Essay: Combatants and Antagonism Assignment:
Katelyn Manzi
Liberty University
PSYC 420 – D08
Professor Franco
April 11, 2022
Within the 7 continents and 193 countries in the world, there are about 7 billion people to
date. Naturally, it is no secret that not every single one of those 7 billion has the same opinion on
everything. This is seen within the century’s worth of political, religious, and social disputes.
Although the disputes have caused a lot of problems around the world, it has also taught us as a
species a lot as well. Christianity and psychology usually do not align but the integrative model
of psychology has had an influence on many conservative Christians around the world. There are
also a number of our brothers and sisters in Christ that are in the psychological field, me being
one of those people. We ultimately owe it to our brothers and sisters to humbly gain a better
understanding of what they believe, study, and practice and what we can learn from them.
Within the psychological field, more specifically, counseling, the end goal for a client is
restoration, healing, growth, and happiness. And even though Christian faith has claimed to have
the same goals there have been instances where this was not the case. Back in 1980, the pastors
of Gospel Community Church experienced a dilemma, when one of their young members died
after committing suicide after failed attempts at trying to reach out for help from the church and
even a doctor. This led to a series of lawsuits when the parents felt that clergy negligence was to
blame. They believed their son did not receive the best treatment available to him because they
told him that his suicidal thoughts were a sin problem as opposed to a mental health problem, in
addition to telling him that he would not go to Hell if he died by suicide (Entwistle, 2021). The
main thing to learn from this is that not everyone can benefit from this style of counseling rooted
from the Christian combatant version of the Enemies model.
Another thing we can learn to appreciate is the understanding that there is a history
between the fields. Freud referred to Christianity and faith as neurotic and that religion was of
the ancient past and was something that mankind needed to “outgrow” (Entwistle, 2021). Of
course, Christians living at that time did not respond well to their secular counterparts. As a
historical backdrop of the 20th-century allows for more understanding as to why this model
developed and what may have led to it catching on among the conservative Christians.
Finally, another thing to look at is when our brothers and sisters in Christ choose a career
within this model of integration and refuse to level with anyone that may have opposing views
on how psychology and theology engage with one another. Entwistle made this clear when
mentioning how Mack declared that psychology had nothing to offer (Entwistle, 2021). One of
the most important aspects of a strong leader in the Christian faith is the ability to grow as they
go deeper on their walk with the Lord, and they reflect more of the light of Christ as a result. In
the Enemies model we see people that are unwilling to see other points of view. Overall, I think
both Christianity and psychology can benefit from studying the model of integration and should
be open to the ideas of each other’s fields. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (English
Standard Version Bible, 2001).
Reference
Entwistle, D. N. (2021). Integrative approaches to psychology and christianity: An introduction
to worldview issues, philosophical foundations, and models of integration. Cascade Books.
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/
