Psychology and Christianity

How are Christians to understand and undertake the discipline of psychology? This question has been of keen interest (and sometimes concern) to Christians because of the importance we place on a correct understanding of human nature. Psychology can sometimes seem disconnected from, if not antithetical to, Christian perspectives on life. How are we to understand our Christian beliefs about persons in relation to secular psychological beliefs?

This revised edition of a widely appreciated Spectrum volume now presents five models for understanding the relationship between psychology and Christianity. All the essays and responses have been reworked and updated with some new contributors including the addition of a new perspective, the transformative view from John Coe and Todd Hall (Biola University).

Also found here is David Powlison (Westminster Theological Seminary) who offers the biblical counseling model. The levels-of-explanation model is advanced by David G. Myers (Hope College), while Stanton L. Jones (Wheaton College) offers an entirely new chapter presenting the integration model. The Christian psychology model is put forth by Robert C. Roberts (Baylor University) now joined by Paul J. Watson (University of Tennesee, Chattanooga).

Each of the contributors responds to the other essayists, noting points of agreement as well as problems they see. Eric L. Johnson provides a revised introduction that describes the history of Christians and psychology, as well as a conclusion that considers what might unite the five views and how a reader might evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of each view.Psychology and Christianity: Five Views has become a standard introductory textbook for students and professors of Christian psychology. This revision promises to keep it so.

Spectrum Multiview Books offer a range of viewpoints on contested topics within Christianity, giving contributors the opportunity to present their position and also respond to others in this dynamic publishing format.



Stanton L. Jones is provost and professor of psychology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. During his tenure as chair of the psychology department (1984-1996), he led the development of Wheaton's Doctor of Psychology program in clinical psychology. He received his B.S. in psychology from Texas A M University in 1976, and his M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1981) degrees in clinical psychology from Arizona State University. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and served on the Council of Representatives, the central governing body of the APA, representing the Psychology of Religion division from 1999 to 2001. In 1994 he was named a Research Fellow of the Evangelical Scholars Program of the Pew Foundation. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Divinity School of the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, for the 1995-1996 academic year.Jones authored the lead article, "Religion and Psychology," for the Encyclopedia of Psychology, jointly published in 2000 by the American Psychological Association and Oxford University Press. His article in the March 1994 American Psychologist, titled "A Constructive Relationship for Religion with the Science and Profession of Psychology: Perhaps the Best Model Yet," was a call for greater respect for and cooperation with religion by secular psychologists. Jones has also written, with his wife, Brenna, a five-book series on sex education in the Christian family called God's Design for Sex. He is also the coauthor of Modern Psychotherapies (with Richard E. Butman) and Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate (with Mark A. Yarhouse) and editor of Psychology and Christianity: Four Views. He has published many other professional and popular articles and chapters.



Eric L. Johnson (PhD, Michigan State University) trained as an academic psychologist and is Lawrence and Charlotte Hoover Professor of Pastoral Care at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of Foundations for Soul Care and the coeditor of God Under Fire and Christianity and Psychology: Four Views. An associate editor of the Journal of Psychology and Theology, he is the director of the Society for Christian Psychology and the Institute for Christian Psychology.



Myers is professor of psychology at Hope College. He is best known for his widely adopted texts on introductory psychology and social psychology. He had published widely in professional journals and is the recipient of the Gordon Allport Prize for research studies of group influence. His latest book is The Pursuit of Happiness: Who Is Happy and Why (William Morrow).



Roberts, Ph.D., is distinguished professor of ethics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He was formerly professor of philosophy and psychological studies at Wheaton College, where he worked on integration aspects of clinical psychology. Author of numerous books and articles, he is currently completing a volume on the moral psychology of emotions.



P. J. Watson (Ph.D. University of Texas at Arlington) is professor of pyschology and head of the pyschology department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has written numerous articles relating to psychology and physiology that have been published in psychology books and scholarly journals. Over the years Watson has been the recipient of several grants for research, the most current being a grant from the University of Chattanooga Foundation to support "personality research in Iran."



John H. Coe (PhD, University of California, Irvine) is director of the Institute for Spiritual Formation at Biola University in La Mirada, California. He is also professor of spiritual theology and philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology and Rosemead School of Psychology.

Preface to the Second Edition


1 A Brief History of Christians in Psychology - Eric L. Johnson


2 A Levels-of-Explanation View - David G. Myers


Integration Response


Christian Psychology Response


Biblical Counseling Response


Transformational Psychology Response


3 An Integration View - Stanton L. Jones


Levels-of-Explanation Response


Christian Psychology Response


Biblical Counseling Response


Transformational Psychology Response


4 A Christian Psychology View - Robert C. Roberts and Paul J. Watson


Levels-of-Explanation Response


Integration Response


Biblical Counseling Response


Transformational Psychology Response


5 A Transformational Psychology View -- John H. Coe and Todd W. Hall


Levels-of-Explanation Response


Integration Response


Christian Psychology Response


Biblical Counseling Response


6 A Biblical Counseling View - David Powlinson


Levels-of-Explanation Response


Integration Response


Christian Psychology Response


Transformational Psychology Response


7 Gaining Understanding Through Five Views - Eric L. Johnson


Name Index


Subject Index