Somewhere between pneumatology and phenomenology lies an obvious void for the Pentecostal therapist or counselor. At the heart of this void are antiquated misunderstandings, problematic predispositions, and the enduring failures of an overreaching involvement of therapists that have been seduced by the madness of learning. In a world largely dominated by theories and models, there has been scant allowance for the insertion of a spiritually driven model of therapy. Many of the efforts that precede this article have resulted in a quasi-biblical praxis weighted down by postmodern distortions. In this article, I propose that therapeutic disciplines within the ecclesiastical community be governed, grounded, and informed by both a biblically oriented view of the human ideal and the transformational power of the Spirit of God whose agency is foundational to all such interventions.
Postmodern Shift
Nancy Pearcey, in Love thy Body (2018), demonstrates a robust understanding of the prevalent philosophical orientations that dominate much of today’s Western society. Building upon Francis Shaeffer’s two-story dualism, Pearcey explains that “modernists claim that the lower story is the primary or sole reality—facts and science. Postmodernists claim that the upper story is primary—that even facts and science are merely mental constructs” (p. 16). In other words, today’s Western culture has presented us with a unique philosophical divide that has “created a fractured, fragmented view of the human being, in which the body is treated as separate from the authentic self” (p. 17).
This summation helps shed amiable light on the influences that seek to infiltrate therapeutic interventions within the Pentecostal community. By fragmenting the human being into separate opposing parts, postmodernism has managed to accomplish what no other humanistic endeavor has been able to achieve; the complete undermining of a biblical understanding of personhood. Identity—personhood—has been completely divorced from a biblically informed understanding of the whole man (I Thess. 5:23) that is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14). This results in a liberal trichotomist perspective that states the following: if you have a physical problem, see a physician: a psychological problem, see a psychologist: a spiritual problem, see a pastor.
While I adamantly encourage medical and psychological intervention, the underlying fallacy of a liberal trichotomist perspective is that the pastoral and/or spiritual domains are perceived as being outside the scope of efficacy when dealing with medical and psychological issues. Such viewpoints, while not boisterously articulated, are becoming more and more prevalent within the Pentecostal community and such viewpoints are creating internalized conflicts that sometimes place these domains at odds with each another. From these conflicts arise incessant wrangling that is further accentuated by the formation of subcommunities within the broader framework of the Pentecostal community.
We deceive ourselves if we think that certain of these postmodern persuasions, especially that of the fragmented perspective of a liberal trichotomy, has not influenced the language and practice of many who have come to pioneer new and exciting disciplines meant to strengthen and bolder the Pentecostal community. Indeed, many Christian counselors and therapists influenced by this fragmented outlook of personhood are betrayed by an almost imperceptible shift in the language used to describe the role of the Spirit as it relates to the wellbeing of the patient or counselee.
Rather than governing the process of wholeness and healing, the Spirit merely serves as an influence—sometimes supplementary—to the process of wholeness and healing. Out of this arises a similar, yet distinct, adjustment to the counseling narrative among Pentecostal domains of therapy. Scripture, rather than serving as the primary informant of truth, becomes a secondary asset that seldom rises above the importance placed in cutting edge therapeutic literature.
Let me clarify, for the sake of the uneasy, that many of these resources are to be celebrated and utilized within the scope of our therapeutic praxis as they are full of valid insights, important statistical data, and efficacious interventions. Understandably, much of our counseling takes place within a secular framework that is harnessed to limitations that restrict and/or suppress religious or spiritual input. However, our therapeutic efforts outside of these environments must be solidly governed by a distinct spiritual perspective that is undergirded by a robust Pentecostal hermeneutic. “Silver and gold, have I none,” (Acts 3:6, King James Version), ought to solidly govern the baseline of our therapeutic efforts within the Pentecostal community.
Back to Center
In a more condensed version of the first step of Alcoholics Anonymous, those suffering from addiction are told that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Plausible deniability is no longer an adequate defense when faced with the challenges that postmodernism has caused the Church. Even the Apostle Paul, when faced with the once spiritually oriented Galatians, would rhetorically challenge them by asking, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (3:1, KJV). I would ask the same question among my peers and fellow professionals as it relates to the diverse disciplines of therapy. Have we reached the point—with all of the incredible discoveries of the human mind—where Scripture and the Spirit are only relegated to salvific issues? Can we justifiably ignore the effect intellectualism and humanism has had on miraculous manifestations—the oft-lack thereof—in many Pentecostal churches? Have we, in our efforts to help the church, created a spiritual vacuum where signs, wonders, and miracles are discussed but never realized due to the primacy of human intervention? Our approach to wholeness and wellbeing must be governed by a spiritual and biblical emphasis that is primary—not secondary.
As an example, take the New Testament narrative about a man known to have lived among the tombs of the dead. According to scripture, the man was viewed as insane and they were unable to restrain or constrain the savage actions of the man. Today, if clinical expertise intervened, the man would undergo a battery of tests, procedures, and observations. They would investigate genetic and environmental factors, socioeconomic conditions, and a plethora of other possible scenarios in an attempt to make sense of the man’s psychotic episodes. They would observe his symptoms of suicidal ideation, mark and notate his strange isolation in an area surrounded by the dead, and, after many interdisciplinary consultations, tentatively conclude a professional diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum psychosis. Treatment of this psychosis would then follow a textbook process of antipsychotic medications, institutional confinement, and continual observation and testing.
Please understand, this article does not seek to demean the efficacies of therapeutic interventions—I advocate many of the models and theories myself. I am merely pointing out the strict limitations such disciplines have if a biblically informed causation is not factored into the human equation of wholeness. No amount of medication, isolation, or intervention can satisfy the devastating void caused by original sin. Original sin is not a chemical, neurological, or physical disease remedied by pharmaceutical concoctions developed in chemistry labs nor can it be resolved by human theory and practice. Original sin is intrinsically, and entirely, a spiritual condition that affects the whole man. As Dr. Marvin Treece (1995) commentated, “man may arrange and repair, but it takes God to perform the creation of something from nothing” (p. 30).
In the example of clinical intervention for the insane individual that lived in the tombs, one sees the stark limitations of even our best interventions. The moment that Jesus stepped onto the shores of Gadara everything changed. What man had tried to arrange, and repair came face-to-face with his Creator. Jesus knew the intrinsic makeup of the psychotic man before him. He knew all the answers the clinical therapists would have worked hard to ascertain. He knew the socioeconomic and environmental factors of the man’s childhood. Genetics? Oh, Jesus knew them—down to the smallest cells containing minute ribosomes that synthesized proteins in the body. Rather than pull up a chair, induce a catatonic state achieved pharmaceutically, and then proceed to advance through various theories and models of intervention, Jesus unequivocally commanded, “come out of the man thou unclean spirit” (Mk. 5:8).
As an ecclesiastical community that believes in the power and demonstration of the Spirit of God, we must submit our greatest human advancements and accomplishments to the work of the Spirit. We must return to a theological and spiritual center lest we tip the scales toward doctrine without demonstration (I Corinthians 2:1-4). We must bring it back to a biblically oriented paradigm in which the “foolish things of the world confound the wise…. the weak things confound the mighty” (I Corinthians 1:27, KJV). Professional counseling and therapeutic education are vital in a confusing and convoluted world that is subject to physical and psychological disarray, but we must not divorce these issues from the primacy of biblical and spiritual disciplines.
Conclusion
As we continue to advance in our knowledge of physical and mental health, we must rally together and commit to a community of praxis that holds to the primacy of miracles, healings, and the prayer of faith that saves the sick (Jam. 5:15). We must never grow uncomfortable with the language that accompanies the unexplainable dimensions of the miraculous. As we navigate the complex disciplines of therapeutic intervention, we must ensure that we are not seduced by contradictory claims and theories that dull the edges of our doctrines and demonstrations. We must anchor our greatest advancements and discoveries to a spiritual and biblical foundation that answers back to God who is without limitations.
References
Pearcey, N. (2018). Love thy body: answering hard questions about life and sexuality. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
Treece, M.D. (1995) The Literal Word: I Corinthians. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers
To view this article in the latest publication of the SOTAD Journal, follow this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xBtuuC8cZ2pFWwaVSe-q2JJNJoiyZ6Bw/view