{"id":4888,"date":"2009-11-25T00:02:53","date_gmt":"2009-11-25T00:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/the-therapeutic-gospel.html"},"modified":"2009-11-25T00:02:53","modified_gmt":"2009-11-25T00:02:53","slug":"the-therapeutic-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/the-therapeutic-gospel.html","title":{"rendered":"The Therapeutic Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>
<\/b>\"Fox.jpg\"<\/form>\n

Why do we have so many thereapeutic specialists? And — here’s a big one — why have so many pastors become therapeuts? <\/b><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Perhaps a different angle on this question: <\/span>Why do so many take their “spiritual” or “psychological” problems to therapists instead of to their pastors or to others in the church community? <\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Is the gospel supposed to be therapeutic? Is your life now “as good as it gets”? (Jack Nicholson)
<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
So, I’m very pleased that, in their new book, Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>, Steve Wilkens and Mark Sanford go after this idea of “salvation by therapy.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Here’s the big issue: millions today think therapy is the means to a happy life. Do we all believe we should be happy? That peace of mind is a right? That our life should be better?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wilkens and Sanford find three ways Christians conceive of the relationship of psychology and Christian living\/theology:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
1. All problems are spiritual; forget the psychologist and dig into the Word. Sometimes called “biblical counseling.”<\/div>\n
2. Salvation comes by discovering your inner self — therapeutic approach to salvation.<\/div>\n
3. Various degrees of combination.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I see the second one in folks who want to capture and re-express all theological truths in psychological language, and I hear it most when I hear things about “inner person” or “inner selves.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They then dip into Freud, Rogers, Skinner and Family systems, and they are right to see them as worldviews. So, what are the advantages of the psychological approach?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1. Psychology, at some level, is instinctive: treating children as children, empathy with the problematized, etc.. these are all gut-level, common sense psychological patterns.<\/div>\n
2. Salvation is seen as healing and a process.<\/div>\n
3. Reminds us that we emerge from our past.<\/div>\n
4. Both Christianity and psychology are into healing.<\/div>\n
5. Human flourishing requires love, acceptance and respect.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But there are problems:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1. Too much determinism.<\/div>\n
2. Too much reductionism.<\/div>\n
3. Problems are more than psychological often.<\/div>\n
4. Value-free psychology is a myth.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This completes our series on Wilkens and Sanford, but they have two chps on worldview that we did not cover … it’s worth your reading!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do we have so many thereapeutic specialists? And — here’s a big one — why have so many pastors become therapeuts?  Perhaps a different angle on this question: Why do so many take their “spiritual” or “psychological” problems to therapists instead of to their pastors or to others in the church community?  Is the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Therapeutic Gospel - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/11\/the-therapeutic-gospel.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Therapeutic Gospel - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why do we have so many thereapeutic specialists? 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