The Failing Attempt of Integration Psychology

Separating Psychology from Scripture

John Street
Chairman of Biblical Counseling, The Master’s College

Introduction

A. Development of “Christian” Psychology

• At the end of the19th and the beginning of the 20th century most major
colleges and universities included psychology as a part of their core social
science curriculum.
• Fed by the hostility of Enlightenment’s higher criticism, liberalism
brought radical changes in the universities of the 1800’s which gave rise to
the Fundamentalist-Modernist clash of the early 1900’s. Most Christians
then refused to send their young people to these universities of skeptics
which were originally founded upon Christian principles, because their
Christian faith was repeatedly assailed, sparking many denominations to
create their own “Christian” colleges. These new “upstart” fundamentalist
colleges were to provide a safe, Christian, academic alternative to the
larger secular universities that rejected and ridiculed their faith.
• But suffering from an early lack of academic respectability and having a
desire to be recognized by accreditation associations these same
“Christian” colleges quickly accommodated their core curricula to what
was commonly accepted as minimal in the social sciences while still
maintaining a high regard for the Bible and “typically began to offer
courses in psychology in the 1920s and 1930s” (Psychology &
Christianity, eds. Eric L. Johnson and Stanton L. Jones, p. 31).
• Even then psychology was not easily accepted by Evangelicals as a
legitimate discipline of study for Christians since it smacked of
modernistic positivism while encroaching upon areas of spirituality and
the soul that had traditionally been the jurisdiction of the church.

B. Definition of Psychology
• In one of the earliest Evangelical textbooks on psychology, written by
Hildreth Cross (1952) of Taylor University entitled An Introduction To
Psychology: An Evangelical Approach, she defines psychology as “the study
of the whole man (or organism) affecting and being affected by the total
environment. This definition is broad enough to include the study of both
man and animal…and, in the case of the former, his spiritual nature. It also
includes the effects of a physical environment, a social environment and—
yes—the influence of spiritual forces acting upon him” (italics added, p. 25).
• Much of modern psychology refuses to recognize the spiritual and defines
psychology as “the scientific study of behavior and mental processes…
‘behavior’ encompasses not just what people do, but their thoughts, feelings,
perceptions, reasoning, memory, and biological activities” (Robert Feldman).
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Nevertheless the intangible aspect of the inner man or soul is critical to the
practice of psychotherapy.

• Is psychology a scientific discipline and is the scientific claim sufficient to

warrant the integration of psychology and the Bible?
• Did psychology arise among Evangelicals as a result of conviction or
concession?
• What right does the psychologist have to speak to matters of the soul?

C. Dispersion of Psychology
• Today most Evangelical churches, colleges, and seminaries accept psychology
and psychotherapy as authoritative disciplines. Many Evangelical pastors will
refer one of their flock to a psychologist for counseling.
• There are over 230-300 distinct schools of psychotherapy and counseling in
the United States alone.
• What does this say about speaking with confidence and authority?
I. History of Psychology and Christianity

A. Religious and philosophical background of psychology

“From its beginnings in supernatural beliefs, magic and taboo, psychology has
matured to a science of such broad proportions that professional psychologists
today must specialize on narrow fragments of the broader discipline.”
History of Psychology
1. Non-western contributions
• Animism – objects or trees have an indwelling principle or “soul,” and in
“hylozoism” the belief that matter has life or sensation.
• Egyptian Physician Imhotep (525 BC)
• Ancient Mesopotamians used incantations as psychosomatic medicine
• China – Buddhism; Chinese humanism
• Japanese Psychotherapy – Zen Buddhism
2. Classical contributions
• Aristotle (384-322 BC)
• Heracleitus of Ephesus (540-480 BC)
• Socrates
3. Medieval contributions
• Augustine of Hippo
• Thomas Aquinas
4. Renaissance contributions
• René Descartes (1596-1658 AD, some call him the father of modern
psychology because he makes a sharp distinction between the mind and
the body.)

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B. Biological and physiological roots

1. The Pythagorean physician Alemaeon of Croton (6th century BC)
• He identified thinking or consciousness as the distinguishing feature of
man and localized these functions in the brain.
• He is accredited with tracing perception to the sensory organs of the body
and emotions to the heart.
2. Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
• He held that emotions in man were inherited in an evolutionary sense,
reflecting emotional behavior that served the survival of lower animal
species.
• Sigmund Freud formulated his theories about the unconscious from
presuppositions of Darwinian evolution.

II. Prevalent Theorists in Psychology

A. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Founder of psychoanalysis
• Developed “free association” to allow material repressed in the unconscious to
emerge to conscious recognition.
• Believed all religion to be a neurosis
B. Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
• Founder of analytical psychology
• “Religious mythology can be a solution for mental problems.”
• Unconscious mind shares a collective unconsciousness of wisdom and
ancestral experience passed down from prior generations.
• Freud believed the goal of therapy was to make the unconscious conscious.
• In doing so, Freud made the unconscious an unpleasant place of seething
desires, a bottomless pit of perverse and incestuous cravings, a burial ground
for frightening experiences that come back to haunt the counselee.
• Jung was never entirely convinced of Freud’s theory of the unconscious.
• Therefore, through a series of dreams and analysis Jung developed a three-
fold theory of the psyche.

C. Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

• Best known for his contribution to client-centered therapy
• Was a secular humanist and later became involved in the occult
• Believed man had everything within himself to deal with life

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III. Is Psychology a Genuine Science?

A. What do some leading psychologists and philosophers say?

• Psychologist Roger Mills: “The field of psychology today is literally a mess.
There are as many techniques, methods and theories around as there are
researchers and therapists. I have personally seen therapists convince their
clients that all their problems come from their mothers, the stars, their
biochemical make-up, their diet, their life-style and even the ‘kharma’ from
their past lives.” (“Psychology Goes Insane, Botches Role as Science,” The
Natural Educator, July 1980, p. 14)
• Sigmund Kock: “The hope of psychological science became indistinguishable
from the fact of psychological science. The entire subsequent history of
psychology can be seen as a ritualistic endeavor to emulate the forms of
science in order to sustain the delusion that it is already a science.” (“The
Image of Man in Encounter Groups,” The American Scholar, 1973, p. 636)
• “Throughout psychology’s history as ‘science’ the HARD knowledge it has
deposited has been uniformly negative.” (Kock, “Psychology Cannot be a
Coherent Science,” Psychology Today, September 1969, p. 66)
• Jonas Robitscher: “His advice is followed because he is a psychiatrist, even
though the scientific validity of his advice and recommendations has never
been firmly established…their insistence that they are scientific and correct
and that their detractors, therefore, must be wrong.” (The Powers of
Psychiatry, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980, p. 8, 183)
• E. Fuller Torry: “The techniques used by Western psychiatrists are, with few
exceptions, on exactly the same scientific plane as the techniques used by
witch doctors.” (The Mind Game, New York: Emerson Hall Publishers, Inc.,
1972, p. 8)
• Karl Popper: “Psychological theories of human behavior ‘though posing as
sciences,’ had in fact more in common with primitive myths than with
science, that they resemble astrology rather than astronomy myths. They
contain most interesting psychological suggestions, but not in testable form.”
(“Science Theory and Falsifiability,” Perspectives in Philosophy, Robert N.
Beck, ed., New York: Holt, Richart, Winston, 1975, pp. 343, 346)
• Martin & Deidre Bobgan: “As we move from the natural science to the so-
called behavioral sciences, we move away from reputability, predictability,
reproducibility and controllability. In addition, the cause and effect
relationship, so evident in the natural sciences, is ambiguous or absent in the
behavioral ‘science.’ Instead of causation (cause and effect), psychotherapy
rest heavily upon covariation (events which appear together which may not
necessarily be related). From cause and effect, where there is a direct
relationship, psychotherapy utilizes covariation even though the events which
seem to be related may in fact have nothing to do with each other.”
(Psychoheresy, Santa Barbara, Cal. : Eastgate Publishers, 1987, p. 37)
• Whether psychotherapy or psychology is a science or not is at best debatable.

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• It would be better viewed as a philosophical system of thought disseminated

as a worldview – behaviorism, humanism, determinism, existentialism and
simple pragmatic utilitarianism.

B. Three myths about psychotherapy

1. Psychotherapy is pure science.
• “Psychotherapy is today in a state of disarray almost exactly as it was 200
years ago.” (Gregory Zilbroorg, “Progress in Psychotherapy”, p. 108)
• They Say You’re Crazy, this book deals with how decisions are made by a
“small clique in the psychiatric establishment as to what is mental illness
and who shall be hospitalized against their will and judged competent or
incompetent.” (Paula J. Caplan, research psychologist at Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education)
• Contrary to popular belief, it is frequently admitted within the ranks of
psychiatry that no conclusive evidence exists to show that any form of
mental illness is biologically caused.
• The U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment of the United States
Congress (1992) published a report titled The Biology of Mental
Disorders. The report concludes: "Research has yet to identify specific
biological causes for any of these disorders" (p. 14).
• In a psychopathology textbook used for second-year medical students, the
authors state, "psychiatry is the only medical specialty that…treats
disorders without clearly known causes" (Maxmen & Ward, 1995, p. 57).
• Colin Ross, discussing the chemical imbalance model for schizophrenia,
claims that the "dopamine theory of schizophrenia is a political strategy,"
with the goal of obtaining additional research grants (Ross, 1995, p.108).
• In a recent consensus conference sponsored by the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) in November of 1998, the panel of experts concluded:
“There are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction"
(p. 2). In their report, they went on to state that the same can be said for
"most psychiatric disorders, including disabling diseases such as
schizophrenia" (p. 2).
• Peter Breggin, M.D. (1997), was formerly a teaching fellow at Harvard
Medical School and full-time consultant with the National Institute of
Mental Health. As author of Brain Disabling Treatments In Psychiatry,
he declares that "there are no known biochemical imbalances in the brain
of typical psychiatric patients" (p. 5).
• Dr. William Wirshing (1999), a researcher and professor of psychiatry at
UCLA, stated to a room full of psychiatrists that “we have been lying to
everyone for years concerning the chemical imbalance model.” No one in
the audience challenged him.
• In an article approved for continuing education by the American
Psychiatric Association, the author states, “We don’t know how
psychotropic medications really work” (Khan, 1999).

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• Dr. Ty Colbert, President of the Center for Psychological Alternatives to

Biopsychiatry states: “Believe it or not, it is freely admitted even within
the ranks of psychiatry that no conclusive evidence exists to show that any
form of mental illness is biologically caused….In contrast, there is
considerable scientific evidence to show that psychotherapy can be more
effective than psychiatric medication for disorders such as depression,
mania, ADHD, anxiety, and even schizophrenia.”

2. People who experience problems, whether mental, emotional, or behavioral,

are mentally ill.
• “Mental illness” is an oxymoron. The mind cannot get sick, only the brain
can!
• “The term mental illness is nothing more than a figure of speech, and in
most cases a poor one.” (Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Mental Illness)

3. Psychotherapy has a high rate of success.

• May 20, 1996, Newsweek, “1 in 5 Americans suffer from some form of
mental illness.”
• That means 20% of this class is sick!
• Truth is, there is not a high rate of success; but there is a high rate of
diagnosis.
• “Underneath the melodrama of who’s right or wrong, all therapists have
one thing in common. Much is promised and little is delivered…” (Bryan
Karasa, Director of the Department of Psychiatry at the Bronx Municipal
Hospital Center)

C. Can Research Psychology offer the pastor anything?

• “Psychology should be a legitimate and very useful neighbor to the pastor.
Psychologists may make many helpful studies of man (e.g., on the effects of
sleep loss). But psychologists – with neither warrant nor standard from God
by which to do so – should get out of the business of trying to change persons.
It can tell us many things about what man does, but not about what he should
do.” (Jay E. Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 12)
• “I am concerned here to make but two observations only: 1) the psychiatrist
should return to the practice of medicine, which is his only legitimate sphere
of activity; 2) the minister should return to the God-given work from which he
was ousted (and which, in many instances, too willingly abandoned).”
(Jay E. Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manuel, p. 10)

IV. Psychology and Christianity in Conflict

A. Ten troubles with integrational psychology

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1. Property rights to the soul

• What metaphysical right does any self-proclaimed empirical discipline
have to claim exclusive authority in issues of the soul?
• Psychotherapy has systematically claimed jurisdiction in speaking
authoritatively of spiritual matters. It has won the cultural battle, since a
psychologist is a recognized societal authority in court, while a pastor is
not. Is not that to be expected in a sin-cursed world? But, why is this to
be the accepted practice of many churches and Christians?
• God and the Bible alone claim sole jurisdiction in matters of the soul (2
Peter 1:3, 19-21).

2. Medical metaphors—the redefined rhetoric of soul care

• Medical psychiatry is not apathetic toward Christianity, it is openly
hostile. It has systematically changed the language of “soul problems” to
medical terminology.
• “Although Freud did not invent the idea, he was exceptionally adept at
naming some of the complaints of physically healthy persons symptoms
that pointed to underlying diseases, called neuroses, which he offered to
relieve by means of a species of conversation called psychoanalysis”
(Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Psychotherapy, p. 17-18).
• Instead of sin, man is sick. The terminology alone makes the client a
victim with a disease. Psychologists are, first and foremost, rhetoricians.
The therapy of psychotherapy is primarily conversation.
• Medical labels for soul problems only drives man further from the remedy.

3. Environmental determinism
• For Freud this means that man is a “socialized animal.” Man’s problems
are due to his wrong environmental influences as he has matured,
physically and emotionally. It essentially says that, at least in
psychological jargon, man is not responsible for the way he has turned out.
• Biogenetic psychology reduces man to the sum-total of his chemical parts.
He is nothing more than an evolved animal, hardwired to think, feel and
act at the dictates of his physical components. “Once an alcoholic, always
an alcoholic.”
• Scripture speaks of man as a depraved sinner, not as a determined victim.
Man is responsible for his choices and often achieves above and beyond
his expected capacity. Supernatural transformation through the work of
the Holy Spirit and the Word brings about unexpected and lasting change.

4. Psychical determinism
• Underneath every man is a “dynamic unconscious” which controls his
every thought, feeling, and deed. These unconscious factors are kept from
conscious recognition by repression and no one has control on its effect
upon his life.

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• This dynamic can express itself in enigmatic ways such as dreams, tongue
slips, unusual emotions, and unhealthy relationships. A specially trained
therapist or analyst is the only person who can unlock their meaning.
• Biblically and scientifically, there is no such thing as a subconscious.
What is often confused by many “Christian” psychotherapists as
manifestations of the subconscious is the ruling motivations and desires of
a counselee’s heart that have become idolatrous.

5. Professionalism
• Integrationism has imported into Christianity a philosophy of soul-care
that requires professional degrees in psychotherapy in order to be
creditable in serious counseling situations. Christians plagued with major
problems of anxiety, fear, depression, suicide, chemical abuse, eating
problems, anger, or a host of other problems believe they cannot receive
bona fide help for their problems until they visit a mental health
“professional.”
• With this professional mentality comes an oppressive fee structure that
drains limited insurance plans and bank accounts. Many Christians who
see a “professional” psychologist quickly find themselves in debt and still
in need of help.
• Biblical counsel and help for serious problems do not require diplomas in
psychology or expense of professional offices and fees. Properly taught
Christians should be able to counsel one another (Romans 15:14;
Galatians 6:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:14). The cure of souls is an ecclesiastical
duty.

6. Hedonistic teleology
• Contemporary Christians view psychology’s promise to bring them lasting
satisfaction and happiness compatible with their purpose in life. Churches
have noted this radical departure from classic Christianity and attempted
to appease this desire with contemporary forms of worship that have
immediate appeal in addressing “felt needs.” There is an essential
agreement between “Christian psychology” and the “seeker-friendly”
church. Both appeal to the sensual. The frequent themes of contemporary
worship sermons and Christian psychology are amazingly similar, if not
identical—addressing topics that revolve around the contemporary loss of
pleasure and satisfaction in life. The person who is experiencing
sensations of guilt, anxiety, panic, shame, or depression is searching for an
answer. Seeker services and Christian psychologists claim to offer the
cure and promote the notion that such feelings are abnormal and
unacceptable.
• Biblical Christianity understands that in a sin-cursed world these feelings
are not abnormal but are to be expected. Personal happiness and
pleasurable feelings are not the ends of the Christian life in this world.
God is. Our greatest joy and happiness is found in Him alone.
Psychologized Christianity abhors the thought of ultimate self-sacrifice

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and suffering (Hebrews 11:24-26), even labeling Christians with such

commitments as being deficient of self-love and esteem.

7. Insight Gnosticism
• Freud introduced insight-oriented therapy to psychology. Only the
psychologist has the insight to be able to identify what operates in a
persons “out-of-awareness” mind. He or she is the only one qualified to
be able to probe and interpret certain cryptic enigmatic clues that are given
off by the “subconscious.” These are considered to be clues essential to
the patient’s well-being. A variety of techniques are used to surface these
clues including hypnosis, catharsis, free association, dream interpretation,
facilitated recall, revivification, rebirthing, and more.
• Akin to Gnostic teachers of New Testament times, the psychologist
believes he or she possesses special abilities and insights into the psyche
that alone qualifies him or her to uncover these “subconscious” soul
problems.
• In Scripture the key to the problems of the soul is not buried in the
subconscious but in the heart. These problems do not require someone
with secretive insights into the levels of mental consciousness. The Bible
vividly and openly reveals these idolatrous desires to anyone who is
willing to read and study its insight (Ezekiel 14:1-11; 1 Corinthians 10:6-
14; Colossians 3:5-17).

8. Evolutionary science
• “Christian” psychology borrows heavily from the secular psychologies, all
of which produce mountains of scientific research built upon evolutionary
presuppositions. Animal behavioral studies are considered authoritative in
human developmental theory. These studies have been used as the
foundational evidence for legal and educational principles for child-
rearing (e.g., hitting an animal makes it aggressive, and therefore, corporal
punishment of children turns them into violent adults).
• Evolutionary theists find a kindred spirit with “Christian” psychology
since they have integrated evolution into their Christianity.
• Christians who assume the Genesis account to be a non-poetical actual
record of creation (24-hour days) should find themselves at odds with both
the “Christian” evolutionist and psychologist. Man is not an evolved
animal. He is a distinct and unique creation of God. Made in His image
and likeness. Animal studies will never produce the authoritative material
necessary to deal with the man’s soul. Only God’s Word can do that.

9. Self-reliance
• Part of the atheistic assumptions of psychology is the self-empowerment
of man. Man has the ability to be able to find his answers within. This
philosophy predates Freud and stems from Enlightenment thinking. Freud
simply applied its implications to the talk-therapies. The patient has all
the answers concealed in the deep crevasses of his subconscious. He needs

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to get in touch with the fundamental goodness inside and one of the ways
the patient is able to demonstrate his mastery over his problems is his
revelation that he finally is in touch with himself.
• Scripture makes it evident that man cannot trust himself. He will always
view the circumstances of his life in such self-favoring ways (Proverbs
16:2; 21:2). When man honestly looks within he finds evil (Ecclesiastes
8:11; 9:3; Mark 7:21-23). From a biblical standpoint self-reliance is self-
destructive and self-defeating.

10. Self-determinism
• Stemming from self-reliance is the extended thought of self-determinism.
Certain psychologies such as existential, logotherapeutic, rational-
emotive, and cognitive therapies promote responsibility to self. If you are
true to self you are able to master your future and form it into whatever
you desire, overcoming your problems by tapping the answers inside.
• Contrary to anthro-centric psychologies, soul cures are to be conceived
vis-à-vis with God. When this is done Jesus Christ is seen as the solution
and His cure receives the glory. Psychologists who are Christians will
always have difficulty giving Jesus Christ exclusive credit, much less
glory, for the cure because biblical truths had to be supplemented by
modern psychological insight in order to be compelling and relevant.

B. Conclusion

Integrational psychology has failed to build a biblical schema for counseling

problems of the soul. It is a system heavily reliant upon and inspired by the
secular psychologies in theory, terminology and practice. Scripture is not the
source of their therapeutic methods because, in their view, it merely contains a
primitive psychology. It is simply a beginning point for some non-specific
psychotherapeutic cures, but it is not a sufficient etiology or remedy for major
disorders (Proverbs 30:5-6). In contrast, the biblical counselor is fully committed
to both the sufficiency and superiority of God’s Word in soul-cure of even the
most bizarre non-physiological problems (2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The Failing Attempt of Integration Psychology Dr. John D. Street