In conceptualizing this process, we offer a diagram that represents The Cycle of Cultural Integration (CCI; Figure 1). This cycle was adapted from Robert Brown’s (1984) book, Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes and Michael Jinkins’ (2015) work, Invitation to Theology. The CCI builds upon Robert Brown’s and Jinkins’ concept of hermeneutics, and it is adapted here to apply to the integration between psychology and Christian theology. One of the adaptations we made to CCI is that we imagine it existing as a spiral, in that achieving Step 6 means growth that would be a foundation for even further development in response to the next precipitating event.
The Cycle of Cultural Integration (CCI).
Many times, a deeper consideration of our own cultural story is set in motion by a precipitating event (#1), which ranges from mundane to jarring events. An example of a mundane event would be reading a book that challenges our beliefs, and a jarring precipitating event would be experiencing racism, or seeing a blatant act of racism in the news. An event that may fall in between these two extremes might be having an upsetting conversation with friends or family members about differing perspectives on current events, such as the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Let us consider a hypothetical scenario in which a college student named Jen is sitting in a class on the integration of psychology and theology at a Christian university. It is one of Jen’s favorite classes, which she attributes to the professor’s engaging style and the topic of the class. One day, during a class discussion about the implication of immigration on mental health, Jen realizes she has a sharply different position on this topic than that of her professor’s, who we shall call Dr. Integer. 2 The numbers found below correspond to the numbers on the CCI. This precipitating event left Jen feeling surprised because she usually shares many of this professor’s opinions and perspectives (#1). Perhaps Jen may initially be tempted to dismiss her own views and adopt that of her professor’s. However, with time, Jen may realize that she simply can’t deny her own differing perspectives on the topic. This may lead to Jen’s initial reflection of her cultural stories (#2), which may involve asking the question of “why do Dr. Integer and I think very differently about this?” This may lead to her noting superficial cultural differences, such as Dr. Integer is of Euro-American background whose family has been in the United States for at least several generations, which is different from Jen’s Asian American background whose parents immigrated to the United States as adults. Jen might note that this is perhaps one of the reasons they differ in perspectives. In this scenario, if Jen’s Asian American background was a part of her social identity that had for the most part remained in the foreground of her consciousness, this precipitating event brought an awareness of a part of her that she does not usually think about.
To take further steps toward greater integration, Jen might choose to intentionally reflect on her cultural stories (#3) in the domains of ethnicity and her family’s national origin (for other domains of cultural influences, see ADDRESSING framework by Hays, 2008). This may include steps such as talking to family members about what this identity means to them. This may include stories of migration from countries of origin, or what it is like for them to be Asian Americans, which at times also include stories of discrimination (ChenFeng, 2018a). In this step, Jen may choose to understand this identity more outside of her family stories such as reading books on Asian American experiences 3 . She may also have intentional conversations with friends who are second generation immigrants and Asian Americans about the impact of their family’s immigration stories on their understanding of psychological well-being and how it relates to faith. This process may take place over a long period of time and Jen may cycle through the steps several times without another precipitating event. In other words, Jen may go from 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6, back to 3 and so forth as she is now committed to continually deepening her awareness of this identity. After #3, Jen finds herself having a deeper understanding, awareness and appreciation (#4) of her Asian American heritage, including her family’s history and the larger Asian American communities. She may find a greater sense of pride for the resilience and strengths in her family for enduring discrimination in their early years in the United States. She may find that she is able to draw upon this legacy of resilience as she faces difficulty, such as reminding herself that she comes from a lineage of strong women who have endured much, including the difficulties of immigrating to the United States.
As Jen continues to learn specific cultural influences in her family, church and community at-large, she may find that there are values in which she does not agree with. For example, Mihee Kim-Kort (2012) and Grace Ji-Sun Kim (Kim & Shaw, 2018) both write about how a part of their Asian American Christian heritage growing up was the assumption that women typically take roles in ministry that center around preparing food in the kitchen and other service roles. Jen may find that this, too, was a part of her family’s story, but one that she moves away from as a part of her contextual differentiation (#5; ChenFeng, 2018a, 2018bb) informed by her identity as a woman and a Christian. As such, contextual differentiation is often shaped by other social identities (intersectionality), psychology or theology, or a combination thereof. As a part of this process of intentional reflection and differentiation, Jen finds herself more at home with the values and inheritances of her Asian identity, and at the same time, able to name values that she has chosen to differentiate from. In this way, her contextual differentiation has occurred in two domains: among her Asian American community and in the classroom/academic contexts. When her opinions differ from that of her professor’s she is able to draw from the resources and stories of her family and community, and remain differentiated in her feelings and thoughts about the topic at hand. In engaging with the psychology-faith integration content of the class, Jen now has more hermeneutical resources in making sense of her thoughts, feelings and experiences as she engages with the content of the course, drawn from reflections of her cultural heritage.
Her contextual differentiation also allows her to move toward greater capacity for integration and action (#6) for herself and others in two contexts: first, the Christian community, as she engages in ministry roles that steward her talents and gifts, such as leading Bible studies and leadership roles, which may be a step of differentiation from how women’s roles are typically understood in the church she grew up in. Second, she may engage in active steps as a result of her contextual differentiation from her professor or her classmates. She may choose to have a one-on-one conversation with Dr. Integer about the journey she has experienced and shares about her family’s psychological resources as they dealt with the challenges of immigration. She may choose to write about her contextual differentiation from her professor’s opinions in a paper, or share her thoughts in class drawing upon her and her family’s immigration experiences as Asian Americans. She can feel at home in her perspectives and has grown her capacity to tell her stories drawing from a greater constellation of identities, which makes hermeneutical resources further available to others in the class. At the same time, due to this deepening appreciation for her family’s story, she reads the Bible also with a deeper sense of empathy for the displacements of God’s people throughout the Old and New Testament, and the way that God cares for the foreigners who are living among the Israelites. She reads the psychological literature on immigration and mental health with a deeper sense of resonance and empathy now that she has further integrated this part of her family’s story into her own hermeneutical resources. One day, as she chooses to become a mental health therapist focusing on working with primarily immigrants and refugees, the way that she integrates psychology and theology is done in a way that is embodied in her own cultural stories and heritage. In other words, the way that she integrates theology and psychology has been enriched by a sense of groundedness in her family’s stories and her cultural identity. In keeping with the conceptualization of the CCI as a spiral, this expanded capacity for integration and justice would serve as a foundation for Jen to develop her cultural integration even further in response to the next precipitating event.
Implications for Teaching
There are many places where hermeneutically just integration could make a difference, but first and foremost, we need to start with our undergraduate and graduate students as they are the future of integration. When their experiences are increasingly represented in the literature, an increasing amount of resources become available for future students to access in reflecting on their own integrative process. We have provided below reflection activities that can be utilized in the classroom to support students’ reflection on their cultural integration.
Teaching tools
The following reflection exercise is meant to help students reflect on specific themes of integration in their cultural background:
Write down some ways that biblical themes have been lived and embodied in your family. Write the themes (e.g., generosity, hospitality, justice) and write experiences or stories that come to mind where this value is embodied. Feel free to express this in the form of spoken word, songs, poems, etc. In other words, don’t feel restricted to “academic” writing.
As you reflect on these themes and the stories that come to mind, take a moment to consider in what ways these themes may have been influenced by the larger cultures to which your family belongs?
As a next step, students could be asked to reflect on the ways the psychological literature and the Bible/theological literature inform their understanding of one of the themes they identified above. They would then be encouraged to expand their own understanding of the topic based on these resources, critique the psychological literature or how the church has treated the topic. We would like to emphasize that these are simply initial steps in encouraging the next generation of integrators to explicitly engage with culture. There is much more work to be done in fleshing out the pedagogical implications of the Cycle of Cultural Integration. Furthermore, there are many important ways multiculturalism would shape educational, scholarly and clinical practices in the integration of psychology and theology (see McConnell, Bacote, et al., 2021a; McConnell, Liu, et al., 2021b); however, due to limitations of space in this paper, we have not elaborated on implications on clinical and scholarly engagement.
Conclusion
In this paper, we have outlined how cultural identity provides one important source that informs our integration in an embodied way. The advantage to honoring culture and identity is we become aware that integration has often already been present in our lives, and in the lives of others. Further, as we actively engage cultural sources of integration, we broaden the narratives of how Christian integration is practiced. In doing so, we will find the integration community to not only be more inclusive of a wider range of human experiences (in other words, greater hermeneutical justice) but also enriched and more relevant to the newer generation of integrators. In closing, we wish to share the following quote by Derek McNeil. In speaking of the integration journey, he states, . . . this heroic journey is not just about identity and self-discovery; it is also about service to a community. Consequently, while I believe that all integration is personal, it is also contextual/communal, happening in a historical space in which there are certain questions that we are all trying to answer and certain realities that we are all trying to live with . . . This complex setting will raise a host of old and new questions, each of which must be engaged. You may feel reluctant, as I did, for fear that you do not have an adequate voice or do not have a part to play, but each generation always needs its heroes and heroines to say yes. Taking your heroic integration journey is more than just a philosophical exercise—it is to be used by God to do the thing you were born to do. (McNeil, 2010)
We hope that by offering a model of cultural integration, future generations of scholars and psychologists would have one more resource in making sense of the ways their integration journey interacts with the cultural background and milieu. And that in doing so, we would create a more hermeneutically just literature to inform integration both at the personal and communal levels.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to our colleagues, Leah Fortson and Josephine Hwang, for conversations that have made an impact on our thoughts in this area.
Author Note
Adapted from Psychology and Christianity Integration by William B. Whitney and Carissa Dwiwardani, forthcoming from InterVarsity Press, as part of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies Books series. Copyright © by William B. Whitney and Carissa Dwiwardani. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. 
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.