Christian Psychotherapy in Context

Theoretical and Empirical Explorations in Faith-Based Mental Health

Joshua J. Knabb, Eric L. Johnson, M. Todd Bates, Timothy A. Sisemore

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781351235129
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Christian Psychotherapy in Context combines theology with the latest research in clinical psychology to equip mental health practitioners to meet the unique psychological and spiritual needs of Christian clients. Encouraging therapists to operate from within a Christian framework, the authors explore the intersection between a Christian worldview and clients' emotional struggles, drawing from sources including both foundational theological texts and the "common factors" psychotherapy literature. Written collaboratively by two clinical psychologists, an academic psychologist, and a theologian, this book paves the way for psychotherapeutic practice that builds on Christian principles as the foundation, rather than merely adding them to treatment as an afterthought.

Chapter 1

The Doctrine of God in Christian Theology

God’s Nature within the Christian Tradition

Introduction

The knowledge and love of God are central to Christianity and the Christian tradition. They are at the heart of Christian revelation, which tells Christians who God is and how all created things relate to him. Foundationally, God is triune, personal, and transcendent. These frame and qualify all descriptions of God’s nature. The belief that God is personal and loving begins with the intra-Trinitarian relationship between God the Father, Son, and Spirit, which shapes and analogously models not simply human relationships, but the relational nature of all creation. Further, God as personal assures the Christian that God is not somehow weighing options and making decisions far removed from those affected by such decisions. As personal, the Christian tradition believes God has a loving relationship with each Christian, and his knowledge (omniscience), power (omnipotence), and goodness (omnibenevolence) invite, sustain, and apply to every Christian personally. In other words, because God is good, he has the best interests of his creation, especially humans, in mind; in that God is all-knowing, he lovingly makes decisions knowing the best possible outcomes; and due to his power, he directs each and every life event for their good (Romans 8:28). Combined, these show God’s all-embracing providential care for his people, including Christians with depression and anxiety.

God’s personal presence in the daily life of every Christian is possible through God’s transcendence. It is precisely God’s complete otherness that affirms his absolute presence. The classical Christian view of God’s transcendence holds that he is Lord of time and space (he is eternal and omnipresent). This does not mean that he is far away, however. Rather, because he is not limited to time and space (as humans are), God can be everywhere fully present. So, the personal goodness, power, and knowledge of God is relationally present to every one of his people, wherever and whenever they live. Even in the midst of emotional disorders, when isolation and loneliness seem to press in, the Christian can be assured that God is there. Based on this personal awareness of God’s perfect characteristics, Christians struggling with psychological pain can more confidently express their pain to him, accept and reframe challenging inner and outer experiences, and engage in healthy new behaviors.

God’s Nature within the Christian Tradition

In the Christian tradition, all that exists is viewed as a gift. It was created by a personal God who made us to relate to him personally and enjoy him gratefully in and through the good world he created. Indeed, one of the great ways this has been stated is found in the Westminster Catechism,¹ which says that the chief purpose of human life is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” For a Christian, then, the overall purpose of life is not attainments to be amassed, but a relationship with God, the maker of heaven and earth, who is active and present in his world and with his people, even in the midst of psychological pain.

As we will see in the coming chapters, within the Christian tradition, to know and love God is the best means of coming to know and understand ourselves. John Calvin, the great 16^th century pastor and theologian, opens his work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, stating the following:

Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. In the first place, no one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to contemplation of God, in whom he “lives and moves” [Acts 17:28].

(Calvin, 1960, p. 35)

Beginning this way, Calvin articulated a long tradition within Christianity. Humans, created in God’s image, are now alienated from that image through sin and struggle to properly understand ourselves. When reconciled with God through the work of Jesus, Christians have a restored relationship with God and can understand more clearly who we are and what we were created to be. Further, as our knowledge and understanding of God increases, so does our knowledge and understanding of ourselves.

To rightly understand Christianity in its proper context, we must begin with the source of all being—God himself. Because of its importance to understanding the context of Christianity, this chapter will cover God as triune, personal, and transcendent in successive order, ending with a section joining them together in God’s providence and discussing why this is important for psychological functioning. The discussions below will be brief and, as such, incomplete. We make no claim to full treatment, but will offer general descriptions of key doctrines that inform the context for Christian psychotherapy. Because our effort is to give a general description, we will focus on what is held in common within these great doctrines of the Christian intellectual tradition and not on the contentious points. Much fuller treatments are available on each of these rich, and at times controversial, doctrines (many of the sources will be mentioned along the way). Our hope, however, is to join the doctrines together in a way that is faithful to the tradition and helpful to those who are working with Christian clients with depression and/or anxiety in psychotherapy.

God as Triune

The doctrine of the Trinity sets Christianity apart from all other monotheistic religions and serves as a central part of Christian Scripture. Throughout the Christian tradition, many great thinkers have held that natural reason can arrive at the conclusion that God is one in his divine essence, but that God as a trinity of persons would remain unknown if he had not revealed it. The critical transformation comes about in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Theologian Gerald Bray (1993) explained, “The Trinity belongs to the inner life of God, and can be known only by those who share in that life. As long as we look at God on the outside, we shall never see beyond his unity” (p. 119). It is in Christ, the Son of God, that God reveals to us the inner life of God.

Biblically, Christianity shares Judaism’s emphasis on God’s unity. In the book of Deuteronomy (6:4–5), we read, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” But Christians hold this in tension with the life and teachings of Jesus and the belief that he is truly God. In John 10:30, Jesus stated, “I and the Father are one.” In Colossians 2:9, Paul wrote, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Thus, God the Father is understood as the source of all things, and God the Son—sharing in his full deity—is understood as lovingly carrying out his Father’s plan. This scriptural teaching is affirmed in the Christian tradition, as the Nicene Creed put it:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.

Further, the belief in the Holy Spirit as God is also taught in Scripture and affirmed in the same creed. In John 14:26, Jesus said, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” Matthew 28:19 stated, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Here, the Spirit is given the same significance as the Father and the Son, which would have been unthinkable if Jesus and his disciples did not accept the Spirit as equally God. The scriptural teaching of the divinity of the Spirit is affirmed in the Nicene Creed: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.² With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.” With the passage of time and distance from the original setting, the significance of the claims that Jesus and the Spirit are God is easily missed. The early disciples were faithful adherents to Judaism and committed monotheists. It was not abstract reasoning or philosophical arguments that made them convinced Trinitarians; it was being confronted with the living reality of the Trinitarian life in the incarnation of the Son of God and the living presence of the Spirit of God, given to believers at Pentecost.

Being introduced to the inner life of God through Christ and the Spirit caused Christians to significantly shift how they understood the God of the Old Testament, which now is understood as the activity of one God in three persons. Theologian Gerald Bray (2011) stated,

It was only with the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that God began to dwell in the heart of every believer, revealing to him the secret of his own internal relations. Thus it is now possible for Christians to think in terms of the person and work of the Father, the person and work of the Son, and the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

(p. 202)

With the incarnation of Christ, the inner-life of the Trinity is revealed, as is God’s extraordinary grace. In Christ, God made a way for people to share in that life, and by faith in Christ we may approach God with freedom and absolute confidence. Christ, then, fulfills God’s purpose in creation, redemption, and the ultimate consummation of all things, which will be accomplished in the tri-unified work of Father, Son, and Spirit.

It is important, here, to see how this directly relates to Christians struggling with psychological pain. Because we have been invited to share in the life of God, his triune presence is with us, and together they already know the pain with which we struggle. The triune God is not surprised by our pain, so we can openly express it to God. Because of God’s presence in our lives, Christians can confidently know that every act of God in our lives involves the Father, Son, and Spirit. Such knowledge allows us to reframe challenging experiences in light of God’s capable, loving presence, which can foster healthy responses to such experiences.

To understand God’s relational presence in the life of Christians more fully, we need to first discuss how the persons of the Trinity relate to each other. The inter-Trinitarian relationship is a difficult idea to understand. To ask the question simply: “How can one God be three persons and three persons one God?” The traditional way the Trinity is described can be summarized as follows:

God is one in essence and three in persons (or hypostases). An essence is simply something with characteristics—that is, an entity about which something can be said. A person (or hypostasis) is a distinct bearer of an essence. Applied to the Trinity, it means that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct persons, each with his own personal attributes, while each also shares equally the attributes of deity (i.e., the divine essence).

(Horton, 2012, p. 97)

One in essence, three in persons is the basic Trinitarian life. Though difficult to grasp, the importance of the Trinity for understanding Christianity in context cannot be overstated. Practically, it is to understand that every divine action entails the Father, Son, and Spirit, and to know that when God acts in the life of the Christian, the triune God is acting on the Christian’s behalf.

The inter-Trinitarian life also helps us think more deeply about what it means to be a person and relate to other people in ways that do not take away from their personhood, but enrich it. Gerald Bray put it this way:

Far from asserting themselves at the expense of the others, each of the divine persons manifests perfection whilst containing and manifesting the perfection of the others. This doctrine of co-inherence is perhaps the most important single teaching of the Bible in an age which finds it hard to reconcile individual freedom and dignity with corporate commitment and responsibility.

(Bray, 1993, p. 242)

We will see in the pages to follow how, from a clinician’s perspective, this doctrine impacts not only our relationship with God, but our relationship with other persons and the Christian community. This is foundational for the task of Christian psychotherapy, especially in the context of recurrent psychological pain and emotional disorders.

The shared nature of the divine life has been given a technical name, perichoresis, and speaks directly to the relationship of oneness shared between the persons of the Trinity. These terms, both “Trinity” and “perichoresis,” while not found in the Bible, are intended to communicate the dynamic, self-giving, and indwelling communion of the Father, Son, and Spirit. This mutual self-giving and indwelling guarantee that each Person of the Trinity is involved in all divine activity and has implications for a distinctly Christian psychotherapy.

The concept of the interpersonal relations involved in perichoresis grew out of close readings of Scripture. In the Gospel of John, particularly Chapter 17, the mutual indwelling of perichoresis is clear. In 17:21, Jesus prayed to the Father for his followers that they may be one, “just as you are in me and I in you” (italics added). Again, in 17:22–23, Jesus asked that “they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me.”

In John 16:13–15, we are told of the mutual possessions shared between Father, Son, and Spirit:

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears… He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.

The last verse captures what is meant by co-inherence. The Spirit of truth will speak of what is his, namely truth. Still, the truth the Spirit speaks is from the Son—“the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” What is the Son’s is the Father’s.

The self-giving nature of the mutual indwelling of perichoresis is communicated in a word that, at its best, captures perfectly the inter-Trinitarian relationship: love. Returning to John 3:34–35, Jesus said, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.” In John 17:24, this love is said to be shared “before the creation of the world.” The eternal being of God has always existed as a loving communion of Father, Son, and Spirit.

Efforts by the early church to formulate the scriptural teaching of perichoresis still resonate today. One of the most formative was developed by St. Augustine (AD 354–430). Without going into great detail about his doctrine, Augustine drew from the above passages the description of the Trinity as a loving relationship (Augustine, 1991). For Augustine, the Father is the Lover, the Son is the Beloved, and the Spirit is Love. The language itself communicates the co-inherent relationship. Without each person singularly, none would be what...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. The Doctrine of God in Christian Theology: God’s Nature within the Christian Tradition
• 2. The Doctrine of God in Christian Theology: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration
• 3. The Doctrine of God in Christian Psychotherapy
• 4. Ontology and Epistemology in the Christian Tradition
• 5. Ontology and Epistemology in Christian Mental Health: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration
• 6. Ontology and Epistemology in Christian Psychotherapy
• 7. Biblical Anthropology and Axiology in the Christian Tradition
• 8. Biblical Anthropology and Axiology in Christian Mental Health: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration
• 9. Biblical Anthropology and Axiology in Christian Psychotherapy
• 10. Redemption in the Christian Tradition
• 11. Redemption in Christian Mental Health: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration
• 12. Redemption in Christian Psychotherapy
• Index