Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity Essay Example for Free

Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity Essay This book tells about the integrating Christianity and psychology. The author discusses integration a combining the two books of God. According to Entwistle (2004), â€Å"the book of god’s Word referred to the Bible, and the book of God’s works reflects His deeds written throughout His creation. (p. 166). † He includes five models of integration in the book which are: enemies, spies, colonialists, neutral parties, and allies as subjects of One Sovereign. The enemies model sees Christianity and psychology as enemies that need to be kept totally separate. The spies model has one discipline going into the other to take only what works for them. Psychology would enter the Christian world just to take the religious concepts that will work well with psychology. The colonialist model has one discipline colonizing or taking control and prominence over the other. Religion works with psychology as long as religion is superior to psychology. The neutral parties model has both disciplines coexisting and recognizing each other as long as they respect each others’ boundaries. Psychology recognizes that religion has good concepts to offer but it will not encroach on the religion’s domain. The allies as subjects of One Sovereign model have both disciplines working together to help people. It uses psychological and theological concepts together to gain a better understanding of the truth. According to Entwistle (2004), â€Å"God gave birth to the subject of psychology (human behavior) when he created human beings. God granted us the foundations of theology when He gave us His Word (p. 175). † The book tells us that there are two books of God: His word and His works (Entwistle, 2004). Psychology deals with God’s works and theology deals with His word. Our job as Christian counselors is to interpret both books and integrate them together so that we can use both books to help our clients. If we find something that does not make sense between both books, there is a conflict that needs to be resolved before we can use it. At this point, we need to go back and reread and study both books to see if we can find the discrepancy. Entwistle (2004) says that god gave us both books, but we have to interpret them ourselves. The problem is not with God’s books, but it is the way we interpret them. Human understanding of God’s books is based on our worldview (Entwistle, 2004). To properly integrate the two disciplines, we need to have a good understanding of both. We cannot just know theology or psychology and expect to integrate them well. We need to have a working knowledge of psychological theories and concepts as well as a working knowledge of God’s word. We need to remember, though, that our knowledge is only as good as our interpretation. God’s works have been affected by the fall into sin, and as a work of God our interpretations will be colored by the fall as well. I think this book has a lot of good ideas and concepts to it. I found it interesting to discuss the two books of God, because I had heard the term and knew what it meant, but had not really thought about what it included. I also liked the models of integration and their explanations. They were explained well enough that anyone could follow them easily. Some of the things that bothered me the most about the book and its ideas are: the idea of interpretation, the definition of integration, and where do we go from here. If we are the interpreters of God’s two books and we know that the fall and sin have colored our interpretations, how do we know if our interpretations of the books are correct? Can we interpret either book accurately? If our interpretations are wrong, can we do more harm than good to our clients? Is the definition of integration complete enough to help us know what we need to help others? When we use the current definitions of integration, do we get a complete picture of what integration means to both disciplines? With all of the models of integration, where do we go next? How do we make progress in the integration process? Can we ever integrate to a point where we can agree on most aspects of a model, or will there always be disagreement between the disciplines? These are all questions that I think are important to consider about integration. I think that integrating Christianity and psychology can benefit a Christian client by allowing us to address spiritual matters and use spiritual techniques for healing. It is important to remember that religion and psychology are both parts of God’s truth to us and can be used to help ourselves and others. When the two disciplines are integrated, we have many more options than when we use one or the other discipline separately. Finally use of both disciplines can help us reach people of faith as well as people who are not Christians, if we can use them both carefully and competently.

Analysis of Robert Frosts Desert Places Essay -- Robert Frost Desert

Analysis of Robert Frost's Desert Places Robert Frost's 'Desert Places' is a testament to the harrowing nature of solidarity. By subjecting the narrator to the final moments of daylight on a snowy evening, an understanding about the nature of blank spaces and emptiness becomes guratively illuminated. The poem's loneliness has the ability to transcend nature and drill a hole through the mind of the narrator so that all hope for relationships with man and nature are abandoned. In the first stanza, ?snow? and ?night? are juxtaposed to create a sense of loneliness and emptiness. Meaning is derived from the effects they have on their surroundings and on the narrator. Here, snow has the qualities of an arid and formless white sheet. Anything it covers immediately loses shape and form. Snow blankets the ground to hide what is there, leaving nothing but a blank slate where more vigorous objects have been seen before. Night parallels the snow in that it obscures vision and generates an absence of light. These two stark agents of oblivion occupy their surroundings to create the effect of emptiness. The effect of speed upon the nature of the snow and night startles the narrator in the first line: ?Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast? (1). They both fall with such rapidity that the narrator almost misses the effects of the pair on the field he ?looked into going past? (2). The envelopment of the narrator?s surroundings becomes a jarring experience, as he/she only has a few moments to observe what is happening. The narrator is able to observe only the ?few weeds and stubble showing last,? (4) as the dense blanket created by the ominous pair becomes apparen... ...nkind is doomed by his/her own thought. The ability of nature to obstruct vision mirrors mans? ability to displace meaning. Man can eliminate nature, god, or fellow man using this method, though this will leave us to be as lonely and meaningless as the blank spaces that surround the void of infinity. The poem calls into question mans? ability to create meaning from his/her surroundings. Is mankind really so desolate and lonely? ?Desert Places? shows us that loneliness dominates in the absence of light. A frightening statement about the bottomless pit of loneliness is found within the repetition, absence of description, and domineering nature of internalized despair in Robert Frost?s ?Desert Places.? Works Cited: Frost, Robert. The Poetry of Robert Frost, ed Edward Connery Lathem. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1969.

The Glass Castle

Maureen is often forgotten throughout the entire story of The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls. We are very tragically reminded of Maureen’s presence when she stabs her own mother while living in New York. Reflecting back to the beginning of the story, we can see why Maureen has a mental breakdown. She is born into a world of violence, her parents fail to care for her, and she lives her entire childhood in neglect. The announcement that Mary is pregnant seems to be thrown into this story as if Walls forgot to include the part in the first place.Rex is holding a job at the gypsum mine and Mary makes sculptures out of the excess dust that Rex brings home. Just as it seems that things are taking a positive turn, it is told that Mary is pregnant. Usually a family (depending on the circumstance) is happy to be bringing a new baby into this world, but the Walls family sees this pregnancy as more of a burden. Not to mention, Rex and Mary cannot even decide on how far along in the pregnancy they are. Before Maureen is even born, Rex and Mary get into a huge fight in the dessert.Mary exits the car in which the fight starts, and Rex chases after Mary. Walls writes, â€Å"[Rex] cornered [Mary] against some rocks†¦[Rex] dragged [Mary] back, legs flailing, and threw [Mary] into the car† (43). This occurrence is not justifiable in any case, but on top of this, Mary is pregnant and Maureen is put into great danger. Sadly, this proves that Maureen will be born into a very hostile environment. Three months after Maureen is born, the Walls family is in their car when a police officer tries to pull them over for not having any brake lights.Rex says that if they do get pulled over, they would all be arrested because their car is not registered and does not have any insurance. This results in a car chase during which Maureen is literally tossed around. There is not actually a car seat for Maureen and her life is put in the hands of Jeannette. No newly born baby should be exposed to this type of violence, but these instances continue to grow worse and worse throughout Maureen’s life. As Maureen grows up, she is forced to fend for herself. Mary and Rex seem almost non-existent in Maureen’s life.Though Maureen does still have her siblings, it seems that she is disconnected from her family. Every once in a while, Mary decides that Maureen deserves special treatment and will go out and steal clothes for Maureen, but other than that, it is not until the family is living in Welch that Maureen really makes an appearance. Rex keeps up his drinking habit, and is not bringing any money in for the family. Mary is forced to stop her artistic projects and get a job. Lori, Jeannette, and Brian all get jobs too, whether they be working for a paper or little odd jobs, and this is how the family just barely gets by each week.Maureen on the other hand does not get a job, but instead learns to make friends. Walls writes, â€Å"[Maureen] w ould show up at their houses around dinner-time† (173). Because of making good friends, Maureen does not even have to worry about working for her food. Though the jobs that the rest of the family members have benefit everyone, Maureen only worries about herself. In all reality, fending for her self is really all that Maureen can do. Rex and Mary are never there for her, and Lori, Jeannette, and Brian can only do so much for Maureen because they can barely provide for themselves.While the Walls family is living in Welch, big dreams are created and the children develop ideas of how to get themselves out of Welch. Lori and Jeannette want to move to New York, go to college, and start a new career and life. Brian is not really worried about where he goes, but he does want to become a police officer, and also does not want to be stuck in Welch the rest of his life. Maureen also creates a dream of her own, and wants nothing more than to go back to California. Though Maureen was young when her and her family lived in California, this is the only place that she wanted to go.Jeannette and Lori tell Maureen of the great times that they had in California and explain to Maureen that she has such blonde hair because of all the gold in California, and blue eyes because of the ocean. Maureen responds, â€Å"’[California] is where I’m going to live when I grow up’† explains Walls (207). The stories that Jeannette and Lori tell are responsible for Maureen’s dream to go back to California. However, it seems that Maureen takes after her parents, and struggles to fulfill her dream. While Lori, Jeannette, and Brian go off and start their new lives, Maureen is stuck back in Welch.Lori and Jeannette decide that Maureen should move to New York with them, so they make arrangements and Maureen goes to live with Lori, and begins going to college. Things are going great up until Rex and Mary move to New York. It is at this time that Maureen seems t o give up on her schooling. After Lori kicks her out, Maureen spends her days living with Rex and Mary in a squatter apartment. She wastes her days away by smoking cigarettes, reading, painting, and sometimes just sleeping away the day.Jeannette tries to help Maureen by talking to a doctor, but because Maureen refuses treatment, the doctors can only treat Maureen through a court order proving she is a danger to herself or others. Because she has hit rock bottom and because the rest of her family was fulfilling their happiness, Maureen has a mental break. Maureen actually stabs her mother, and ends up being jailed for an entire year. To get away from her family and her broken life, Maureen buys a ticket to get her self to California, and starts her new life there.After a lifetime of being stuck in the cycle of the Walls family, Maureen is finally going to get the chance to fulfill her dreams. Throughout the story of The Glass Castle, it is obvious that Maureen is frequently forgotten about. So many things lead to Maureen’s mental breakdown; she is born into a world of violence, her parents fail to care for her, and she endures a childhood of neglect. If Maureen were not always lost in the shadows of her siblings, and dreams of her parents, her mental breakdown could have been compromised.

Proven Strategies for Obtaining a Teaching Job