Psybibs: Psychological Biblical Criticism

NOTE: This is an earlier version of the paper. The updated version, with full Hebrew text, is available as the Acrobat version.

Proverbs 15:22 suggests that counsel and advice help the young Biblical scholar become an effective resource in their community. Some Christian counselors and pastors, however, have suggested that psychology destroys faith and Biblical interpretation. Intimate partner violence prevention specialists, counselors, and psychologists, on the other hand, have suggested that the Biblical texts enable intimate partner violence and abuse to continue in our homes and culture. While these professionals are accurate in their description of some interpretations of texts, they are not actually in the texts themselves. The roots of this form of oppression lie in attitudes about women and the powerless in society. Religious counselors have an opportunity to gain the respect of prevention specialists through using the Biblical narratives to address male violence, the nature of masculinity, oppression, social justice, and human induced trauma. Those who approach the Biblical texts from a psychological perspective that acknowledges oppression and violence as a problem, also have an opportunity to better interpret texts that can be used to heal clients who are both victims and oppressors. The Biblical narratives concerning these issues also provide a strong tool for therapeutic healing and creating empathy in oppressors and violent individuals.

Proverbs and the Value of Counselors

The Sitz Im Leben of Proverbs suggests a school setting designed to train young men [HEB] for the purpose of leadership in the Israelite community.1 This setting also provided the youth with counselors and advisors [HEB] who guided the youth in wisdom and spiritual development. These counselors were Lady Wisdom, the school father, and other teachers who helped the youth become successful, wise, and skilled in their jobs for the community. The [HEB] were also taught to listen to advice and accept rebuke, criticism, and correction from these [HEB].

The existence of Wisdom schools in Israel is a debated issue. Even though a school was present during the time of Ben Sirach (Sir. 51:23), their existence during the pre-exilic time is questioned. Scholars such as von Rad, Lemaire, Mettinger, Heaton, Shupak, Perdue, and Olivier claim that schools similar to those in Egypt and Mesopotamia existed in pre-exilic Jerusalem and the surrounding area.2 The schools were used to train young men for service to the king, which involved court service, documenting and recording legal material, and exchanging literature with other cultures. These schools would have been patterned after their ancient Near Eastern counterparts and would have been involved in literary exchange. This view suggests that Jewish Wisdom literature was influenced by cross-cultural sharing and copying of other Oriental Wisdom writings.3 This Sitz Im Leben is derived from four supporting arguments which are 1) the existence of schools in surrounding cultures, 2) archaeological finds in Israel and other cultures 3) similarities with Wisdom literature in other countries (mainly Egypt), and 4) allusions to scribal training in the Hebrew Bible.

Using this Sitz Im Leben for the study of Proverbs gives us an opportunity to discuss the presence and value of counselors in the Israelite court. This also suggests that young men were trained to be counselors and provide a valuable service to the community. Therefore the faith community needs counselors, psychologists, life coaches, and other accountability partners or mentors.

Those who counsel and give advice in Proverbs were very important to the development of the [HEB]. The young men were expected to listen to the advice of wisdom [HEB] who provided counsel [HEB] and advice [HEB].

Those who are counselors and advisors played an important role in distributing wisdom to the youths. Their roles involve preparing the [HEB] for success, guidance, wisdom, and friendship.

The future leaders of the Israelite community were encouraged to seek advice, correction, and counsel from other leaders or [HEB]. In the culture of Proverbs the advice of others, especially the wise, was important for anyone to become successful.
While it is difficult to prove whether the[HEB] and [HEB] were a professional class of people, the prophets do suggest that the wise ones were active in giving advice to the Jewish rulers. Isaiah’s quote, “the wisdom of the wise ones will perish…” (Is. 29:14) suggests that there is a group of counselors/advisors that were separate from the common class of people. What role these counselors played can only be determined through a study of Proverbs, its Sitz Im Leben, and the surrounding cultures in the ancient East. However, we can suggest that counselors and advisors were an important and necessary part of the Israelite culture. The Proverbs and early prophets do not criticize the existence of these leaders, only their message. The advisor who supported the Israelite community, social justice, and the fear of Yahweh was a counselor with whom there is no guile.

Can Anything Good Come From Psychology?

While Christianity and psychology have coexisted for years, there have been many attempts to condemn not only psychology, but Christian counseling. My research on this issue involves printed journals, books, and anecdotal evidence from conversations with professionals. Some religious leaders question the value of psychology as a useful tool to help Christians in their emotional and mental health.
Why would something so useful be held with such suspicion in the faith community? The printed works and discussions with other leaders suggest that psychology is not held in respect because it is seen to:5

Psychology has become the scapegoat for what has been called “post-modernism.” While some forms of the Emerging Church have questioned psychology the Emergent Church has been more sympathetic to this discipline. Psychology (sometimes termed “Pop Psychology”) has been blamed for changing the Gospel to fit the needs of people. In the 1980s and 1990s the culprit was Robert Schuller and the “Health and Wealth Gospel,” but today there is tension between the Emerging and the Emergent Church. Joel Osteen is viewed by some as a feel good preacher without a truly deep message. Concerns that the Gospel is becoming a placebo for sinfulness are displayed as making psychology the culprit. Seeker sensitive ministries are seen as accommodating those who ought to be ashamed of not coming to church.

Psychology is also blamed for reawakening churches to address self-esteem. Since humans are inherently evil, sinful, and imperfect; the solution is to call people to repentance. The Gospel story of the murdered Messiah (murdered and abused by the Father, not corrupt leaders) removes any tendency to talk about self or esteem. We are sinful and in need of forgiveness. We have fallen and need to be forgiven our sins, even if we do not believe that we have sinned. We have no hope except for the truth of the Son of God who was slaughtered on our behalf. Like a bad scene from Wayne’s World we bow down and scream “We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy…”

Psychology’s emphasis on openness, talking, and counseling has also been blamed for the abuses in “discipleship movements” which became popular in the later 1970s. Encounter and accountability groups have been seen as violating personal boundaries rather than helping people maintain healthy boundaries. This openness is viewed, by some, as dangerous because these groups, like the money grubbing pill pushing psychologists, cause people to become dependent and too open to emotional abuse.

Because psychology has also worked with various faiths and addresses many forms of personal spirituality, it is viewed as a conduit to post-modernism and Eastern religions. With both the Emerging and Emergent churches becoming more open to the mystical and Eastern Church theologians, this vagueness and mysterious view of spirituality is seen, by some, as a problem in American spirituality. This seems, to the critics, to be a continual move to accommodate people rather than convert them.

Not only has this hostility created a negative view of psychology and Christian counseling, it has also opened the door for the ordination of mediocre forms of counseling. If Christians and Christian institutions continue to reject the advisors and counselors in the field of psychology, they will continue to create counseling that is not effective. They will continue to recreate the wheel all the while rejecting the pattern of a highly efficient circle. While Christian counseling does not have to swallow the whole pill of the psychiatrist, we can, as the Proverbs tell us, listen to the advice of many counselors.

One area where I see that this is prevalent is the area of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. While working in this area I have observed that the skepticism we face from secular service providers in abuse and trauma is understandable. Countless pastors encourage abused women to return to their violent partners because they have received the forgiveness of the church, and therefore God. These women are told to submit, trust, and believe that by their submission they will turn these men to God. Salvation will come and peace will be restored. While there are examples where this has happened they are extremely rare.

Batterers are not held accountable by pastors or other men of the congregation. Their abusive behavior is considered an anger problem or an issue based in alcohol and drugs rather than the oppression of women and children. Men’s groups have not effectively addressed the roots of male violence, oppression, and a low sense of self-esteem.
Churches and insurance companies continue to warn leaders and members about the false allegations of child abuse and sexual assault. Male pastors are encouraged to carry higher protection and pre-paid legal services in case they are falsely accused. From my work with the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force our research indicates that few allegations are false and that those who are victims of abuse and assault are chosen because they are not seen, by society, as being credible witnesses. In all of this, psychologists and counselors do not carry the respect as they once did in the days of ancient Israel. The faith community is continuing to reject the belief that “in the midst of many counselors/psychologists is great victory.”

Is the Fear of Psychology the Beginning or the End of Wisdom?

Are the criticisms concerning psychology valid? Can theology and psychology exist side by side in the Garden of Eden? The answer to this involves the practice of ministry. Psychology suggests that the dynamics of power and control, as well as sexual oppression, do not stem from anger but from self-esteem issues. Self-esteem is a necessary and missing component in trauma survivors, domestic violence victims, and those who batter their partners. Studies have found that the number one coping mechanism for abuse victims residing in a shelter is self blame. Batterers are violent because they are narcissistic and suffer from low self-esteem.6 Batterers do react to anxiety out of their low self-esteem and respond with the one accepted emotion which is anger. Children who witness abuse and are exposed to batterers display post traumatic stress syndrome as well as other psychological disorders. Unfortunately trauma survivors seeking spiritual direction need to have their self-esteem restored by the spiritual community. Self-esteem is an important topic with those who have lost their sense of self worth.

The bloody, murdered Messiah who is somehow still on the crosses of every major church in America and has yet to resurrect both from the buildings or in the preaching of the Gospel, provides little support for victims and offenders of sexual and intimate partner violence. While Christian Psychology has been accused of an I’m OK You’re OK message, the truth is that psychology calls the spiritual community to empower both groups of people to transformation. The Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity has traditionally placed emphasis on transformation, the incarnation, and healing as opposed to suffering, shame, and endurance. Victims of abuse see the murdered Son of God as divine child abuse rather than the receiving of our suffering on the cross. They also do not see the resurrection as justice and empowerment.

In working with offenders and trauma survivors I have listened to the psychologists who continually point us to the real causes of this problem. Violated relationships, trust, and fear dominate both groups caught in family violence and sexual assault. A Gospel that increases guilt, fear, and shame is powerless in helping individuals suffering from trauma. A Gospel that glorifies suffering only enables victims to stay victims, adult survivors to avoid their pain, and a community to keep silent. A Gospel of patient submission in the face of evil can promote powerlessness and cowardice as evil continues to win.

However, a Gospel that seeks to connect with humans and develop relationships brings healing to those suffering from trauma and mental illness. A Gospel that empowers people to develop healthy boundaries and healthy relationships provides emotional stability in people of faith. A Gospel that takes a listening position becomes one that draws people to spiritual, emotional, and intellectual health. The faith community must listen to the voice of the psychological community because advisors and counselors bring wisdom, emotional development, and empowerment

1 See my article, “Schools, Scholars, and Students: The Wisdom School Sitz im Leben and Proverbs” Restoration Quarterly 47:3 (2005): 161-77.

2 E.W. Heaton, The School Tradition of the Old Testament, The Bampton Lectures for 1994 (New York: Oxford, 1994); Andre Lemaire, “The Sage in School and Temple,” in The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. John G. Gammie and Leo G. Perdue (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990), 167-8 (hereafter cited as SIANE); N.D. Tryggve Mettinger, Solomonic State Officials, Coniectanea Biblica Old Testament Series, vol. 5 (Lund, Sweden: CWK Gleerup, 1971), 149; J.P.J. Olivier, “Schools and Wisdom Literature,” Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 4 (1975), 59; Leo G. Perdue, Proverbs, Interpretation (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2000), 13; Nili Shupak, Where Can Wisdom be Found? The Sage’s Language in the Bible and in Ancient Egyptian Literature, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, 130 (Fribourg, Switzerland: University Press, 1993); “The Sitz Im Leben of the Book of Proverbs in the Light of a Comparison of Biblical and Egyptian Wisdom Literature,” Revue Biblique 94 (1987): 98-119; and Gerhard von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nashville: Abingdon, 1972), 17. Davies suggests that some, who were convinced earlier of their existence have changed their views, namely R. N. Whybray. G.I. Davies, “Were There Schools in Ancient Israel?” in Wisdom in Ancient Israel: Essays in Honour of J.A. Emerton, ed. John Day, Robert P. Gordon, and H.G.M. Williamson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 199.

3 “Scribal activity by a variety of groups (priests, prophets, visionaries, scribes, and other community leaders) must be postulated in order to account for the composition and editing of the biblical collection during the exilic and post-exilic periods.” Anthony J. Saldarini, “Scribes,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 5:1013.

4 In 2 Samuel 15:37; 16:16,17,17 David’s counselors are also called friends. This suggests intimacy between advisor and ruler.

5 The following arguments are taken from the following resources: Martin Bobgan and Diedre Bobgan, Psychoheresy: The Psychological Seduction of Christianity (Eastgate, 1987); Ed Bulkley, Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology (Harvest House, 1993);Richard Ganz and John MacArthur, PsychoBabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology--and the Biblical Alternative (Crossway, 1993); Dave Hunt and T.A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity: Spiritual Discernment in the Last Days, 5th printing (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1986); “Psychology: Science or Religion?” http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/psych.htm; Don Matzat, “The Intrusion of Psychology into Christian Theology,” Issues, Etc. Journal (September 1996) 1: 9 http://www.issuesetc.org/resource/journals/v1n9.htm.

6 For more concerning batterers and the Biblical texts see my article Submit or Else, presented at the Society’s Psychology and Bible section in 2005, http://psybibs.revdak.com/2005/clark.submit2.htm. A more thorough discussion of this can be found in my book, Setting the Captives Free: A Christian Theology of Domestic Violence (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2005).