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The Science of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters to the Church
Christianity Today Book Award Winner
Outreach Recommended Resource of the Year (Counseling and Relationships)
The church and science have drifted apart over the past century. Today the church is often deemed irrelevant by those who trust science, and science is often deemed irrelevant by those whose primary loyalties are to the church. However, this book shows that the new science of virtue--the field of positive psychology--can serve as a bridge point between science and the church and can help renew meaningful conversation.
In essence, positive psychology examines how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled. Mark McMinn clarifies how positive psychology can complement Christian faith and promote happiness and personal flourishing. In addition, he shows how the church can help strengthen positive psychology. McMinn brings the church's experience and wisdom on six virtues--humility, forgiveness, gratitude, grace, hope, and wisdom--into conversation with intriguing scientific findings from positive psychology. Each chapter includes a section addressing Christian counselors who seek to promote happiness and fulfillment in others.
Outreach Recommended Resource of the Year (Counseling and Relationships)
The church and science have drifted apart over the past century. Today the church is often deemed irrelevant by those who trust science, and science is often deemed irrelevant by those whose primary loyalties are to the church. However, this book shows that the new science of virtue--the field of positive psychology--can serve as a bridge point between science and the church and can help renew meaningful conversation.
In essence, positive psychology examines how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled. Mark McMinn clarifies how positive psychology can complement Christian faith and promote happiness and personal flourishing. In addition, he shows how the church can help strengthen positive psychology. McMinn brings the church's experience and wisdom on six virtues--humility, forgiveness, gratitude, grace, hope, and wisdom--into conversation with intriguing scientific findings from positive psychology. Each chapter includes a section addressing Christian counselors who seek to promote happiness and fulfillment in others.
208 pages, Paperback
Published August 22, 2017
14 people are currently reading
331 people want to read
About the author
Mark R. McMinn
25 books26 followersAfter a long academic career conducting research and teaching doctoral students in health service psychology, I now spend my time writing and growing fruit in rural Oregon.
I am married to Lisa Graham McMinn, an author, sociologist, and spiritual director. We have three grown daughters and six grandchildren.
I am married to Lisa Graham McMinn, an author, sociologist, and spiritual director. We have three grown daughters and six grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 30, 2020
A dilemma with whether to rate this book a 4 or 3; I've got very mixed feelings, mainly stemming from trying to understand what I wanted from the book, my expectations when I picked it up, and how to even categorize it.
Picked up the book because I'm a Christian with a graduate (applied) psychology degree and generally interested when other Christians engage with research literature on psychology and even more so when they are designing and conducting empirical studies and then synthesizing faith and learning. It's a bonus that the book is about virtues/ethics; a topic I am also interested in when non (or a-) religious people examine this; to see where they get.
So, the book. McMinn looks at 6 virtues: Wisdom, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Humility, Hope and Grace. Each chapter includes a scientific look at what's been studied about these virtues, a look at the Christian history of these virtues, some studies that he (or his students) have conducted to better see how to gain these virtues, an analysis and conclusion where he tries to integrate the science with the theology. Not necessarily in that order each time. Each chapter also includes a healthy (perhaps tooooo healthy) dose of personal anecdotes and humorous stories relating the virtue to his own life, including his teaching, personal life, and counseling.
I had a big structural/editorial grievance with the book because he spent a lot of ink defending his virtue list, and especially his choices of gratitude and grace, recognizing that they aren't classical virtues. When he lists the classical and theological virtues it's stark that only by some mental gymnastics are more than 33% of the concepts/constructs he studied (anything other than wisdom or humility) to make either of those lists. So, I was left wondering - did he have the idea for the book, but struggle to find a way to frame it, then finally landed on virtues, only to realize that the research no longer neatly fit into that framework? It's weird, and once he pointed it out, it really irked me as I read along. I also couldn't help but think that an editor might have (should have!) sat him down and gently pointed this out to him, in addition to noting that he repeated this defense several times and those passages could have been cut out.
Back to the intro to try and parse out my mixed feelings. McMinn he says he wrote the book for 4 reasons. 1)because "positive psychology helps us reclaim, or redeem, the language of virtue, which has been largely lost in contemporary times" and, 2) because believes that "positive psychology needs the church" to redeem a study of virtue; essentially because without the church, the study of virtue loses its richness and texture. I'm tracking with him with these two reasons. It's reason 3) because "the time has come for Christianity and science to become better friends," and reason 4) "positive psychology can help Christian counselors and pastoral counselors do their work in new and refreshing ways" where I realize, I might not be the intended audience of the book, even if I realllly like these ideas and line of researc.
First, I've made my peace with science and Christianity, and not interested in any more sad tired debates. If he's writing for a non-research fluent audience, which I believe he assumes he is, I think he could have done a bit more to set up how social science is conducted, it's aims and limitations, and done a (very) brief refresher for each chapter to re-frame how this whole 'science' thing works. Equally so, I think he probably could have included more Christian definitions and how Christian wisdom, history and theology is understood, since it's not clear how he's defining the theological concepts, beyond his lived experience in the church. Sometimes, in fact, he pulls in really strange anecdotes and reference material (re: David Brooks Road to Character?!) If anything, he probably does better justice to the psychology side, and it's really obvious he's writing as a professor and counseling psychologist, and not a theologian or someone with theological training.
So I'm torn. I really liked the idea of the book and the content for each chapter. Throughout reading it, I found myself nodding along, underlining sentences and thinking about the implications and further areas of research as well as application. But, as the tone and style are so inconsistent, I'm going to land at 3, rather than 4.
Picked up the book because I'm a Christian with a graduate (applied) psychology degree and generally interested when other Christians engage with research literature on psychology and even more so when they are designing and conducting empirical studies and then synthesizing faith and learning. It's a bonus that the book is about virtues/ethics; a topic I am also interested in when non (or a-) religious people examine this; to see where they get.
So, the book. McMinn looks at 6 virtues: Wisdom, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Humility, Hope and Grace. Each chapter includes a scientific look at what's been studied about these virtues, a look at the Christian history of these virtues, some studies that he (or his students) have conducted to better see how to gain these virtues, an analysis and conclusion where he tries to integrate the science with the theology. Not necessarily in that order each time. Each chapter also includes a healthy (perhaps tooooo healthy) dose of personal anecdotes and humorous stories relating the virtue to his own life, including his teaching, personal life, and counseling.
I had a big structural/editorial grievance with the book because he spent a lot of ink defending his virtue list, and especially his choices of gratitude and grace, recognizing that they aren't classical virtues. When he lists the classical and theological virtues it's stark that only by some mental gymnastics are more than 33% of the concepts/constructs he studied (anything other than wisdom or humility) to make either of those lists. So, I was left wondering - did he have the idea for the book, but struggle to find a way to frame it, then finally landed on virtues, only to realize that the research no longer neatly fit into that framework? It's weird, and once he pointed it out, it really irked me as I read along. I also couldn't help but think that an editor might have (should have!) sat him down and gently pointed this out to him, in addition to noting that he repeated this defense several times and those passages could have been cut out.
Back to the intro to try and parse out my mixed feelings. McMinn he says he wrote the book for 4 reasons. 1)because "positive psychology helps us reclaim, or redeem, the language of virtue, which has been largely lost in contemporary times" and, 2) because believes that "positive psychology needs the church" to redeem a study of virtue; essentially because without the church, the study of virtue loses its richness and texture. I'm tracking with him with these two reasons. It's reason 3) because "the time has come for Christianity and science to become better friends," and reason 4) "positive psychology can help Christian counselors and pastoral counselors do their work in new and refreshing ways" where I realize, I might not be the intended audience of the book, even if I realllly like these ideas and line of researc.
First, I've made my peace with science and Christianity, and not interested in any more sad tired debates. If he's writing for a non-research fluent audience, which I believe he assumes he is, I think he could have done a bit more to set up how social science is conducted, it's aims and limitations, and done a (very) brief refresher for each chapter to re-frame how this whole 'science' thing works. Equally so, I think he probably could have included more Christian definitions and how Christian wisdom, history and theology is understood, since it's not clear how he's defining the theological concepts, beyond his lived experience in the church. Sometimes, in fact, he pulls in really strange anecdotes and reference material (re: David Brooks Road to Character?!) If anything, he probably does better justice to the psychology side, and it's really obvious he's writing as a professor and counseling psychologist, and not a theologian or someone with theological training.
So I'm torn. I really liked the idea of the book and the content for each chapter. Throughout reading it, I found myself nodding along, underlining sentences and thinking about the implications and further areas of research as well as application. But, as the tone and style are so inconsistent, I'm going to land at 3, rather than 4.
September 14, 2018
In a well-documented and highly readable yet scholarly book, McMinn addresses several virtues e.g., wisdom, grace, forgiveness, gratitude, humility, and hope. McMinn presents arguments supporting his view that Christians (i.e., the church) can benefit from understanding the findings from research in positive psychology. But he also argues why positive psychology can benefit from the church. In many ways, The Science of Virtue is an academic work, which seems appropriate for university students, seminary students, or those educated laypersons seeking a relatively in-depth understanding of several classic virtues. An example of academic focus is in the forgiveness chapter where he provides a chart documenting the scientific articles published on the topic between 1980 and 2014. In addition, he suggests how each virtue may apply to Christian counseling, which also suggests a professional audience.
February 14, 2018
Each chapter looks at a "virtue" - but don't expect the classic list; they're more modern. I don't think he actually explains why he chose this list, but I suspect it's because they're aspects of positive psychology that have the most research and most easily overlap with values from (certain reads of) Christian scripture.
In each chapter, he looks at what the psychological studies have to offer Christian understanding, what Christian understanding has to offer psychology, and what the "telos" of the virtue is. Spoiler: psychological studies offer "Christianity is good for your health through lower blood pressure..." and similar metrics; Christian understanding offers "we don't do this because it's good for our health, we do this because Jesus tells us to;" and the "telos" is Jesus. Ok, that's way oversimplified because I'm feeling snarky -- I just really wanted him to get into some of the debates. The way McMinn tells it, these are so delightfully compatible as to be obvious. Why did this book need to be written?
Oh, right. Because of the giant contingent of Christians who (bafflingly) hate science and of the number of scientists who (often understandably) hate religion. I wish he'd given more voice to these stances and put them in conversation to show what *they* can learn from each other rather than the easiest middle grounds alone.
Stopped reading at the opening of the chapter on "Humility" in which McMinn agrees with CSLewis that pride is the vice from which all other vices stem. Ugh. This is such a western patriarchal worldview and it oppresses people. But, fine, sure, include the chapter -- but follow it with a chapter on self-esteem, a virtue that positive psychology has long lauded, that has plenty of scriptural support, and that would actually challenge readers to rethink their categories of how science and religion meet. As it stands, this is a book for Christians to feel like science is just another way to support what they knew all along because Jesus/the Bible told them so.
In each chapter, he looks at what the psychological studies have to offer Christian understanding, what Christian understanding has to offer psychology, and what the "telos" of the virtue is. Spoiler: psychological studies offer "Christianity is good for your health through lower blood pressure..." and similar metrics; Christian understanding offers "we don't do this because it's good for our health, we do this because Jesus tells us to;" and the "telos" is Jesus. Ok, that's way oversimplified because I'm feeling snarky -- I just really wanted him to get into some of the debates. The way McMinn tells it, these are so delightfully compatible as to be obvious. Why did this book need to be written?
Oh, right. Because of the giant contingent of Christians who (bafflingly) hate science and of the number of scientists who (often understandably) hate religion. I wish he'd given more voice to these stances and put them in conversation to show what *they* can learn from each other rather than the easiest middle grounds alone.
Stopped reading at the opening of the chapter on "Humility" in which McMinn agrees with CSLewis that pride is the vice from which all other vices stem. Ugh. This is such a western patriarchal worldview and it oppresses people. But, fine, sure, include the chapter -- but follow it with a chapter on self-esteem, a virtue that positive psychology has long lauded, that has plenty of scriptural support, and that would actually challenge readers to rethink their categories of how science and religion meet. As it stands, this is a book for Christians to feel like science is just another way to support what they knew all along because Jesus/the Bible told them so.
October 1, 2017
I thought this was an excellent book, gently but courageously pointing out the virtues that form the foundation of Christianity, and how we might step into them. So very necessary to us right now, as we seem to have forgotten the virtue of virtues entirely.
Read
May 15, 2022Read enough to know that I don’t need to read more. Didn’t read enough to give an entirely fair rating.
I’m glad, on balance, that there are serious Christians that are psychologists, and who want to live both vocations attentively and well. But I am far from convinced that the “field” contributes more to the Church’s life and Scriptures than it distracts, corrupts, or misleads. The introductory comments on the relationship between science and the Church only confirmed my suspicions that this book misunderstands the present state of affairs.
I’m glad, on balance, that there are serious Christians that are psychologists, and who want to live both vocations attentively and well. But I am far from convinced that the “field” contributes more to the Church’s life and Scriptures than it distracts, corrupts, or misleads. The introductory comments on the relationship between science and the Church only confirmed my suspicions that this book misunderstands the present state of affairs.
April 29, 2021
Read because it was a gift I received. Truly not much here. Forgettable.
November 25, 2020
I found this book to be a good intro to the study of the virtues. I liked that there was honest discussion about the strengths and limits both science and a Christian worldview bring to understanding the virtues. As someone who studies positive psych and as someone who identifies as Christian I found this book very approachable.
December 31, 2018
The intersection of faith and science
Before the positive psychology movement swept through psychology, there was the faith. Mark does an excellent job of showing how well science and faith align and work together.
Before the positive psychology movement swept through psychology, there was the faith. Mark does an excellent job of showing how well science and faith align and work together.
September 16, 2019
McMinn is a gifted 21century Christian thinker in the development of Christian counseling and concepts. I had the priviledge of meeting him in 2017. I hope he has a few more books in him after retirement.
August 26, 2024
This book has a lot of different great ingredients that never come together in a coherent manner. I am genuinely not sure what kind of book this is trying to be. Most of the book seems to arguing why positive psychology and the church are useful to each other. But the book is organized around different virtues. Each chapter examines what science and the Bible teach about a virtue along with practical ideas about how to grow in that virtue.
Each part of the book was good. I enjoyed reading it and found it helpful. But it just felt disjointed and never came together. I wish the book were more focused on making an argument on behalf of psychology and the church or on using it to grow in virtue.
Each part of the book was good. I enjoyed reading it and found it helpful. But it just felt disjointed and never came together. I wish the book were more focused on making an argument on behalf of psychology and the church or on using it to grow in virtue.
October 17, 2018
This book has an interesting premise - that Christianity and science should work together towards in moral training. Science is far too focused on the self. Christian moral theory is not practical enough.
“Positive psychology” in the subtitle intrigued me. “We have done a very good job describing and treating what goes wrong with people, but largely overlook what goes right with people,” writes the author, defining what he means by the term. What is the psychology of grace? What is the mechanism of forgiveness? These are interesting questions. The book ultimately doesn’t get to concrete answers. That was disappointing. But the concept of a “science of virtue” is promising.
“Positive psychology” in the subtitle intrigued me. “We have done a very good job describing and treating what goes wrong with people, but largely overlook what goes right with people,” writes the author, defining what he means by the term. What is the psychology of grace? What is the mechanism of forgiveness? These are interesting questions. The book ultimately doesn’t get to concrete answers. That was disappointing. But the concept of a “science of virtue” is promising.
May 5, 2021
I'm a big believer in how science is helping us see how God works, how God designed our bodies makes so much sense. This book is a breakdown of the virtues of wisdom, forgiveness, gratitude, hope, and more. All science that makes sense of God.
Want to read
May 16, 2021Densem recommendation
August 26, 2024
Loved the integration of science and virtue, and it really challenged me to reflect on my life humbly.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews