c c In Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith (2002), Malcolm Jeeves and I illustrate
the different levels of analysis (or “levels of explanation”) appropriate to a
multilayered reality. Each academic discipline provides a perspective from which
we can study nature and our place in it. These range from the scientific fields that
study the most elementary building blocks of nature up to philosophy and
theology, which address some of life’s global question.
c c The multilayered ways of looking at a phenomenon like romantic love often
correlate, enabling us to build bridges between different perspectives. A religious
explanation of the incest taboo (in terms of divine will or a moral absolute) fits
nicely with a biological explanation (in terms of the genetic penalty that offspring
pay for inbreeding) and a sociological explanation (in terms of preserving the
marital and family units). To say that religious and scientific levels of explanation
often complement one another does not preclude conflict. It just means that
different types of analysis can fit coherently together. In God’s world, all truth is
one
c c Unlike photos, humans are not one-dimensional; we are multi-layered, and this
means that our realities and our perceptions are complex (to say the least).
According to our text, the authors explain the Levels of Explanation as a crucial
bridge between the psychology and Christianity because even though they are two
separate entities, they complement each other regarding the human experience
(Johnson, 2005, page 51). Think of the Levels of Explanation as different levels of
an analysis of the two phenomena. Now, it is important to understand that just
because these have a different reality, does not mean “to say that religious and
scientific levels of explanation often complement one another does not preclude
conflict” (Johnson, 2010, page 52). Rather, “it just means that different types of
analysis can fit coherently together” (Johnson, 2010, page 52). Based on the
above information, let’s relate this in terms of Dr. Worthington and Dr. McMinn’s
lectures and viewpoints. What is forgiveness? To be honest, I have never put a lot
of thought into this question before watching Dr. Worthington’s lecture. I have
always considered myself to be pretty forgiving (to a fault). If someone who has
wronged me apologizes, I automatically forgive that person, (no matter what they
had done) because I believe that it takes a strong person to admit fault. I
absolutely loved Dr. Worthington’s lecture because it was comical, engaging, and
he got straight to the point. Dr. Worthington asks the audience, “getting a good
apologize helps people forgive. Why is that?” He goes on to review what
forgiveness is (and is not), “forgiveness is not forbearing…it’s not reconciling with
the person (Biola CCT, 2014,13:23). The doctor clarifies that the Bible says we
should forgive but does not explain how to go about that. Hence, Dr. Worthington
uses the model called REACH in order to teach those people how to forgive; this
model stands for “recalling the hurt…empathy…altruism...committing, and…holding
onto the gift of forgiveness” (Biola CCT, 2014, 16:43). So how does this relate to
Levels of Explanation? Forgiveness is kind of like love, where it is a multi-faceted
reality with no right answer because “each academic discipline provides a
perspective from which we can study nature and our place in it” (Johnson, 2010,
page 51).
c c Dr. McMinn, on the other hand, asks an eight-year-old, “what do you want to be
when you grow up” (Westmont TV, 2019, 20:26). Why is this question so
important? Positive psychology enlightens us on what it means to be “fully and
wholly human and in light of virtue” (Westmont TV, 2019, 5:44). Dr. McMinn
discusses why positive psychology is so important “it helps us reclaim something
that we’ve lost as a society” (25:57). Secondly, “it helps us [to] enhance the very
constructs” (Westmont TV, 2019, 26:06)
c c Positive psychology was originally introduced by examining “religious traditions
and figuring out what sort of virtues where in the religious traditions and then
taking the religion out of them so they can be studied scientifically” (Westmont
TV, 2019, 26:13). Positive psychology relays into the integrative approach. This
methodology is used “in order to understand the relationship of psychology and
Christianity” (Johnson, 2010, page 101). Just like in positive psychology, the
integrative approach draws from God as a resource to answer questions but
recognizes that ‘Scripture does not provide us all that we need in order to
understand human beings fully” (Johnson, 2010, page 102).
c c I found Levels of Explanation and the Integration Approach to be awfully similar
in the matter that they are both complex. However, the main distinction was that
the LOE identifies the different levels of reality and seeks to identify them from
different perspectives, Integration while seeks to find balance between them.
References:
Biola CCT. (2014, June 25). Why you should forgive and how to do it [Everett
Worthington, Jr. on Forgiveness]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Or9OuxuYKw&t=46s.
WestmontTV. (2019, March 4). Mark McMinn, Jan 22, 2019. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=I3gFPgcVAEw&t=1s.
Johnson, E. L., Myers, D. G., Jones, S. L., Roberts, R. C., Watson, P. J., Coe, J. C.,
Hall, T. W., & Powlison, D. (2010). In Psychology & christianity: five views (2nd ed.,
pp. 52–128). essay, IVP Academic.
