Is Psycotherapy Really Biblical? The Integration of Natural
and Special Revelation within the Wisdom Literature
By Gregory A. Sherman, Psy.D

"What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?", asked Tertullian, the early church father. By "Athens", he meant intellectual culture; the study of science, history, philosophy, the created order in general. By "Jerusalem", Tertullian was referring to the life of the church; faith, salvation and sanctification. If you are a new creation in Christ, if you have found the pearl of great price, of what benefit is an engagement with and deeper understanding of the created order? This is an age-old question debated much over the centuries. Today people ask us, "What do psychology and psychotherapy have to do with Biblical truth?" The issues this question raises are important, the implications far reaching. In our contemporary culture we are faced with this question when we consider the extrabiblical or "natural" sources of knowledge in counseling and psychotherapy, and the place of psychotherapy within the community of faith.

A basic tenet of Christian theology is that God is the creator of all things. Consequently, the fundamental unity of all truth is established. Thus truth, whether arrived at from scriptural revelation or scientific and empirical inquiry is part of the same whole. This basic unity allows for the integration of truth arrived at from different sources or methodologies. If we believe that God is the author of all truth, then we need not be afraid to look at what might appear to be competing truth claims. In fact, to engage in this type of intellectual exploration and understanding can be seen as part of our imperative in the creation mandate to rule and have dominion over the earth as those who bear the image of God.

However, the Scriptures themselves recognize a non-propositional source of wisdom imbedded and evident within nature itself, the patterns and dynamic structures of both the organic and inorganic world. This ordering structure, these natural values and principals, which provide us with a rich source of information and guidance for successful living, are expressed most clearly in the Proverbs, and are associated with Yahweh's wisdom, the wisdom of God imbedded within the structure of the creation itself (Proverbs 3:19-20). God's wisdom functions as the mastercraftsman or artisan who is responsible for the natural cause and effect laws and reap and sow principles, boundaries, and overall structure of the natural order. The old testament sage and contemporary Christian psychotherapist appeal to this natural law or cosmic order as source for both natural and social science, not only in terms of theoretical or practical knowledge but also wisdom and moral knowledge, including in particular behavioral, interpersonal and intrapsychic dynamics. The clearest statement of this is found in Proverbs 8:22-31 where wisdom herself is speaking:

"The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before his works of old. From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth; while He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world. When He established the heavens, I was there; when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when He made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed, when He set for the sea its boundary, so that the water should not transgress His command. When He marked out the foundations of the earth; then I was there beside Him as a mastercraftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the world, His earth, and having my delight in the sons of men."

This ordering or cause and effect structure makes the data of nature discernable for the natural and social sciences. Whether the scientist is a person of faith and acknowledges the ultimate source of this natural truth does not make the data any less true. The old testament sage and contemporary Christian Social Scientist is particularly interested in the wisdom structure imprinted on human nature which hence governs the human situation (Proverbs 8:31). From this structure the old testament sage discovers the moral knowledge and skill necessary for living well in all areas of life (Proverbs 8:32-36). The Modus Operandi for the old testament sage is found in Proverbs 24:30-34:

"I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense. And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles, its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down,when I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. ‘A little sleep, a little slumber, and little folding of the hands to rest,' then your poverty will come upon you as a robber and your want as an armed man."

God's "natural" truth is available to us through observation and empirical inquiry of the created order. We need this source of truth to supplement scriptural revelation. Humans were made by God's wisdom for wise and well living. This means making choices which are in harmony with the intended ordering structure of our interpersonal and intrapsychic functioning, "our nature." To violate or act contrary to our created way is to bring injury or harm to some aspect of our human functioning and situation.

The old testament sage's wisdom theology and psychology is ultimately grounded in the Hebrew worldview of Genesis. Being created in the image of God is what accounts for the ability of the sage and contemporary scientist and psychotherapist to observe the ordering structure and discover the theoretical, technical, practical and moral knowledge necessary for ruling the earth. The world God created is rich with values inasmuch as He declares it good at creation. Thus nature, the ordered structure of things, is normative concerning what is good and pleasing to God's original intention for creation. This is true for all creation, the natural world and human beings. Their ordering structure, growth, development, tendencies and needs are all normative. The fall did radically alter the created order. Sin, death, and corruption are universal to the natural and particularly the human world. However, all is not lost. Human beings retain the image of God (Genesis 5:3; 9:6) and creation abilities for culture building (Genesis 4:16-24; 10:10-12; 11:1-9). According to Hebrew cosmology we retain the ability to recognize moral knowledge, as well as other forms, and differentiate natural (good) from what is unnatural (sin).

Hebrew cosmology and the wisdom literature call us to view all of life as sacred. All of life is conceived of in religious terms so that there is no radical distinction between the sacred and the secular, between Athens and Jerusalem. Healthy functioning in Athens is as holy and pleasing to God as is healthy functioning in Jerusalem. Psychotherapy is sacred as well, to the extent that it helps people live closer to their original design, and function, development, and telos. Hebrew cosmology tells us that what is natural is normative. Consequently healthy functioning, whether physical, interpersonal or intrapsychic, is natural and thus has its source in God.

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