The Integration of Psychology and Christianity: A Domain-Based Approach, By William L. Hathaway and Mark A. Yarhouse alt

The Integration of Psychology and Christianity

A Domain-Based Approach

Christian Association for Psychological Studies Books

by William L. Hathaway and Mark A. Yarhouse
Foreword by Stephen E. Parker

The Integration of Psychology and Christianity
ebook
  • Length: 216 pages
  • Dimensions: 0 × 0 in
  • Published: August 17, 2021
  • Imprint: IVP Academic
  • Item Code: 4184
  • ISBN: 9780830841844

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Over the course of recent decades, scholars and practitioners have been working to integrate contemporary psychology-related fields and Christianity. This project continues to move forward, evidenced in associations, publications, degree programs, and conferences around the world. While much progress has been made, there are still foundational issues to be worked out and aspects of integration the community is just now venturing into.

In this expert overview, psychologists William L. Hathaway and Mark A. Yarhouse take stock of the integration project to date, provide an introduction for those who wish to come on board, highlight work yet to be done, and offer a framework to strategically organize next steps. The authors' attention encompasses five domains:

  • worldview integration
  • theoretical integration
  • applied integration
  • role integration
  • personal integration

Their comprehensive approach yields insights relevant for non-clinical areas of psychological science as well as for counseling, social work, and other related mental health fields.

Done properly, integration enriches our understanding of both Christianity and psychology. Through biblical and theological grounding and numerous examples, Hathaway and Yarhouse demonstrate how synthesis can continue to serve the field and make a difference in caring for individual lives.

Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.

"Bill Hathaway and Mark Yarhouse have provided a refreshing look at how Christian and psychological thought and practice can be integrated. This will give you a new look at integration. Their twist is to examine how integration might take different forms in worldview, theoretical, applied, role, and personal domains. I really enjoyed the sweep of their thought—from philosophical through professional to the personal as they navigate through and between the domains. It was an intellectual joy ride."

Everett L. Worthington Jr., Commonwealth Professor Emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth University

"Hathaway and Yarhouse have produced an outstanding introduction and guide to the work of integration of psychology and Christian faith. In organizing their review around the domains of worldview, theoretical, role, applied, and personal integration, they have not only systematized and explained much of prior integrative work but have also extended the discussion by identifying and contributing to missing topics of critical interest to students, practitioners, and scholars alike. They have expanded and enriched the conversation in ways that will bear fruit for years. This is an exceptional book."

Stanton L. Jones, provost emeritus and professor of psychology emeritus, the School of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy at Wheaton College

"In a recent sea of books critiquing integration, this book emerges as a sophisticated defender of the continued value of the project of bringing together psychology and Christianity in meaningful ways. The integrative domains model is a helpful contribution to the contemporary integration conversation, providing an organizing structure for much of the work that goes on in the name of integration. Hathaway and Yarhouse situate integration within the current tensions of contemporary psychology, drawing on their extensive involvement in the APA. This is balanced with philosophical acumen and a deep awareness of historical forces shaping the integration movement. This book will be helpful to graduate students entering the world of integration, while assisting even accomplished integrationists to arrive at a better understanding of the integration task ahead."

M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, professor of psychology at Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University

"The Integration of Psychology and Christianity is an excellent and comprehensive overview of integration in the following areas or domains: worldview , theoretical, applied, role, and personal. I highly recommend it as essential reading for everyone interested in integration and as a required text in courses on the integration of psychology and Christianity."

Siang-Yang Tan, senior professor of clinical psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Christian Perspective

"This book is a clear and thoughtful attempt to take stock of the movement to connect contemporary psychology with Christian faith and to advance this project. Hathaway and Yarhouse give a fair and appreciative look at critics of the project in an attempt to derive helpful insights from them. This book would be a helpful starting place for those thinking about the relation between Christian faith and psychology, but it will also be valuable for those who are already familiar with some of the issues that have been part of the debate. There is a generous and irenic tone to the book that is highly welcome, and the authors show that the term integration can mean very different things."

C. Stephen Evans, University Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Baylor University, author of Kierkegaard and Spirituality: Accountability as the Meaning of Human Existence

"By approaching the question of how to integrate Christianity and psychology in various levels and domains, Hathaway and Yarhouse have provided an immensely valuable resource for both newcomers and the well initiated. I appreciate the scholarly depth and personal care that energizes this excellent book."

Justin L. Barrett, author of Thriving with Stone Age Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, Christian Faith, and the Quest for Human Flourishing

"Hathaway and Yarhouse provide an articulate and cogent presentation supporting the integration of psychology and Christianity. Both are seasoned clinicians, teachers, and administrators with a wealth of knowledge and experience. They provide a comprehensive review of five domains of integration: worldview, theoretical, applied, role, and personal. While highly philosophical in the early worldview and theoretical domains, their discussion becomes much more clinical and personal in the later domains. They offer a compassionate and clear discussion of important issues in integrating psychology and Christianity while holding a high view of Scripture and valuing the science of psychology. One of the novel areas they discuss is role integration, in which they advocate for taking leadership positions and influencing the mental health professions in ways consistent with the historical roots of Christian faith. This book has broad relevance to the field and should be especially helpful to advanced undergraduate and graduate students."

Clark D. Campbell, senior associate provost and professor of psychology, Biola University

"Two seasoned and sophisticated Christian psychologists update the discussion of Christianity's relation to the science and practice of psychology, using a 'domain' framework that helps make clear and accessible sense of the whole field. I recommend it."

Robert C. Roberts, distinguished professor of ethics, emeritus, Baylor University

"In demonstrating the comprehensiveness of a domain-based approach, the authors draw on psychological theory, clinical theory and research, philosophy, Christian theology, social justice, and the psychology of religion and spirituality, at points justly illustrating their exposition with their own remarkable contributions to the field. A truly brilliant tour de force by two of the leading integrationists of our time, writing at the apex of their immensely productive careers, that aptly shows how much the Christian integration movement in psychology has accomplished and how far it has progressed since its founding in the 1970s."

Eric L. Johnson, professor of Christian psychology at the Gideon Institute of Christian Psychology and Counseling, Houston Baptist University
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CONTENTS

Foreword by Stephen E. Parker
Acknowledgments

1. Integration: The Very Idea
2. Psychological Science: Christian Truth and Method
3. Worldview Integration
4. Theoretical Integration
5. Applied Integration
6. Role Integration
7. Personal Integration

Glossary
General Index
Scripture Index

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William L. Hathaway (PhD, Bowling Green State University) is the executive vice president for academic affairs at Regent University. He also a professor in and former dean of the School of Psychology & Counseling at Regent. Other formative roles for him have included being a youth and college minister, a philosophy professor, and an Air Force psychologist and serving in leadership in professional psychology bodies. He has written numerous articles and book chapters and is coeditor of Spiritual Interventions in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy.

Mark A. Yarhouse

Mark A. Yarhouse (PsyD, Wheaton College) is the Dr. Arthur P. Rech & Mrs. Jean May Rech Endowed Chair and professor of psychology at Wheaton College, where he directs the Sexual and Gender Identity (SGI) Institute. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and author or coauthor of several books, including Understanding Gender Dysphoria, Modern Psychopathologies, Understanding Sexual Identity, and Family Therapies.