534 - Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies: a Critical Conversation in the Theology of Culture

Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies: a Critical Conversation in the Theology of Culture
By Don S. Browning
Philadelphia, Fortress, 1987. 268 Pp. $22.50.

This book represents Don Browning's most ambitious effort to date to demonstrate the character of a theology of culture that both respects the mutual independence of psychology and theology and tries to indicate points of significant relation between the two disciplines. Professor of' Religion and Psychological Studies at The University of Chicago Divinity School, Browning takes as his thesis the idea that "significant portions of the modern psychologies, and especially the clinical psychologies, are actually instances of religio-ethical thinking." By this, he means that they entail "deep metaphors" that are not derived from the descriptive orientation of scientific psychology, but rather represent implicit assumptions made by the psychologists themselves a priori to their scientific investigations. Browning believes that understanding these deep metaphors will enable us to comprehend both the limitations and possibilities of the modern psychologies better, especially as they are brought to bear on the question of developing a fundamental morality adequate to modernity.

Key to Browning's argument is his assumption that "no psychology ... can ever completely eliminate its implicit metaphors of ultimacy and moral images." The substance of his text is given over to examining the metaphors of ultimacy that he finds in five psychologies: Freudian, humanistic, Skinnerian, Jungian, and developmental. Freud, he asserts, understands the life and death instincts to have "the force of metaphors of ultimacy." Humanistic psychologists presuppose deep metaphors of "harmony and even metaphors of monistic unity." Skinner assumes that "the theory of natural selection as a model for both evolutionary change and learning is ... a metaphor ... which accounts for the ultimate context of our experience." Jung finds ultimacy in "the realization of one's own unique archetypal potential," assuming that this process of "individuation" is in accord with the deepest harmonies of existence and represents "the clear and final goal of human fulfillment." Developmentalists Erikson and Kohut likewise introduce "harmonistic metaphors" that assume the world to be "trustworthy and basically harmonious" at its deepest levels.

In spite of his appreciation for these psychologies' respective notions of ultimacy, Browning views them as limited expressions when compared with the metaphors of ultimacy found in the Christian tradition. The latter, he argues, "promote understandings of human freedom and agency" not found in the psychologies. Christianity, he proposes, offers a "richness and multi-dimensionality" lacking in the more "singular and

535 - Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies: a Critical Conversation in the Theology of Culture

one dimensional" metaphors of the psychologies. This is to say, Christianity more adequately recognizes that "the rational core of morality ... is mutuality understood as equal-regard." Nonetheless, Browning believes that Christians must take the modern psychologies seriously, recognizing that they do occupy a significant place in the lives of a great many contemporary individuals.

To promote the conversation between psychology and theology, Browning proposes that we go beyond the limits of descriptive psychology by developing a second psychology, at once more normative and critical. This latter would be concerned with practical morality, recognizing the role which deep metaphors play in practical thinking. Religion in general, and theology in particular, may thus find a constitutive role to play in a critical psychological theory that aims at discerning the fundamental character of human morality. "This book," Browning concludes, "has been dedicated to the investigation of this possibility."

This is a complex book that assumes the reader can range among the disciplines of psychology, theology, and philosophy. It is not intended for the beginner, since it demands at least a basic understanding of these three disciplines. Whether the Christian tradition is more fit to the task of discerning ultimacy than either contemporary psychology or philosophy is a question best left to open debate among proponents of all three disciplines. Nonetheless, this is a book which raises important questions in an engaging manner. Pastors and educators concerned with the possibility of a theology of culture developed in dialogue with the psychological sciences will find it a valuable resource.

GARY ALEXANDER

The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point
Stevens Point, Wisconsin