Page 40 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 14

commandments and abiding in relationship. true things confidently about a subject matter
We notice something similar in Leviticus where set particularly when I am standing outside of
we read the sentence “I am the Lord” in context those things, “true things.” Talking about “the
of commands, for instance in chapters 18 and truth” seems to go beyond this to include ar-
19. Being clear who God is and how He has for- ticulating the overall meaning as entailing the
med people is fundamental to understanding order of valued relations and relational values
love. (often implicit, latent or taken as “self evident”).
Moreover, while being assisted by psychology Within a scientific field I might get to that place
and theology, the grounding of faith arises from in a very specific topic but it cannot be taken
a walk with God that is informed by but not more broadly than that.
defined by the former while not being entirely But in the “social sciences” the issue becomes
subsumed by the latter. Theology is how a gi- more complicated. In science, we seek to appre-
ven group of people think, talk, and write about hend, measure, describe and, in understanding,
things of faith as they seek to reflect in sound transcend the specific phenomenon in the sub-
ways on the teaching of the Bible, so it is not ject matter set that we are studying. But in the
faith itself. It is about being able to address faith social sciences you and I are comprised of the
with others (1 Pet 3:15) and to discern sound “true” things that comprise the subject matter
teaching (Tit 1:9; 2:1) and is both dialectic and set we are apprehending, in fact discovering
didactic and therefore important, but is not the about ourselves. We do in fact comprise mem-
basis of our faith relationship with God, which bers of the set that we are trying to transcend
is transrational in the same way axiomatic thin- through scientific study. But because ultimate-
king precedes the logic of geometry. The Bible ly we are members of that subject matter set,
of which theology speaks is truth and is about we cannot honestly and truly transcend that
Truth, and so theology in turn is thinking, subject matter set in the way that apprehends
speaking and writing about truth. And in this the “truth” of a subject matter set, for to do so
process of growing in Biblical truth I am always would be a violation of logical types (Bateson,
under the grace of God in faith. 1972), which results in paradox. We can iso-
On the other hand, psychology might be late off aspects and parts of ourselves, but not
thought of not so much as being about truth but entireties of ourselves and our psychological
rather as being about true things. Psychology, functioning. To arrive at “truth” about oursel-
as science, is defined by Meyers (2007) as “the ves so construed, strictly through science and
scientific study of behavior and mental proces- intellect, entails a logical violation because that
ses” (p. 2). But because Christian metaphysical implies transcending with meaning the set of
thought was important in establishing the ba- which we constitute a part.
sis for science, psychology as a Christian dis- In contrast, what is more effective for the Chri-
cipline, as science, is better understood in the stian Psychologist , seems to be that when it co-
context of that sixteenth (Vendel, 2011)or even mes to personhood, humanity, overall psycho-
thirteenth century (Leahey, 1987) metaphy- logical functioning, etc., knowing truth, while
sical thought that produced it. Consequently, entailing a lot of truth things, is not simply co-
systematic empirical work of much of psycho- gnitive but ultimately relational, total, ontolo-
logy becomes intrinsic to but not restrictive of gical; it’s knowing Truth (like, the Person, John
Christian Psychology where it is subsumed by 14:6). I know Truth, the Lord, and the truth he
a greater transcendent understanding with bi- creates in a similar way that I know my wife,
blical underpinnings and theological correlates or the way my children came to know my wife,
rather than operating with these two in parallel which is why both of these are models for the
(Johnson, 2000). With this understanding, the relationship with Truth (John 1:10-13; Eph
entire topic of epistemology in empirical psy- 5:31-32). Therefore, I learn mostly true things
chology becomes how we can know some things from psychology, and I learn truth and about
about human persons … fairly confidently, but Truth (Logos) through the Bible (Rhema), but
not absolutely. Science is about coming know it is in transcendent relationship with Him who

38