Journal of Psychology and Theology

The author asserts that one source of the tension between psychology and Christian theology lies in the historical anthropological debates concerning the relationship between spirit and soul. The author summarizes first some of the various meanings of the term psyche since its origins in classical Greek and traces this ambiguity through the nineteenth century. The development of the term psychology is also summarized, demonstrating that its denotative and connotative meanings have become increasingly divergent. This has resulted in “psychology without a soul.” an accurate descriptor of much nineteenth century and most twentieth century psychology. The initial theological reaction to this “new” psychology was the differentiation of “biblical psychology,” side-by-side with the “psychological novel” and depth psychology, which remained ensouled.

This paper reexamines the psychological conditions giving rise to the temptation to run away from social responsibilities and personal growth (the “Jonah complex”). Abraham Maslow is here criticized for his self-actualization theory and his narrow interpretation of the Jonah complex. He sees the latter as a fear of God-like possibilities in ourselves but does not connect it to a rejection of the universal moral imperative to love and respect all that lives. It is argued that what lies at the roots of the Jonah Complex are two basic psychological prods: The first is the fear of death, and the second is the desacralization of life and the trivialization of its meaning.

One's God-concept, herein referred to as the “image of God,” is a major determinant of the quality of one's personal relationship with God. In addition, the image of God one maintains may be observed to correlate with one's capacity for relational experiences with significant others. In this article object relations theory is applied to perceptions of God. The development of object relatedness in the child is discussed and the concept of parataxic distortions in the image of God is considered within the context of biblical history and childhood development. Parataxic distortions as found in the psychotherapeutic relationship are also briefly addressed, as is the psychotherapeutic resolution of distorted God-percepts.

Forty clergymen in the Church of England completed two locus of control scales after declaring their theological position on a fundamentalist-liberal theology scale. As predicted, it was found that “fundamentalists” were more internal in their locus of control beliefs than “liberals.” but this only applied to the Rotter scale. There was not a close relationship between the two locus of control scales. The results were discussed in terms of methods to determine religious beliefs, as well as locus of control beliefs.

Evangelical viewpoints regarding the almost universal phenomenon of masturbation range from unqualified acceptance to unqualified rejection, yet there is little evidence of a thorough biblical foundation for these views. To help meet this need, this study evaluates the issue of masturbation within the corneal of six major objections employed by those who condemn it on biblical grounds. These objections are found to provide limiting principles, but they do not support universal condemnation. A key biblical text is proposed to support a relatively neutral attitude toward masturbation. A fully biblical approach must consequently include both tolerance and the limitations imposed by God's Word.