Contributions to Christian Counseling, Eric L Johnson
Life and Work
Of all of the views
presented throughout the history of psychology, some of the most problematic
views stem from how psychology and Christianity can or cannot co-exist.
Compartmentalization is the easiest word to find that describes the
complexities that inhabit the thought patterns of most people. The number one
place to start for most is with the erroneous idea of the separation of church
and state. Another major area that seems almost universal is the separation of
what someone calls entertainment (indecent movies, music, ect.) and going to
church. Compartmentalizing life often leads to wrong conclusions, and within
psychology engaging in this behavior can lead to useless chatter with no real
answers. Do these sound like harsh words? For some people, this view on
compartmentalization is possibly very offensive.
Eric L. Johnson spent the majority of his life trying
to help people understand the true meaning of the lordship of Christ over all
of a Christian’s life. Although couched in the field of psychology, Johnson
understands that the pervasiveness of most modern approaches to psychology miss
this concept entirely.
Johnson earned degrees from several
schools, a B.Th. at Toronto Baptist Seminary, M.A.C.S. from Calvin College,
M.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He now serves as Professor of
Pastoral Care at Southern Baptist Seminary. Johnson serves as associate editor
of the Journal of Psychology and Theology,
and he writes extensively. One of Johnson's more prominent roles as a writer
was his co-editing and contributions to Christianity
and Psychology: Five Views.
The Past
Throughout his career Johnson has written extensively
on the relationship between Christianity and psychology. What could be called a
culmination of his work is found in a writing je produced while teaching at
Northwestern College. At that time Johnson published an article Christ, The Lord of Psychology which one
could consider the most articulate foray into what can be mine-field. So many
Christians, including many well meaning Christians, have tried to impugn
psychology as anti-Christian, often ascribing it to some work of Satan himself.
However, within this work Johnson utilizes sound Christian standards (the
Scriptures) to reinforce his premise “that Scriptures are needed to properly
interpret human nature” (Johnson, Christ, The Lord of Psychology, 1997). Within this writing
Johnson states his case that Christians need to bring psychology back under the
headship of God where it belongs. He lays out his case Biblically of how
Christians should respond to secular psychology by advancing into new territory
so they, “may be enabled to discover new facts and theories, devising new lines
of research to more accurately understand human nature the way it really is,
the way God sees it” (Johnson, Christ, The Lord of Psychology, 1997). This understanding
that Johnson is trying to impart becomes the answer to the critics from within
the faith, and those outside the faith. He says to study the old, but work on
ways to find the new. Stay true to the faith, and pursue new discoveries.
Johnson pushes people, “to work towards a psychology that is thoroughly
consistent with a Christian framework, regardless of its acceptability by
secularists” (Johnson, Christ, The Lord of Psychology, 1997). Johnson, in this
work, gives us the framework to better understand how his idea of integration
works, but more importantly than the nuts and bolts of the information is this,
“The believing psychologist is called upon to
participate in the kingdom of God. The secular powers that basically control
psychology’s standards, journals, and educational institutions will make such
work difficult; it makes even the understanding of such a task difficult,
especially for those trained in such a context. However, the Christian
psychologist who is participating in the kingdom of God will be moved to call
into question the assumptions of this age and resist conformity to it, and seek
transformation by the renewing of the mind, heart, and life, to joyfully serve
the Lord of psychology” (Johnson, Christ, The Lord of Psychology, 1997).
The
thoughts Johnson put into this work lay the foundation for developing a more
comprehensive understanding that to be a Christian within the realm of psychology
is an uphill battle to say the least, but one that a Christian psychologist
must embark upon.
Present
Today there are many voices bidding for attention
among Christian psychology and counseling circles, but the “church,” for the
most part, today remains just as opposed or ambivalent toward psychology on any
level. However, what seems clear is that the Nouthetic approach that Jay Adams
posited, and has now basically been renamed the Biblical counseling approach,
has been just as much a source of consternation due to his very anti-scientific
stance as has been the Levels-of-explanation view put forth by Myers and
Jeeves. In Psychology and Christianity:
Five Views Johnson helps organize these views along with others to
introduce the idea of multiple perspectives. Taking the Biblical lens and applying
it to various Christian-based approaches Johnson suggests that the key to
properly understanding Christian based psychology, “is to avail ourselves of an
increasing number of valid perspectives on reality” (Johnson, Psychology and Christianity: Five Views,
2010, p. 295).
The whole concept of this book seems to be the logical next step for Johnson.
First, he established a Biblical foundation. Second, he searches out quality
input from others who have a grasp of reality. Integration of the views is a
logical progression. Johnson stays true to Biblical standards in his endeavor,
“Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they
succeed” (Proverbs 15:22, NASB). Although the version of Psychology and Christianity: Five Views referenced here is the 2nd
edition, the book was originally published in 2000.
His ideas then seem to come together in his book Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian
Psychology Proposal. Although the
book is about Christian counseling, the model Johnson presents is that the
ideas contained within the book are not necessarily, or entirely considered
psychological. In Johnson’s words,
“This whole book is an attempt to answer that
question, but a succinct response is to point out that the primary object of
our interest here is not mathematics, chemistry, or society, not God, and not
even the Bible, but the nature of individual human beings and their
psychopathology, the study of the soul” (Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian
Psychology Proposal, 2007, p. 16).
This
book seems to be the high watermark of Johnson’s writings. In the pages he
relates his ideas about how the Christian counselor should study the Bible, but
not just as a Holy exercise. He relates that caring for the soul works best when
one allows the Bible to be their guide to illuminate human behavior, how to
live well, and how to get better when we are not doing well.
This is, I believe, the key to proper counseling. There
are some approaches that are called Bible based counseling, and some of them
seem to work well when using Scripture to guide analysis. One of the most
interesting comes from Paul Vitz. Johnson references Vitz many times throughout
his writings over the years, and upon reading Vitz it is easy to understand
why. Paul Vitz is a Professor of Psychology at New York University. Although he
is from a Catholic background, he works closely with Evangelicals as well as
committed Jews. Vitz has a heart for helping families in general with a special
emphasis on marriage.
Vitz wrote an article for the Homiletic and Pastoral Review on the Fatherhood of God in 1997 that
focuses on the attack of the Christian concept of God as Father. These attacks
seem to have mainly come through the feminist movement and their desire for an
androgynous idea of God. Vitz writes this article to explore, from a
psychological perspective, the Christian understanding of God as Father.
Throughout the writing Vitz emphasizes the complimentary roles of men and
women. He concludes this framework to be the best representative of the
Christian belief system as it relates to male and female.
Within the article Vitz traces the importance of God the
Father as a concept through theological, historical, and psychological points
of view. First, through the theological point of view, “to reject God the Father as a name is
to…deny the entire theology of the Trinity” (Vitz, 1997).
Historically, Vitz explains how various movements, including, but not limited
to rationalism, materialism, individualism, communism, evolutionism, fascism,
and others, although to some degree are still active, have declined to various
degrees. All of these ideas were spawned from hostility toward Christianity, or
have, “developed in response to heresies” (Vitz, 1997).
Vitz, at this point focuses on modernism, and more keenly on the feminist
movement. Feminism, being a relatively new movement, arising in the mid-19th
century, “took the basic idea of class warfare (Marxism) and used a similar
rationale to interpret conflicts between men and women” (Vitz, 1997).
From this point Vitz begins his discussion of this topic from the psychological
perspective. He covers the different models of sexuality, and the role they
play in the grand scheme of things.
Vitz writes the bulk of his article on individuation. He
put most of his emphasis on the process of separation between parent and child,
and the relational differences between mothers and daughters, fathers and sons,
mothers and sons, and fathers and daughters.
From a church perspective, removing God as Father is
described this way, “In a church that is already far more popular with women
than men, this (removing God as Father) means the removal of one of the few
remaining supports for men.
So what is so relevant about this article in relation to
Christian counseling? There are some huge implications for those practicing
today. History tells us that fatherless homes are a common denominator in many
stories we have read and heard about from those seeking counseling. The impact
of how one understands the concept of what or who a father is or should be
plays a major role in how they relate to others. When someone comes to a
Christian counselor with a distorted view of how a father should behave, the
ability to help them understand the concept of God as Father is slim at best.
The Bible shows a triune God consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Therefore, without a proper understanding of God as Father model people will
often miss the important connections that form the basic ideas of Christianity.
Of all of the approaches to psychology and counseling,
the feminist approach seems to be the most insidious. As Vitz points out the
feminist model strives to eliminate sex and gender differences in order to
create a level playing field. He says of the feminist model,
“This
is an understanding of sexuality as basically arbitrary, and that male and
female are not only equivalent but more or less interchangeable” (Vitz, 1997).
The key in this
statement is how the feminist does not stop at equality, but goes head-strong
into interchangeability. This is the core of the issue. God as Father cannot be
neutered into God as mother or as God as androgyny. There is no Biblical
foundation or authority to do this. God created male and female. He created men
and women, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and although all are equal
in standing before God they are designed to be complimentary in relation to one
another.
For the individual within the therapy setting, the ideas
expressed so far play a much larger role in how we understand ourselves and
others. Everyone needs to understand that they have worth. Everyone also needs
to understand that they are loved by God. Self-image developed apart from a
proper understanding of where stand before God will always end in crisis at
some point. God as Father is not only an important concept Biblically, but
helping someone understand this concept can go a long way in healing the
brokenness that comes from an earthly father who did, or does not behave in a
Christian manner. Boys normally find their "sense of self," or what
it means to be a man from their earthly fathers. Girls find their sense self,
lovability, and femininity from a godly father as well. Therefore, when things
do break down in the home, when the earthly father is absent, when the earthly
father is abusive, having a right relationship with their Heavenly Father is
the only thing that can make things right in the lives impacted by their earthly
fathers. Earthly fathers will never be perfect. Even the best will fail at some
point and to some degree. That means that no matter what situation someone is
in, understanding God’s role as Father in our lives is absolutely crucial to
all. How does everything Vitz is writing about relate to the ideas Johnson is
relating? The Apostle Peter knew that everything we would ever need for Christ-like
living could be found in understanding who God is, and who Jesus is.
“Grace
and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life
and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory
and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent
promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (1 Peter 1:2-4, NASB).
Johnson’s comments
about this passage tie in very well with the crux of Vitz’ point about
understanding who God is, and why it is so very important, “since Scripture
best reveals such knowledge, we can properly infer from this passage that
preaching and prayerful meditation on Scripture should promote Christ-likeness
in a corrupt world” (Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian
Psychology Proposal, 2007, p. 39). This idea of the
sufficiency of Scripture is the fuel for Jay E. Adams’ Nouthetic Counseling,
Gary Collins’ Helping with the Bible, Cloud and Townsend’s Boundaries, and the
Connecting approach from Larry Crabb just to name a few. All of these ideas are
based in the same vein as the ideas presented by Eric Johnson. Today, in the
counseling setting, Christians must allow Scripture to be the lens through
which they not only view psychology, but it must become the lens through which
they see everything in the world. With this in mind, reading and understanding
the discoveries of secular psychology should never be omitted from the process
of understanding the field as a whole. The main thought to keep in mind however
is to always filter those readings through Scripture. So many times the
temptation is there to find a theory, approach, or a method one might like and
then search out verses to reinforce their preferences. This is reminiscent of
how J. Vernon McGee used to define liberalism, “the pulpit trying to make the
unsaved church member happy” (McGee).
Johnson, in Foundations for Soul Care, does not suggest that Christians engaged
in counseling should only study the Bible, but they must have a Biblical
template (or lens) that allows them to study secular psychology with the aim to
glorify God through their practice.
Future
Do the ideas that Eric Johnson has written about have a
place in the future of Christian counseling? The simple answer to this question
is yes they do. With the proliferation of small group Bible studies (not to be
confused with the “encounter groups” of the 70’s) there will be more and more
ways to integrate faith into counseling as people learn to interact on an
intimate level combined with discovering who God is and who they are. Yes, I
did say learn, as we have become so isolated by the world wide web that
re-establishing relationships and opening up in true fellowship with other
believers can help foster Biblical counseling models like those of Jay E.
Adams, and more specifically the idea of “Connecting” as presented by Larry
Crabb. The essence of his book, Connecting, revolves around the idea
that the best way to live open and honestly, which brings connection with
ourselves and others is when we let go of our attempts to do things our way and
let God use our lives in the way He desires to use them. When this happens, and
we see ourselves and others as God sees us, we will begin to see the work God
is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. The real revelation for
me came from the idea that the second part of the subtitle puts forth, A Radical New Vision. Crabb suggests
that those within the church are capable of handling many of the problems they
once would have referred to professional counselors, “Ordinary people have the
power to change other people’s lives” (Crabb, 1997, p. 25). That is an amazing idea coming from a
professional counselor, and a bold approach to counseling to say the least.
This type of community approach comes to fruition as we walk with God and allow
the power of His Holy Spirit to help us deepen our understanding of what those
around need in order to be what God wants them to be. God is the one who
enables us to see the good in others, and to in turn share that insight with
them to help them to catch the vision God has cast for them. Crabb’s idea of connecting boils down to understanding
God’s vision not only for our lives, but understanding the vision of the lives
within the community of believers to the point of total transparency which will
then lead to true life transformation.
Finally
As I have studied psychology, and watched how many
Christian universities have begun programs to be more active in teaching people
from a Christian point-of-view it gives some hope for the future of counseling.
The passé styles of the 1960’s and 1970’s seem to fading as more Christians
become involved in counseling. Avoiding a synthesis of secular and Christian
views will always be the key to advancing a proper understanding of Christian
based counseling. No matter if one likes the Rogerian idea that we can help
ourselves, which is entirely anti-scriptural, or Jung’s ideas of archetypes we
must always remember that it is integration (how behavior fits into scripture,
and how scripture responds) and not synthesis (or a blending of secular and sacred
ideas) that will truly help people. We need to work on helping people
understand what positive role models look like. There needs to be an
understanding that God has referred to Himself as male, and no man conjured up
a male chauvinist ideal of God. Therefore, trying to neuter God or to make Him
androgynous will always lead to dead-ends with no real answers. God is called
Father for a reason and, “when people change the name of God, they have changed
their religion” (Vitz, 1997).
“Of all of the things in creation, the greatest interest
to most of us is our own nature, for we are fascinated with the wonder of
ourselves” (Johnson, Psychology and Christianity: Five Views,
2010, p. 9).
“For You formed my inward parts;
You
wove me in my mother’s womb.
I
will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful
are Your works,
And
my soul knows it very well”
(Psalm
139:13-14, NASB).
References
All Scripture is from
the New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman
Foundation
Crabb, L. (1997).
Connecting. Nashville, Tennessee: Word Publishing.
Johnson, E. L. (1997).
Christ, The Lord of Psychology. Journal of Psychology and Theology , 25 (1),
11-27.
Johnson, E. L. (2007).
Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.
Johnson, E. L. (2010).
Psychology and Christianity: Five Views (2nd Edition ed.). (E. L. Johnson, Ed.) Downers Grove: Intervarsity
Press.
McGee, J. V. (n.d.).
Thu The Bible Radio MP3 Archives. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from Truth e-Bible:
http://thruthebible.ca/
Vitz, P. (1997,
February 5). Support from Psychology for the Fatherhood of God. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from The Paul C. Vitz
Resource Center For Christianity and Psychology:
http://www.paulvitz.com/fatherhood.html
Nemo
sine vitio est
(No one is without fault)
(No one is without fault)
.............
