Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies: Second Edition

by Don S. Browning

The first edition of this book pioneered a broader and deeper critique of psychological theories and practices. Informed by hermeneutical theory, Browning's widely acclaimed work drew attention to the ethical and even religious assumptions underlying psychology and has been deeply influential in psychology, pastoral counseling, and practical theology. In this edition, Browning and his new co-author show how the field of social science has indeed grasped and appropriated the hermeneutical approach, though with only slight appreciation of the religious dimensions of the social-scientific endeavor. The new first chapter situates the discussion, and the core chapters of the book are updated. Two other new chapters include dialogue with psychotherapeutic theorists and evangelical writers on the relation of theology and psychology. This work will set the stage for the religion-psychology conversation for years to come.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Don S. Browning was the Alexander Campbell Professor Emeritus of Ethics and the Social Sciences at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. Trained in theology, he was equally conversant in modern psychology, philosophy, ethics, sociology, and in the last decade of his life, family law. Browning brought Ivory Tower theological theory to earth by bridging the study of religion with fields including psychology and law, and issues such as marriage and family.

One of the architects of Practical Theology, which looks into ways to link theology to law, psychology and pastoral care. The ideas were laid out in one of his most widely known books, "A Fundamental Practical Theology," published in 1991.

In his early work, he sought to bridge theology and psychology in the service of pastoral care around such diverse themes as the atonement, generativity, poverty, personality theory, and the quest for a normative anthropology. Browning is constant in his challenge that religious leaders need to be capable of moral deliberation in the midst of the complex emotional and social dynamics of daily living. His critical observation about pastoral counseling in a parish or congregational setting remains relevant.

Reviews

[Aaron Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Critique of the ethical and metaphysical dimensions of the modern psychologies via the judeo-christian worldview.

…the modern psychologies cannot stand alone and on their own foundations. They need to be nurtured by the narratives, deep metaphors, and associated principles of obligation found in our religious classics, specifically those animated by the creation stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—narratives that find uniquely powerful completion in the ethics and eschatology of early Christianity.


1. Faith and the Modern Psychologies
2. Vision and Obligation in Christian Anthropology
3. Metaphors, Models, and Morality in Freud
4. Self-Actualization & Harmony in Humanistic Psychology
5. Husbandry and the Common Good in Skinner
6. Making Judgments about Deep Metaphors & Obligations
7. Creation and Self-Realization in Jung
8. Generativity and Care in Erikson and Kohut
9. Psychology and Society: Toward a Critical Psychological
Theory
10. Reason and Reactivity in Ellis, Beck, and Bowen
11. Psychology's Relationship with Religion: Toward an
Intramural Discussion