Psychology of Religion

What does psychology have to do with the Christian faith? In Psychology and Christianity: Five Views, by Myers, Jones, Roberts, Watson, Coe, Hall, and Powlison (2010) is an introductory textbook for Christian psychology that provides sound arguments for an array of positions on psychology and faith. Each author contributed an essay and in return the other essayist respond by either agreeing or disagreeing by pointing out faults and explaining why.

Even though some people walk the same path they may see different things. Some may see things in the theological way with God’s presence everywhere they look and everything they do. Some may see it in a psychological way, always looking for the explanation of why something is the way it is. Together, theology and psychology can bring a different view and perspective that they never would have saw by themselves.

The integration of psychology and theology is so intertwined that it has caused ill-well between the two disciplines. The over-arching concern for a counselor is to understand the why of a person disorder. In trying to understand the why, there are issues concerning the mind of the person, the thought process, their body, their soul, their temporal and the supernatural systems that can be manipulated if they are not living with a healthy lifestyle. So what a counselor is trying to discover is the physical function of individuals as well as trying to uncover the spiritual components of their lives, which can be worked through within the intake process, however it does not need to be left out during the counseling process. This is best said in the words of McMinn (1996) who declares “the best interdisciplinary integration work usually comes from those who have formal or informal preparation in both psychology and theology” (p. 9). Scripture states in, II Chronicles 1:10, says “give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours” (New International Version)? This research article will endeavor to search through varies theories to aid counselors in the integration process of psychology and theology. Because the ultimate goal for any counselor especially the Christian counselor is to be used as an instrument for God to bring about healthy living, corrective thoughts, and eradicate persistent sins.

McMinn unveils the realism of what essentially happens in the counseling office. He dives into the fitting together “Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling”. McMinn explains how “those who enter therapy in the midst of their pain experience a restorative counseling relationship that brings acceptance hope, and meaning into their broken lives” (McMinn, 2011, p. 20). There are various questions surrounding Christian counseling that McMinn faces head on in this book when it comes to the challenges counselors face as it relates to integrating religion and spirituality in their sessions. Life on the frontier as McMinn puts it, is where counselors face six basic challenges. Challenges such as moving from two areas of competence to three, blurred personal-professional distinctions, expanded definitions of training, confronting dominant views of mental health, establishing a scientific base or even defining relevant ethical standards (McMinn, 2011). Personal journey’s that McMinn has taken throughout his career provide him with the knowledge, skills and abilities to depict how we should face these challenges. McMinn talks about how many counselors have a need to interpret studies, have good psychodynamics and figure out which cognitive therapy is right for their counseling. As he states, “Christian counseling is more complex than other forms of counseling because our goal are multifaceted (McMinn, 2011, p.

What purpose does religion serve? Why does religion continue to play an important role in human life? Koenig (2009) declared that atheism is rare, and rather, 90% of the world’s population practices religion or spirituality. Religion and spirituality have ambiguous meanings and are not universally defined. Although difficult to adequately define, Koenig (2009) inferred that “religion is rooted in an established tradition that arises out of a group of people with common beliefs and practices concerning the sacred” (p. 284). Spirituality, however, is often defined on an individual basis and not necessarily connected to religious beliefs (Koenig, 2009). Researchers often relate spirituality to personal interaction with spiritual entities

In this paper, I discussed my personal theory regarding the integration of Christianity and psychology, as it relates to my beliefs, and how the summation of these two components will be reflected in my future counseling practice. I considered several factors that were critical to my personal counseling theory. First, I considered the human personality, such as, individual differences, motivations, and human development. Each person is unique; however, both Christianity and psychology have discovered common threads that are woven throughout the human race, and I believe that information is imperative to the counseling process. Next,

In his book, “Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity,” David Entwistle (2010) provides a persuasive discourse for the assimilation of psychology and theology; secular and religious disciplines that present a “multifaceted dialogue shaped by historical interactions and tensions.” (p. 51) Of the two systems, psychology is by much of the Church thought to advocate reason over revelation whereas theology is, by more secular-leaning scholars, thought to be wanting of intellect. With Tertullian 's libretti, “what indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” (p. 8) in addition to modernism’s philosophy of self-consciousness and the skepticism of postmodernism continuing to fan the flames of segregation, the flawed logic that an integration of psychology and theology is not possible ensues.

Spirituality and religion hold different values and truths depending on your personal beliefs. Being religious is a belief or practice that contains certain values one should follow. When looking deeper into religion you can find spirituality which is the part of religion that effects our spirit and soul, it is not tangible. “The Sacred within” is spirituality and pertains to God dwelling inside of our heart and soul. When looking at “the sacred within” there are certain senses that we can tap into so, we may obtain that sort of spirituality. Through solitude, silence, imagination, and nature, we can have a better sense of spirituality.

Spirituality is defined by the Merriam-Webster (2015) dictionary as “the quality or state of being concerned with religion or religious matters.” That is the simple definition of it from a dictionary. In depth, spirituality is defined as a person’s beliefs, attitudes, values and connection

Religion can be defined as a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. It contains a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices that allow its followers to live their life a certain way. The world consists of 19 major religions, which are further subdivided into 270 larger groups. According to David Barrett et al, editor of the “World Christian Encyclopedia,” there are 34,000 separate Christian groups around the world. Just from those numbers alone, we can conclude that religion has a prevalent effect on people and society. Religion is viewed as a positive influence on an individual both psychologically and physically. Throughout history we can study the various effects that religion has on society. Studies generally provide great evidence in favor of religion having a positive effect on individuals and society as a whole.

Sigmund Freud was a psychologist known as the ‘father of psychoanalysis’ who believed that our sense of moral understanding is a result of the conditioning of a growing being.

Religious faith is important to most Americans, with approximately 95% of Americans reporting belief in God and about 50% being active in church organizations (Gallup & Castelli, 1989). Despite the widespread prevalence of religious beliefs in society, some researchers have maintained that religion and religious beliefs are often neglected in psychological research (Jones, 1994; Plante, 1996). This neglect stems from a couple of different factors. First, it is difficult for psychologists to overcome the fact that believers in many religions claim to have unique access to the truth. Secondly, truly theological questions such as the existence of God or the nature of an afterlife are often ignored by scientists. This may be in part a

What is spirituality? And is it only related to religion? It is hard to answer these questions as there are a lot of definitions of spirituality and what is it related to. For some people, spirituality has no meaning outside the circle of the religion. On the other hand, some people say that spirituality can exist inside the religion and also outside the religion. People should stop relating spirituality to only religion. Instead, people should know the true meaning of spirituality outside the circle of the religion as it will open doors for knowledge and have a butter understanding and better life. In the United States, religion is frequently equated with spirituality or a personal relationship with God

Spirituality plays a very sub sequential role in my personal life. First of all, spirituality helps me govern what is right and what is wrong in my life. Many of the decisions that I make everyday, I believe are a direct result of my spirituality. For as long as I can remember I have been raised to believe that I should live my life the way God would want me to live it. Therefore, whenever I have a decision to make, I have to consider, what is right? And what is wrong? Second of all, it also helps me to feel more secure about what will happen to my spirit once my life here on earth is over. I believe that there is a better place for our spirits once we leave this earth.

     Spirituality and psychology are two complex subjects to discuss and they become even more complicated when you try to relate one to the other. Psychology deals with the processes of sense perception, thinking, learning, cognition, emotions and motivations, and personality, focusing on the behavior of individuals. Spirituality, on the other hand, is all inclusive. “Spirituality is living one's life from the realization that the body/mind/ego personality we have been taught to identify with is just the tip of our iceberg, our little head sticking through the window of the senses into this world, whereas our true body is the universe. It is recognizing that our perceived world is mostly an illusion, a shared