Why theology and psychology need to be friends

Please note: This article contains reference to attempted suicide and mental distress. For help and support, see the bottom of this page.

I ran downstairs to answer the doorbell and found a paramedic waiting, his ambulance on the road behind him with its engine still running.

“I’m sorry to bother you at this time of night." It was two o’clock in the morning. “But we were called to assist a gentleman standing on a bridge looking as though he was going to jump. He asked for you. Would you be willing to talk to him?”

It took time for his story to emerge. A member of our church, he had visited a prostitute the day before and experienced an emotional crisis afterwards. He had thought of suicide and headed for the bridge where the paramedics picked him up before bringing him to me.

We can make a simple connection. My friend’s mental breakdown had a spiritual cause. His sin had broken his mind and now he was a mess. Therefore the answer is spiritual: repentance. Case closed. Right?

Soul / spirit / self

We often imagine the human being as made of a body animated by a soul or spirit. The body is the transport system, and the soul rides around in it. When the body dies, the self leaves.

That’s why we like those stories of near-death experiences that feature the freshly departed hovering near the ceiling watching medics trying to revive them on the trolley below. It seems to fit our traditional view of the soul.

Can I suggest that the gospel challenges this way of understanding human beings? Jesus’ physical body was resurrected, and when the time comes, yours will be. This means that your real self is not a ghost riding around in a vehicle made of muscle and gristle. You cannot be resurrected without your body because your body is your self and your self is your body.

An astonishingly complex part of your body is your brain, consisting of 85 billion nerve cells with over 100 trillion connections between them. Those connections do the work and the doctrine of the resurrection of the body tells us that it will all be raised on the last day. Your "soul," "spirit," or "self" are inseparably connected to this wonderfully organised entity in your head.

Christians have discussed those three words for centuries. Whatever you think the soul is, the doctrine of the resurrection of the body makes it clear that it cannot exist without a functioning resurrected brain. To use Paul’s language: “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15v42-44).

It's more complex than you might think

My friend’s perishable, dishonoured, weak brain was shaped by a difficult childhood, a traumatic experience, and the stresses of holding down a job in a competitive world. Then his lust got the better of him, he sinned and he cracked. He was mortified, repentant and eventually restored, but the damage was evident before his sin and continued after. Sin was only part of the picture, not the whole.

We once had an interesting discussion in our home group. A dear friend and very senior consultant in a local hospital asserted: “There’s no such thing as stress, it’s not a medical term!” After a short pause to absorb this expert opinion, a primary school teacher, spoke up: “You're right John, it’s not a medical term, it’s an engineering term. If you put enough weight on a material it will break, no matter how strong it is!”

My friend’s breakdown was the result of stress. His upbringing, his work, and his home life all added their weight until the moral failure created stresses in him that broke his heart. A stressful life had loaded the gun; his sin pulled the trigger.

Nothing is simple, everything is complex. Especially when it comes to that unique world of cells and synapses between your ears; that is why theology and psychology should be friends.

Help and support

• Samaritans: www.samaritans.org / 116 123
• Mind: www.mind.org.uk / 0300-123-3393
• NHS services: www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services