Jeanette Cox (679 words)

Dr. Charles Dolph

PYCH-3690

January 20, 2023

Chapter 1 Eyes of Faith

Throughout the last century, the definition of psychology has varied. For the first forty
years, Psychology was defined as “the science of mental life,” defined by William James in
1890. For the next forty years, it was defined as the science of behavior and mental processes.
The definitions all have one thing in common and that is psychology aspires to be a science. The
Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner warned that psychology has not yet added up to an
organized discipline and is unlikely to do so in the near future. However, he pointed out that it
was crucial to acknowledge the insights reached by psychologists, to recognize the participation
modern psychology can make to fields that might one day achieve a more strong scientific status,
and finally to assess whether at least some aspects of psychology might thrive as members in a
discussion that occurs across major fields. Today psychology claims to be a science and this is
justified through multiple achievements in pure and applied research. Claiming that anything is a
science indicates that it is also aware of its limitations. The limits are not pushed by Christians
but are embraced by both humanists and scientists. According to postmodernists, scientific
knowledge is arbitrary. Some Christians have occasionally given in to the temptation to support
such viewpoints, mistakingly thinking that by undermining the objectivity of scientific
knowledge they may enhance the claims of religious knowledge. Conflict is what many people
say is the relation between faith and science. Unlike popular opinion, many historians say that
the development of modern science is supported by Christian ideas. If nature is sacrosanct, as has
long been assumed, then we shouldn't mess with it or conduct any experiments on it. However, if
nature is God's intelligent creation rather than a part of him, then by all means, let's investigate
his craftsmanship. Let's examine and try to understand its order, knowing that anything God
deemed worthy of creation, we may find worthy of studying. Let us do so voluntarily and with
the knowledge that God alone is the object of our ultimate loyalty, not any human teaching or
authority. Many believed this biblical view of God and nature motivated many individuals to
participate in scientific studies. These scientific pioneers saw themselves as working for God,
whether they were pursuing truth or searching for it in the Bible. They did not rely entirely on
intuition and reason, but also on perception since they believed that humans were also mortal
beings of God, not extenders of God. Since there isn't enough information in our minds, they
made the assumption that we can't discover the complete truth by guessing or making up stories.
According to Bacon, science would be restored through "real spiritual shame." Scientists would
have to give up the idea that celestial bodies revolved around the earth if research showed that it
wasn't stationary. They held that, in subjects of science and faith, reason must be supported by
observation, experimentation, and spiritual revelation. Though Copernicus and Galileo's
revolutionary theories instantly began a successful revolution in our understanding of the
cosmos, it took another four centuries for Vesalius' revolutionary views to trace the brain's
nerves—to start moving the intellect and soul away from the heart and toward the brain. A
historian named John Hedley Brooke came up with the distinctive themes between the science
and religions relationship together: inevitable conflict, complementarity, and complexity. I do
agree with most of what is said in this chapter. In the beginning, I believe that people combined
science with religion, but as time went on, I suspect that individuals began to distance
themselves from God and pursue their own interests in science. I agree with John Brooke when
he identified the distinctive themes recurring in the relationships between science and religion. I
also think that people are trying to cause conflict and make it complex to be able to do as they
wish without feeling bad. People of this world do not realize how good it is to have a loving God
when all they do is run from him.