Psychology through the Eyes of Faith (Through the Eyes of Faith Series) [Paperback]

David Myers is well known for publishing some of the best college manuals for general psychology, that are used in a majority of colleges and universities. He is also a devoted Christian. Consequently, his recent book on Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith marks a testimony to his dual commitment to both scientific psychology and the orthodox Christian faith. Highly recommended.

The Christian College Coalition has developed a new supplemental textbook series intended to examine presuppositions and to focus on issues and questions in various disciplines of the liberal arts curriculum when introductory level students approach their studies from a Christian perspective. Those of us in psychology can only be honored that they choose the topic of psychology for their first publication in the series, and Harper & Row sent a complimentary copy to every psychology faculty member in the coalition.

Myers and Jeeves' little volume does exactly what it has set out to do. They survey the field of psychology as an introductory text would and attempt to integrate the Christian faith at every point. They take a perspectivalist, levels of analysis view of integration throughout. For the authors, psychology is filtered through the eyes of faith. Each chapter is 5-8 page-long, enough to stimulate but not bore the college freshman. The book is not full of footnotes that might distract the reader from its flowing content, but fully documented. The authors, especially Myers who has himself written an introductory college text, have a comprehensive grasp of the field. Each chapter is warmly and sensitively written, highly relevant to student lives and contemporary Christian issues. It is a deeply Christian book, well-balanced in every respect. It is packed full of illustrative examples at every point and very enjoyable to read. Each chapter concludes with excellent sources for further reading. Every Christian introductory psychology course should use this volume as their supplementary text.

The authors, as in their other publications, take on a holist view of the nature of humanness, claiming that dualist notions are not biblical in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. At places they seem to verge on epiphenomenalism of the mind. Their view of divine sovereignty and human responsibility is distinctly Calvinistic, and yet very sensitive to its inherent problems. They take a cautious view of the value of self-esteem for mental and spiritual health. In sum, as Wolterstorff says in the preface, the authors "are appreciative [of psychology] without being gullible, committed without being naïve, critical without being judgmental" (p. x). Though they point out some real tensions between Christianity and contemporary psychology, their emphasis is squarely upon the illumination that psychology provides for Christians.

Some might find a few problems in the book. Its sections on human development appears out of sequence to most general psychology texts, coming after the biological basis of behavior and before sense and perception. The authors tend to place more of an emphasis upon the biological basis of homosexuality and lack of therapeutic success than seems justified by much of the research. They appear naïve on making the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. equals, and evilness a relative issue. They also place their chapter on the psychology of religion after their conclusion, thus appearing to make this topic an afterthought or appendix, and not giving it near the substance as they do with other chapters. They appear to turn prayer from "magic" (attempting to move the hand of God) to "mystical" (an internal, life changing act). Last, as Jeeves does in his previous volume, their argument that we should view others as determined and ourselves as responsible is very weak, both from a Scriptural viewpoint and a philosophical one. Despite these weaknesses, though, this is an invaluable book for introducing many of the issues of integration to college freshmen. It has something for everybody, including those already familiar with the literature on the issues of psychology and Christianity integration.

My first copy of this, I bought as a textbook for my Psychology of REligion course At Wayland Baptist University. This is a good book for a unbiased view of Psychology from a religious or faith perspective. Be careful to buy one that has all the pages my original goes 1-130, inserts a previous section of 51-82, and finishes from 160 to the end of the book. Overall, it is a responsible text.