Honors Psychology 151 December 5, 2002

Faith in a Modern World

On the second day of class you sought to dispel any misconceptions concerning Christianity and psychology by presenting the argument that the science of psychology could coexist and even compliment each other. It was initially hard to gauge the response of others but I can say honestly that I firmly agree with this statement. I thought that the arguments you made were very persuasive but I still wished to elaborate and expand on some. I still think that more can be said on this topic. By revealing a little about myself and my upbringing I will attempt to explain why I agree, while simultaneously supporting the arguments you made and presenting some original ones not just in the defense of psychology but in the defense of many forms of science. First, a little background information on me, my father is a chemist and my mother is an American Baptist minister or pastor. Therefore, for all of my life I have lived in an environment were Christianity and science have coexisted. My father is a very strong Christian in his own right and he has always emphasized the importance of a complimentary relationship between faith and science. I believe that this unique living situation has given me an excellent perspective or worldview with which to examine this argument of what the relationship between Christianity and modern science should be, if there indeed should be relationship at all. During your lecture, you mentioned that faith and psychology can actually help our understanding of each by examining topics from different angles. This is a fine point because it recognizes that Gods mysterious nature and His willingness to approach

problems by different ways. You also mentioned that all truth is of God but can be found in other sources. This follows along with the traditional Christian and CRC belief that God sometimes chooses to revel himself thorough other secular sources. Another point you made is that the task of integration is to be distinctively Christian in a responsible way. This emphasizes the CRC belief that we are called to be lights to the world by redeeming it.