Spiritual growth is inherently relational. That is to say, we grow as we relate to God and relate to God’s people. This is a foundational and often under acknowledged reality. We tend to focus on spiritual growth in terms of theological education and doctrinal information (which is important), but it is relationship that truly propels growth. As a psychologist Todd Hall understand the impact of relationships on others, both positively and negatively. Together with Elizabeth Hall, he has written a creative vision of spiritual growth that, in the words of Kelly Kapic, “ably moves from theology to therapy.” Despite its many compelling insights, however, the book’s driving framework is more attachment theory than Scriptural doctrine.
This might sound like a trite critique to some. After all, I am going to mention that this is a well-written and insightful book. But we ought to wrestle with the impetus behind our psychological insights. After all psychology goes through trends that it later rejects, and neuroscience often claims things it doesn’t prove, so these are not authorities. God’s Word is our authority and there is a lot of this book that is driven by attachment theory first and then the authors use Scripture to help support their claims. This leaves the reader with the impression that these psychological studies are the true authority. That is backwards and I wish more Christian counselors would understand this.
Nonetheless, the book is insightful and worth reading. The books thesis is generally true:
Human beings are fundamentally relational… we develop, heal, and grow to become more loving and Christlike through relationships. (3)
The various one-another commands of Scripture emphasize this point. God himself is a relational being and while there is much debate about social trinitarianism that the authors utilize in grounding their thesis, we can at least acknowledge that God has made human beings relational by nature.
The book is broken down into three parts. Part one establishes the need to reconsider our spiritual growth paradigms. In this one chapter the authors attempt to outline the need for a model of Relational spirituality. In part two they turn to ground their model in the nature of God. Here is where some will have difficulty with the book as there is a lot of debate about the value and validity of social trinitarianism. Part three ends the book with two chapters focused on the process of spiritual transformation.
It is a creative work and the authors are highly knowledgeable. Attachment theory does give us some interesting insights and observations that are worth considering and wrestling with and so the book draws some interesting conclusions that are worth giving deeper thought to. It also offers some practical suggestions about spiritual growth that I think the church should give consideration. Too often we settle for the notion that transformation happens by means of information transference, and the Halls have done an excellent job of challenging that notion by grounding transformation more in the realm of relationship. It’s not that knowledge, information, and doctrinal formation are irrelevant; they aren’t pitting information and relationship against one another. Rather they are attempting to integrate information and relationship in a way that leads to more meaningful impact in discipleship and therapy. That I can get behind all day long!
As I said, I wish more Christian counselors took Scripture as their obvious starting place instead of simply sanctifying psychological insights. The book has some helpful discussions, observations, and some thoughtful suggestions that are worth exploring. This is a book worth reading and wrestling with. Like so many Christian psychological works, however, I wish they would be more driven by the testimony of Scripture than by clinical research. There is a place for both, but Scripture ought to be the starting place for Christian psychology.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 