Monday, April 02, 2007

Myers and Jeeves, Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith

David G. Myers and Malcom A. Jeeves wrote this book on the interaction of psychology and faith, which I was required to read for my master's counselling class. I didn't read every page, only the assigned 100 pages, so about half this book, but it was really a neat look at this delicate interaction.

Here's some intersting thoughts...

p.65 quoting Simon Weil, "If I light an electric torch at night, I don't judge its power by looking at the bulb, but by seeing how many objects it lights up...The brightness of a source of light is appreciated by the illumination it projects upon non-luminous objects...The value of a religious or, more generally, a spiritual way of life is appreciated by the amount of illumination throuwn upon the things of this world."

p.68, Here there is an interesting consideration of a seemingly transcultural rest and wandering rite of passage and its paralellism to Sabbath

p.85 Chapter 15 talks about Thinking and Language and how the development of modern psychology is impacting (and vice-versa) modern theology. Then chapter 16 becomes very provocative in regards to prayer. This is a chapter that demands some real reflection and working through and gives lots of benefit to the person who is willing to do so.

p.172 quoting Pascal, "The present is never our end. the past and the present are our means - the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we hope to live - and as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so." Ahh the perils of positive thinking...

p. 177, on early followers of Jesus, "They willingly experienced humiliation, even death, as the price for not adjusting to their culture. For the heroes of the Bible, good adjustment - thinking well of oneself and feeling positive about the world - was not the aim of life.

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