Biblical Psychoanalysis; Are Christianity and Psychology Compatible?

What got me started on thinking about the issue of Christianity and  psychology was a brief discussion by Andrew Kuyvenhoven in his book, "Comfort and Joy". In it, as best as I can tell, he recognizes the advent of modern psychology, recognizes how advertising has developed to play on the principles involved in psychoanalysis, and even goes so far as to credit it with confirming, " ... the biblical teaching that evil is inside us."

Never mind that I disagree with this last comment entirely as psychology is largely neutral on the issue of evil and instead tends to simply find issues and bring them to our awareness (the morality thereof being for us to decide). What really struck me was the whining manner in which he seemed to wish for the good old days before modern psychology as if that, presumably simpler, world was more conducive to explaining the desires of the heart. As for me, I chose truth rather than simplicity.

One other quick comment; Kuyvenhoven is a terrific scholar and apologist and is deserving of much praise and deference. However, like any person stuck in a fallen paradigm, he includes moments of weak logic and understanding in some of his comments and even occasionally falls into the trap of arguing one side of the coin for one point and conveniently flipping the coin for another argument three chapters later. All said and done, he is well worth the read.

But back to my point. Kuyvenhoven represents a mid point in the approach of Christianity dealing with psychoanalysis. Many see it as a tool of the devil. The other extreme is a fascination with introspective psychology which borders on the occult. Where does common sense land on this issue?

Typically, a good point to start is with the Bible itself. I am not going to give an exhaustive recitation, but a few examples should provide some guidance. To this end, I think is appropriate to start with agape love itself. Agape love is an intellectual exercise that demands that we act with care, respect, and compassion to everyone. It is the complete opposite of an emotional response of love. By definition, it recognizes the passions that produce the other types of love. And, by definition, it acknowledges the full scope of the human psyche including our fears, desires, and motivations. It is modern psychology.

Two other examples of psychoanalytic self revelation are part of our regular Christian speak. The first is the warning of the plank in your eye and the splinter in another's. The best way to understand this warning is to view it through an exercise given by a counselor I saw some years ago. He asked this; imagine yourself going to a party. You enter the room and look around. After checking out all the people at the party, notice the one who rubs you the wrong way and for whom you have the most distaste. That person is the one who will share the most similarities to you. The point is that we have an immense ability to see the exact faults in others that we ourselves have. The teaching about the plank and the splinter is the exact same truth with the warning of it's hypocrisy and it implication of breaking relationship through hypocrisy.

The Lord's Prayer also includes a similar demand for deep introspection. We pray, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". Besides the fact that such an utterance should scare us down to our socks, it is also a demand that we spend time looking deep into our own actions and motivations. Have we forgiven? Why? For what purpose? How completely? This is psychoanalysis 101.

There are reasons why we are called to delve deep into our own psyches as Christians. First of all, our primary relationship is with God. He created us. For us to more completely know ourselves is for us to more completely understand the majesty of his creative power and the depth of how we are image bearers. In essence, the more we know about God and the more we know about ourselves is the more we are able to experience fuller relationship with him.

Secondly, the more understanding we have about our own strengths and weaknesses the more we can let God work through our weakness for his glory and the more compassion and humility we can have towards others with whom we have relationship.

The truth is, psychology is a powerful tool. So is a chainsaw. A chainsaw can accomplish an amazing amount of work in a very short time. It can also cause an immense amount of damage in a hurry. The problem with psychology in modern Christianity is that of navel gazing. Life is about relationship. If our use of personal psychology leads us to  richer, deeper relationships, it is a tool well worth using. If the fascination with introspection feeds into an ever deeper spiral of narcissism, the tool has been effectively hijacked for mischief and is no longer good.

In the end you should celebrate your createdness. You are unique and the child of the King. The balance is in turning internal preparation into external action. I am guessing it was something like this to which Dickens referred when he had the ghost of Christmas present tell Scrooge, "Come in and know me better man!" In learning about himself, Scrooge learned how to care for others. Sounds like one of the basic concepts of Christianity to me.