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by Sir Stephen Fry , he reflects on the Genie Interface between Theology and Psychology
thought experiment that is apposite to our dis- In his book, The Logic of the Body: Retrieving
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cussion.Amanencountersagenieandisgranted Theological Psychology , Lapine states that he
one wish. The man deliberates and askes the tries to bring together things that have been
genie to end all the pain and suffering in the unnecessarily kept apart: mind and body, psy-
world. The Genie grants the man’s wish and chology and theology. Lapine notes that we
immediately all life is ex�nguished from the can retrieve a psychology that existed before
planet. Fry explains, the result was inevitable the modern empirical science of the nineteenth
because wherever there is life there is pain. century. He writes, ‘it is important to remember
that the psychology of the soul has a very long
Towards a more Interdisciplinary approach. history.’ We shall revisit this when we come
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Pain cannot be ignored, but it can be explored. to review the Psalms in terms of the psychology
My approach in this paper is to take an inter- of the soul.
disciplinary approach. To view pain and how Lapine believes that intertwining theology and
to manage it from a variety of angles. These psychology, a ‘theological psychology’ is bene-
will include in the main, Psychology, Theology, ficial because it helps to resist the modern
Biblical Studies and literature of various types. reduc�onist tendency to explain our emo�onal
This is a similar approach I took in my former life exclusively in terms of brain func�on. We
work on the ancient monas�c malady, Acedia. get a further warning from Vanhozer in terms
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There I inves�gated the interface between Spir- of the dangers of bunkering down exclusively
ituality and Psychology. As you can imagine this within our disciplines. He issues a stark warning,
inclusive and holis�c approach is no easy task. ‘it is only when a discipline tries to be auton-
As we walk through the explora�on portal, omous and work by its own light only – that
things widen and expand exponen�ally. To it falls prey to reduc�onism in the modern
change the metaphor, every �me we peel back sense of the term’. 11
a layer of understanding pain another appears Michael Polanyi adds further emphasis when
underneath. So, although difficult, to get the he writes that, ‘…we don’t know enough within
best understanding of our subject we must be our own disciplines. We need to work outside
determined and use material from different of disciplines and collaborate with other disci-
sources. This is why I am tracking a similar path plines,and specialists.’ Undoubtedly, modern
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to Zimbardo and Johnson here. The authors psychology can augment historical theology.
in studying the psychology behind Shake-
speare’s plays take on an interdisciplinary, Lapine goes on to make the case that Aquinas
panop�con type approach. Zimbardo and John- (1225 -1274) carried forward the no�on of the
son note that they want to extend their ap- person as a ‘holis�c composite’, taking an Aris-
proach by adding sciences, art and humani�es. totelian idea into Chris�an Theology. Whereas
Indoingsotheysuggestthat‘humanknowledge John Calvin (1509 -1564) takes a more Platonic,
is like a ‘mul�dimensional web’ that intercon- dualis�c approach. Calvin believed that the soul
nects across disciplines with links that we have was the seat of the imago dei and needed to
only just begun to discover’. Importantly, the be dis�nct from the body to be eternal. Calvin
authors note that this ‘interdisciplinary ap- believed that God is spirit, and it is the spiritual
proach’ helps to avoid over specializa�on and aspect of humanity that can reflect God as
fragmenta�on of thought in research. I would Spirit. This I believe to be a weakness in Calvins
addthatthisapproachhelpsavoid‘siloworking’ theology and anthropology.
and building academic echo chambers. He believed that the body is of almost no im-
portance …it is the spirit that ma�ers…a thor-
oughly Platonic almost gnos�c idea? Lapine
8 Mathew A. Lapine, The Logic of the Body: Retrieving
Theological Psychology
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6 Sir Steophen Fry ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ podcast. Accessed Lapine, The Logic of the Body
12/09/2025 10 Forword to Lapine, The logic of the Body
7 Zimbardo and Johnson, Psychology according to Shakespear. 11 Forward to Lapine, The Logic of the Body.
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