Valen Shrum-Groff
Dr. Thompson
Introduction to Psychology
30 August 2024
The Relationship between Psychology and Faith
In the past century, scientists have been heavily debating over the relationship between
science and faith. On one side, there are the atheists who say that science and faith conflict with
each other entirely; on the other side, there are the Christians and other deity-believing scientists
who say that science and faith are complementary (Myers and Jeeves 4). There are also some
who believe the relationship between science and faith is too complex to explain with one
hundred percent assurance (4). In the realm of psychology, many integrate their atheistic
worldview to match what they study, and they teach it as fact even if it is biased. However, I
believe that faith is complementary with psychology because it fits in with the layers of
explanation in nature and requires that we seek absolute truth.
David Myers and Malcolm Jeeves in their book Psychology through the Eyes of Faith
explain how there are different layers of explanation in nature. They demonstrate this idea with
the example of romantic love:
“A physiologist might describe love as a state of arousal. A social psychologist would
examine how various characteristics and conditions... enhance the emotion of love. A
poet would express the sublime experience that love can sometimes be. A theologian
might describe love as the God-given goal of human relationships.” (8)
All these different layers describe romantic love in a unique perspective; however, none of these
layers conflict with one another in any way. Rather, they complement one another and all
together create the big picture of what love is. In this example, faith, or theology, complements
the other aspects. Another great example of unity between levels of nature is the act of incest. On
the theological level, it is highly frowned upon and considered one of the worst sexual acts
anyone can do. This taboo is matched with the biological explanation, which explains that
children born out of incest often have genetic defects (10). Many other examples lend themselves
to follow this patten of being seamlessly unified in truth, which shows that faith and science do
complement each other.
At its core, Christianity seeks to have the truth be declared, learned, and followed. John
8:32 in the Bible says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (New
Internation Version). This seeking of the truth is not just in the theological aspect but also every
other aspect of the world, including science and even psychology. Donald MacKay, a Christian
neuropsychologist, declares that Christian psychologists ought to “‘tell it as it is,’ knowing that
the Author is at our elbow, a silent judge of the accuracy with which we claim to describe the
world He has created” (Myers and Jeeves 15). This means they seek objective truth with no bias
of worldview or values. Because both science and Christianity seek the truth, they complement
each other.
I believe God designed humans to desire truth. In the world, there are so many ideals and
principles that claim to be true, but many of them are self-contradictory and don’t hold up. The
Word of God has proven itself to be true because it is time-tested, self-fulfilling,
noncontradictory, and inspired not by man but by God. No other ancient text compares to the
Bible. I believe the life of Jesus and all the events of his life are true because of the commitment
of believers in the face of death, how quickly his life was documented after he left earth, and
because he fulfilled countless Old Testament prophecies which were way before his lifetime. He
is the truth, and because of that, he wants us as believers to seek truth in everything, including
psychology.
Works Cited
Myers, David and Malcolm Jeeves. Psychology through the Eyes of Faith. Harper Collins
Publishers, 2003.
New International Version. Bible Gateway,
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%208%3A32&version=NIV.
Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.
