Toward an Integrated Theology of Psychotherapy
What if I were to tell you that Jesus of Nazareth was a therapist? That the eternal Son of God was not just King of the Cosmos who died on Friday for the sin of the world and was raised to life on Sunday morning. Not just the long-awaited Messiah of the people of Israel. Not just a prophetic rabbi with a revolutionary ethic for living, but also a divine therapist.
In Matthew 4, we see the announcement of the Kingdom of Heaven (4:17), the calling of Jesus’ first apprentices (4:18), and we see Jesus begin to demonstrate and manifest the Kingdom of Heaven into the visible (4:23). Consider the passage:
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. - Matthew 4:23
This triad of demonstrations was core to Jesus’ kingdom mission, strategy, and curriculum for his disciples. They were markers of the kingdom of heaven being “at hand.” What’s interesting is that the Greek word for healing is therapeuo. Sound familiar? It is where we get our English word “therapy” from or, better yet, therapist. Even more compelling, is that the noun form of therapeuo is therapon which just means a servant. To therapeuo means to serve healing and restoration. So, it is accurate to say, that Jesus was a therapist, and so were his disciples. Jesus administered therapy, and so did his disciples.
Unfortunately, pastors and church leaders have a couple of reactions to the supernatural healing or therapy ministry of Jesus and his followers. Either (a) it is assumed that modern medicine has surpassed this supernatural service of kingdom people. So, all that ends up being zeroed in on is teaching and preaching. Or, (b) we tend to relegate healing to a compartmentalized form. Both a and b are incomplete and great temptations. Salvation isn’t just for the immaterial side of a person but for the totality of the embodied person. In fact, “salv-ation” (ointment) is therapeutic, not just legality. It isn’t just a doctrine taught, but a way of life. However, the (a) and (b) temptations are not just for the pastor or clergy, but also for the Christian clinician. One of the great critiques of early 20th-century Psychotherapy was its denigration of the transcendent or “spiritual” dimension of the person, thus reducing a person to only material and physical properties. Even though this isn’t compatible with the objective human experience. Whether there is something more or transcendent is an aside, most live assuming there is something more or beyond. Despite the overwhelming data, clinicians discuss transcendent matters with only 30% of their clients and less than half make it a part of the clients' assessment plan. Herein we see the deficiencies of our therapy approach.
Nevertheless, Jesus’ healing ministry was fundamentally holistic and integrated, not compartmentalized. He healed the physically lame (John 5), he healed the traumatized (Mark 5), he healed the mentally ill (Matthew 8), he healed the emotionally broken (John 3), he healed ruptured relationships both with one another and with God (John 11&21). He healed the whole person. His anthropology or taxonomy of a person can be elucidated from the great commandment in Matthew 12:
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Notice the dimensions of the person: heart, mind, soul, strength (body), relationships (self & neighbor). The gospel provides stories of Jesus healing every dimension. Thus, aiming toward complete harmony. Coincidentally, the word translated “soul” is the word psyche meaning “breath,” “life,” or “living being.” The psyche is the whole constituted life of the person: heart, mind, body, and relationships, made possible by the animating Spirit of God (Genesis 2:7). Herein again we see a familiar term, psyche is the prefix of psych-ology. Fascinating. The suffix root of psychology is logos. Jesus isn’t just healer of the soul or therapist of the soul, but also is called “the Word,” or the logos (John 1:1). He is the divine psychologist. Even more fascinating. So, come to find out, William James isn’t the “father of psychology” or Carl Rogers the “founder of person-centered therapy,” it is actually the enfleshed Word, Jesus of Nazareth.
Because of this conclusion, there are great implications for both the practicing Christian clinician and the local church pastor in an age experiencing a mental health crisis. For one, as noted, because we are whole beings with transcendent and relational longings, we mustn’t separate “mental health” from overall “human health.” Given how connected our mind, body, meaning and relationships are, I find that approach narrow and inadequate if healing is the goal - a partially healed person isn’t a healed person. A partially healed person is a treated person, but treatment is not the end, therapeuo is. Treatment is not a state of being, therapeuo is. Jesus doesn’t say, “Be treated,” he says, “Be healed.” Furthermore, a congregant who has only been given “proper theology” or “proper teaching” is no more healed than the client in clinical therapy refusing their transcendent dimension. A properly taught person doesn’t equate to a person experiencing therapeuo. Information doesn’t equal transformation.
At some point, the holistic healing of the congregant in the pew requires clinical/psychological intervention and the holistic healing of the client in the chair requires theological/transcendent intervention. The pastor-theologian isn’t trained to do both, neither is the Christian counselor-psychologist. Yet, both are required for total wholeness, spiritual formation, and care for the soul (psyche). One doesn’t eliminate the other. In fact, they need one another. Diversity of gifts was a mark of the earliest followers of The Way, as it is now. The counselor can’t look at the pastor and say, “I don’t need you,” the same is true when said from pastor to counselor. Are there bad forms of clinical therapy incompatible with Scripture and the tradition of the Church? Certainly. Is there also bad theology taught every week in churches? Certainly. Should we judge the gift based on counterfeit uses of the gift? No, that wouldn’t be rational, responsible, or wise. If we want to be more like Jesus, we need both. Since he aims to heal the total life of the person, we should orient toward that same aim from our various grounds of gifting and training.
Because both are needed and implicitly move toward one another, it is time for deeper cross-training, dialogue, and discussion. Instead of our backs being toward one another, we need to face one another. The clinical counselor needs a grounded theology of the human person that goes beyond describing brokenness and moves toward the actual source of human dignity and the human condition. A reductive, purely material, account of the human person doesn’t produce “unconditional positive regard.” What is the source of the traumas in the people who traumatize? If we are all in need of healing, there must be a universal sickness. And if we should care, there must be a transcendent imperative. The pastor, then, needs a clarified understanding of what is happening within a person and what has happened to a person, otherwise, the pastor is in jeopardy of by-passing reality and producing denial, thus gridlocking the possibility of true repentance - a “changing of the mind.” If one doesn’t understand what the mind is and how it works, how can it be “renewed” (Romans 12:2)? If one is to “deny thy self, (Matthew 16:24)” shouldn’t they know what “the self” is? Pain isn’t prayed away, pain is healed. We pray to be in communication with the ultimate healer. Therefore, the counselor needs a more robust and defensible “why” and the pastor needs a more thoughtful and nuanced “what.”
When we consider the humble collision of these two vocations, we begin to see a more complete kingdom picture of Jesus, the divine (theology) therapist (psychology), the pastor-counselor, and shepherd-healer. A complete gospel needs a complete Jesus. Complete healing needs the pastor and the counselor. So, In the end, when the two intersect - theology and psychology, counselor and pastor - a kind of Jesus-infused holistic spiritual formation is possible. A kind of soul healing is possible. A kind of integrated kingdom psychotherapy.
Pastor, meet my counselor. Counselor, meet my pastor.
Spencer Loman is Teaching Pastor at Emmaus Church in Greensboro, NC, a graduate of Wesley Seminary, and a current PhD Student
Resources for Integration:
Life Model Works (Dr. Jim Wilder) - Intersection of Brain Science and Spiritual Formation
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Pete Scazzero) - Intersection of Emotional Health and Formation
Soul Shepherding (Dr. Bill & Dr. Kristi Gaultiere) - Intersection of Psychology & Spiritual Direction
The Sanctuary Course - Course of Faith & Mental Health
Being Known w/Curt Thompson, MD - Podcast with Christian Psychiatrist
Christian Association for Psychological Studies / (CAPS 38 Book Library)
Journal for Spiritual Formation & Soul Care
Starter Books:
Relational Spirituality - Todd & Elizabeth Hall
Attachments - Tim Clinton & Nelson Sibcy
Renovated - Jim Wilder & Dallas Willard
Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling - Mark McMinn
The Person in Psychology and Christianity - Marjorie Gunnoe
In Matthew 4, we see the announcement of the Kingdom of Heaven (4:17), the calling of Jesus’ first apprentices (4:18), and we see Jesus begin to demonstrate and manifest the Kingdom of Heaven into the visible (4:23). Consider the passage:
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. - Matthew 4:23
This triad of demonstrations was core to Jesus’ kingdom mission, strategy, and curriculum for his disciples. They were markers of the kingdom of heaven being “at hand.” What’s interesting is that the Greek word for healing is therapeuo. Sound familiar? It is where we get our English word “therapy” from or, better yet, therapist. Even more compelling, is that the noun form of therapeuo is therapon which just means a servant. To therapeuo means to serve healing and restoration. So, it is accurate to say, that Jesus was a therapist, and so were his disciples. Jesus administered therapy, and so did his disciples.
Unfortunately, pastors and church leaders have a couple of reactions to the supernatural healing or therapy ministry of Jesus and his followers. Either (a) it is assumed that modern medicine has surpassed this supernatural service of kingdom people. So, all that ends up being zeroed in on is teaching and preaching. Or, (b) we tend to relegate healing to a compartmentalized form. Both a and b are incomplete and great temptations. Salvation isn’t just for the immaterial side of a person but for the totality of the embodied person. In fact, “salv-ation” (ointment) is therapeutic, not just legality. It isn’t just a doctrine taught, but a way of life. However, the (a) and (b) temptations are not just for the pastor or clergy, but also for the Christian clinician. One of the great critiques of early 20th-century Psychotherapy was its denigration of the transcendent or “spiritual” dimension of the person, thus reducing a person to only material and physical properties. Even though this isn’t compatible with the objective human experience. Whether there is something more or transcendent is an aside, most live assuming there is something more or beyond. Despite the overwhelming data, clinicians discuss transcendent matters with only 30% of their clients and less than half make it a part of the clients' assessment plan. Herein we see the deficiencies of our therapy approach.
Nevertheless, Jesus’ healing ministry was fundamentally holistic and integrated, not compartmentalized. He healed the physically lame (John 5), he healed the traumatized (Mark 5), he healed the mentally ill (Matthew 8), he healed the emotionally broken (John 3), he healed ruptured relationships both with one another and with God (John 11&21). He healed the whole person. His anthropology or taxonomy of a person can be elucidated from the great commandment in Matthew 12:
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Notice the dimensions of the person: heart, mind, soul, strength (body), relationships (self & neighbor). The gospel provides stories of Jesus healing every dimension. Thus, aiming toward complete harmony. Coincidentally, the word translated “soul” is the word psyche meaning “breath,” “life,” or “living being.” The psyche is the whole constituted life of the person: heart, mind, body, and relationships, made possible by the animating Spirit of God (Genesis 2:7). Herein again we see a familiar term, psyche is the prefix of psych-ology. Fascinating. The suffix root of psychology is logos. Jesus isn’t just healer of the soul or therapist of the soul, but also is called “the Word,” or the logos (John 1:1). He is the divine psychologist. Even more fascinating. So, come to find out, William James isn’t the “father of psychology” or Carl Rogers the “founder of person-centered therapy,” it is actually the enfleshed Word, Jesus of Nazareth.
Because of this conclusion, there are great implications for both the practicing Christian clinician and the local church pastor in an age experiencing a mental health crisis. For one, as noted, because we are whole beings with transcendent and relational longings, we mustn’t separate “mental health” from overall “human health.” Given how connected our mind, body, meaning and relationships are, I find that approach narrow and inadequate if healing is the goal - a partially healed person isn’t a healed person. A partially healed person is a treated person, but treatment is not the end, therapeuo is. Treatment is not a state of being, therapeuo is. Jesus doesn’t say, “Be treated,” he says, “Be healed.” Furthermore, a congregant who has only been given “proper theology” or “proper teaching” is no more healed than the client in clinical therapy refusing their transcendent dimension. A properly taught person doesn’t equate to a person experiencing therapeuo. Information doesn’t equal transformation.
At some point, the holistic healing of the congregant in the pew requires clinical/psychological intervention and the holistic healing of the client in the chair requires theological/transcendent intervention. The pastor-theologian isn’t trained to do both, neither is the Christian counselor-psychologist. Yet, both are required for total wholeness, spiritual formation, and care for the soul (psyche). One doesn’t eliminate the other. In fact, they need one another. Diversity of gifts was a mark of the earliest followers of The Way, as it is now. The counselor can’t look at the pastor and say, “I don’t need you,” the same is true when said from pastor to counselor. Are there bad forms of clinical therapy incompatible with Scripture and the tradition of the Church? Certainly. Is there also bad theology taught every week in churches? Certainly. Should we judge the gift based on counterfeit uses of the gift? No, that wouldn’t be rational, responsible, or wise. If we want to be more like Jesus, we need both. Since he aims to heal the total life of the person, we should orient toward that same aim from our various grounds of gifting and training.
Because both are needed and implicitly move toward one another, it is time for deeper cross-training, dialogue, and discussion. Instead of our backs being toward one another, we need to face one another. The clinical counselor needs a grounded theology of the human person that goes beyond describing brokenness and moves toward the actual source of human dignity and the human condition. A reductive, purely material, account of the human person doesn’t produce “unconditional positive regard.” What is the source of the traumas in the people who traumatize? If we are all in need of healing, there must be a universal sickness. And if we should care, there must be a transcendent imperative. The pastor, then, needs a clarified understanding of what is happening within a person and what has happened to a person, otherwise, the pastor is in jeopardy of by-passing reality and producing denial, thus gridlocking the possibility of true repentance - a “changing of the mind.” If one doesn’t understand what the mind is and how it works, how can it be “renewed” (Romans 12:2)? If one is to “deny thy self, (Matthew 16:24)” shouldn’t they know what “the self” is? Pain isn’t prayed away, pain is healed. We pray to be in communication with the ultimate healer. Therefore, the counselor needs a more robust and defensible “why” and the pastor needs a more thoughtful and nuanced “what.”
When we consider the humble collision of these two vocations, we begin to see a more complete kingdom picture of Jesus, the divine (theology) therapist (psychology), the pastor-counselor, and shepherd-healer. A complete gospel needs a complete Jesus. Complete healing needs the pastor and the counselor. So, In the end, when the two intersect - theology and psychology, counselor and pastor - a kind of Jesus-infused holistic spiritual formation is possible. A kind of soul healing is possible. A kind of integrated kingdom psychotherapy.
Pastor, meet my counselor. Counselor, meet my pastor.
Spencer Loman is Teaching Pastor at Emmaus Church in Greensboro, NC, a graduate of Wesley Seminary, and a current PhD Student
Resources for Integration:
Life Model Works (Dr. Jim Wilder) - Intersection of Brain Science and Spiritual Formation
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Pete Scazzero) - Intersection of Emotional Health and Formation
Soul Shepherding (Dr. Bill & Dr. Kristi Gaultiere) - Intersection of Psychology & Spiritual Direction
The Sanctuary Course - Course of Faith & Mental Health
Being Known w/Curt Thompson, MD - Podcast with Christian Psychiatrist
Christian Association for Psychological Studies / (CAPS 38 Book Library)
Journal for Spiritual Formation & Soul Care
Starter Books:
Relational Spirituality - Todd & Elizabeth Hall
Attachments - Tim Clinton & Nelson Sibcy
Renovated - Jim Wilder & Dallas Willard
Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling - Mark McMinn
The Person in Psychology and Christianity - Marjorie Gunnoe
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