Moral Character Development the Bible and psychology
Moral character development is an area where the interface between the Bible and
psychology holds the potential to be very strong, a subject with extensive readings from both
fields. Moral development was one of the earliest areas of interest in psychology and it has
produced an extensive body of literature which, in many ways, complements the Biblical
viewpoint. I have taught a graduate course on the Psychology of Character Development for
over twenty years. My frustration with the purely secular viewpoint led me to develop a 270-
page syllabus which attempts to integrate the Biblical viewpoint, Ellen White's writings on the
subject, and the secular and religious literature and research. Over the years my students have
produced a number of excellent models of moral character development, which integrate the
religious, and the secular viewpoints.
While character development was an early subject of inquiry in psychology, the focus
narrowed to the area of moral reasoning as Kohlberg began to dominate the field. By the
seventies, psychology had thrown out character development in favor of moral development. In
fact, many prominent individuals in the field were convinced that character per se did not exist.
Character implied a certain consistency of behavior coming from inner motivation, which
researchers concluded did not exist. So character was abandoned in favor of moral reasoning.
The general public never abandoned the idea of character and frequently talked about it
with respect to politicians, criminals, their own children, and themselves. But psychology
ignored it for at least two decades, proclaiming it did not exist. A few lone voices in psychology,
such as Kevin Ryan of Boston University and Thomas Lickona of SUNY, persisted in talking
about character, but they were often ignored and sometimes even ridiculed.
The social scene of the nineties in America jolted psychologists out of their ivory tower,
as the public clamored to understand why flawed character was so frequently on display. More
sophisticated research techniques led some moral development specialists to reconsider the
earlier data on the basis of which "character" was thrown out. And so today character is again a
suitable subject to discuss in psychology, although not with complete acceptance . Decades of
research activity were lost because the focus was on moral reasoning alone, which is actually
quite different from the totality of character.
During those decades Kohlberg's theory of how moral reasoning develops generated an
extraordinary amount of research and dominated the field. His focus was primarily on the
development of moral reasoning during childhood and adolescence. The philosophical
underpinnings of his theory have been widely criticized in both the secular and religious realms.
If we can get past his philosophy and his definition of justice as the overarching moral principle,
and concentrate on the observed stages of development in thinking about moral issues, we can
find much useful material for understanding the development of moral thinking during childhood
and adolescence and for understanding where adults are coming from in their thinking about
moral matters. However, I have observed that many Christian writers swallow the whole
package, which I believe is incompatible with the Christian presuppositions because of its
philosophical base.
The moral development research literature provides details about how children and
adolescents develop morally which are not present in the Biblical account. Yet, an examination
of God's dealings with people throughout the history of the Bible brings to light many examples
of the stages of moral development proposed by Kohlberg (Kohlberg, 1980) and others.
Throughout the history of God's dealings with human beings, love has always been His
ideal (Deut 6:5). He wanted His laws to be internalized through His Spirit and to result in a
relationship of love between Himself and human beings and between human beings. When
people were not ready to understand this level-three way of thinking, God attempted to reach
them in ways they could understand: consequences--miracles of deliverance and provision--and
punishment for wrong actions, suggestive of the first level of moral development (Exodus 7-11,
14, 17, etc.). He provided a law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, and spelled out in a
comprehensive system of rules which brought order to the nation of Israel, suggestive of the
second level of moral development (Exodus 20). However, throughout the Biblical record, the
undergirding principle of God's kingdom has always been love (Matthew 5:3-12; John 14:15;
15:7-13; Matt 22:36-40; Clouse, 1990).
Before Kohlberg's work on moral reasoning, his professors, Peck and Havighurst (1961)
of the University of Chicago, developed stages of character development which encompass
thinking, feeling, and acting and which I believe are quite compatible with the Christian
presuppositions. Although these stages are not well known today, they still provide a basis for
understanding character development which I think can be very helpful for the Christian. I
suspect they will come back into focus again as the whole field is reexamining the idea of
character development, instead of just moral thinking. I have often wished we could pursue a
longitudinal study, such as theirs, on character development among children and youth in the
Adventist church. I think it could be very enlightening.
The psychological literature acknowledges that moral character development includes
moral thinking, moral feelings, and moral actions. Moral thinking has been the focus of the bulk
of the research, although interest in the other areas is blossoming as the moral actions of children
and teenagers stagger our sense of right and wrong. Teachers and parents are interested in
guidelines for teaching values and helping children develop strong moral characters, including
feelings and actions–not just dialogue about moral issues, as in the moral thinking model.
Lickona has been very active in helping both parents (1985) and teachers (1992)
understand character development and how to influence it positively during childhood and
adolescence. His model is a very practical one which includes moral thinking, moral emotions,
and moral actions. While his writing has been for the general public and for the public schools,
his ideas are very compatible with the Christian presuppositions. He himself is a very religious
person and it shows in how he approaches the subject of character development, even though
religion is not mentioned.
In Lickona's model, Moral Knowing includes moral awareness, knowing moral values,
perspective-taking, moral reasoning, decision-making, and self-knowledge. Moral Feeling
includes conscience, self-esteem, empathy, loving the good, self-control, and humility. Moral
Action includes competence, will, and habit. The different components of Moral Knowing and
Moral Feeling are complementary.
Due to limited space, I will offer only one example of the use of both Biblical and
psychological ideas on character, specifically character change during adulthood. This is a topic
on which the research literature is very sparse and where the Bible offers the best explanation
and solution. God's Plan vs. Satan's Counterfeits (see Table 2) is based on a spiritual approach to
character change. Potential psychological and spiritual results are suggested. Many more could
probably be included and other Bible verses could be used. This table is only intended as a
starting point for discussion.
Conscience development is another area where the interface between the Biblical and the
psychological viewpoints can be very helpful to parents and teachers who are concerned with the
young. Parent-child relationships and disciplinary practices have been studied extensively by
psychologists.
The Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the relationship between health and character is
unique. The psychological literature does not even hint at this relationship. As I have come to
understand it, the core of this relationship lies in the effect of certain unhealthy practices on the
functioning of the mind. God speaks to human beings through their minds. To the extent that
the mind has been damaged, to that extent communication with God is lessened. In a spiritually
based model for character development, communication with God is essential for growth.
Clouse (1985) has written a significant, very understandable, book integrating
psychological and religious thought on moral development. She explores the main theoretical
approaches to moral development with their implications for schools, families, and churches.
Her integration work is based on a "godlikeness model" strongly reminiscent of a statement from
the book Education: "Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His
children. Godliness–godlikeness–is the goal to be reached" (White, 1903, p. 18). Unfortunately,
in a significantly revised edition under a different title (1993) the "godlikeness model" is not so
clearly stated.
Psychological theory related to moral development is very complex and detailed, and
sometimes difficult to understand. Moral Psychology (Lapsley, 1996), one of the required
readings for doctoral psychology majors in the character development class, has proven to be a
challenge for them. I think part of its complexity is related to the difficulty of controlling
variables in such a complex issue as character development. Another part is related to the total
lack of religious explanations for moral development and the attempt to explain it from a purely
secular viewpoint, sans Holy Spirit, God, and the change of direction offered by salvation
through Jesus Christ. I believe the integration of psychology and the Biblical viewpoint is
imperative, and a natural, for this subject.
Human Development
Moral development is a specialized area of the broader subject of human development,
which involves the study of human beings from conception to death, how they grow and develop
physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally. This very well recognized and researched area
of psychology provides many opportunities for the integration of psychological insights with
God's viewpoint. For this discussion, I have selected two areas to examine briefly: Parenting
Styles and Religious Development.
Most standard textbooks for human development courses do not discuss religious
development, although it should certainly be discussed in a course with a Christian world view.
Christian Perspectives on Human Development (Aden, Benner & Ellens, 1992) attempts to fill
that void by examining various aspects of human development from a Christian perspective.
Parenting Styles
Parent-child relationships is one of the best researched topics in human development.
The work which led to what we today call Parenting Styles, received its greatest impetus from
the seminal work of Baumrind (1967, 1971). She identified three main parenting styles:
authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. Research by others strongly confirmed her work. In
a 1985 review of more than five hundred studies on the topic, Maccoby and Martin confirmed
these three parenting styles, calling them authoritarian-autocratic, authoritative-reciprocal, and
indulgent-permissive. They added a fourth style of interaction, the indifferent-uninvolved
parent.
The effects of these parenting styles on the outcomes of child rearing are very well
established. The authoritative-reciprocal parenting style generally leads to the most positive
outcomes: Acceptance of parental values and religion, strong moral character, strong self-
concept, creativity, leadership ability, and high academic achievement. The authoritarian-
autocratic and the indifferent-uninvolved styles generally lead to the most negative outcomes:
Rejection of parental values and religion, weak moral character, low self-concept, low creativity,
lack of leadership ability, poor academic achievement, and more likelihood of involvement with
drugs and the counter culture in society. The outcome of the indulgent-permissive style
generally is somewhere between the negative and the positive, with some positive outcomes and
some negative ones.
Researchers on the psychology of religion generally accept that our adult mental and
emotional images of God correlate quite strongly with our feelings about our parents and their
parenting behaviors (Hyde, 1990). If this is the case, parenting style becomes a strong molder of
our ideas and images of God. Naturally, adults receive other input into their images of God from
their religion, but the images associated with parental behaviors are long lasting and sometimes
difficult to lay aside.
Since the Bible speaks of God as a Father in His relationship with human beings, it seems
quite natural that our feelings toward earthly parents might be transferred easily to our heavenly
Father. Many individuals who have been involved in abusive relationships with their earthly
fathers have great difficulty relating to a God who is called Father. To them, God is forever the
Judge who is ready to zap them for any little infraction of His Law. Grace does not exist for
them. Their image of God must be entirely reconstructed, focusing on Biblical descriptions of a
loving, caring, and merciful God who yearns to protect and save humans. They need to meet the
Real God.
When teaching the parenting styles I believe it is important to also encourage discussion
about God and His characteristics. In fact, I believe that one of the best ways to understand the
authoritative-reciprocal parenting style is to study how God deals with His human children. The
similarities between God as a heavenly Parent and the authoritative parenting style are striking.
Table 3 briefly summarizes some of these ideas.
Interestingly, Ellen White also describes the authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative
parenting styles, although she uses different names for them. Her descriptions are very similar to
the ones used in developmental psychology today and the outcomes she describes are exactly
what the research of this century has shown.
Spiritual/Religious Development
Religious development provides another very fruitful area for integration of psychology
with the Bible. An entire branch of psychology–the psychology of religion–is devoted to
research on religious development and the psychological dynamics of various religious
experiences. Hyde (1990) has provided a masterful summary of the research literature on the
religious development of children and adolescents. In this brief discussion I can only introduce
the topic and comment briefly about how a knowledge of human development may contribute to
an understanding of the religious development of children and adolescents (Habenicht, 1998).
