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Core Concepts in Entwistle’s Textbook
Dr. Brian Campbell
☐Truth:All truth is God’s truth.
☐Both Seek Truth: Science/psychology & theologian both seek truth.
☐Sources of Truth: Science/psychology studies physical world/nature.
☐Sources of Truth: Theology studies Bible(and is inspired by the Holy Spirit).
☐Two Books to Study: Francis Bacon, four hundred years ago…God has given us two books to study—His Word, and His Works.
☐Hostility: Historically, religion/church has at times been hostile to science/psychology.
☐Hostility: Science/psychology has belittled theology as being less “intellectual.”
☐Enemies and Allies: Historically, science (reason) and religion (faith/belief) have been both enemies and allies.
☐Equal Validity: Both sources of truth (“Books of Truth”) are valid and reflect/come from God.
☐Equal Validity: God can be seen in the “genome or the cathedral.”
☐Methods: Science/psychology seeks truth through scientific/experimental method.
☐Methods:Theology seeks truth through Hermeneutics(the systematic study of the Bible).
☐General Influence: “Worldviews”(set of assumptions), influence our search for the truth and our efforts at integration.
☐Personal Influence: Our own “Worldview” influences our search for truth and willingness to consider integration. Important for people to examine presuppositions.
☐ Potential Bias: Our search for truth is biased/influenced/filtered, by how we view the world (our presuppositions).
☐Secular World View: Belief that science is the only source of truth.
☐Naturalist: Believes that nothing other than the material world exists. Two propositions: 1) There is no God; 2) Matter is all that there is.
☐Supernaturalist: Believes material world exists, but it came into existence because God created it. The material world does not exist on its own.
☐Metaphysical Questions: Considerations of the nature and existence of God, the relationship of God to His creation, and the nature of ethics and aesthetics. These considerations have implications for integration.
☐Determinism: Science believes that everything is determined.
☐Free Will: Christianity, believes that man has free will, and thinking/behavior are not strictly determined—not explicable by nature alone (Lewis).
☐Theocentric Worldview: God is the central aspect of our existence.
☐Main Premise for Integration: Science is descriptive, not prescriptive.
☐ Metaphysical Underpinnings: Scientific understandings and Christian understandings are compatible (Entwistle, 2013, p. 110).
☐Five Models of Integration: Enemies; Spies; Colonists; Neutral Parties; & Allies.
☐1. Enemies: Like Tertullian, some believe that faith and reason cannot be in agreement.
☐2. Spies: People with a psychology background/training, who do not believe in God, but see some Christian concepts (like forgiveness) as useful or potentially effective for helping psychological problems.
☐3. Colonialists: “Religious spies in the psychological world” (p. 187). They plunder psychology and remove what may be of use to “religiously committed” people. Try to align psychological findings to a Christian worldview.
☐4. Neutral Parties: Encourages the contribution of both disciplines. However, keeps the two disciplines distinct—separated. “Parallel” models (Carter and Narramore).
☐ Psychological Neutrality: People committed to psychology, who hold religious beliefs, but not necessarily Christian beliefs.
☐ Christian Neutrality: People who are committed to psychology, but simultaneously hold Christian Beliefs. They do not rule out overlap of the two disciplines.
☐ 5. Allies: See Christianity and Psychology as two complimentary methods of discovering truth.