BRINGING THE ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE OF PSYCHOLOGY TO BEAR ON THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE

Journal article

This article is a wide-ranging consideration of the role that contemporary academic psychology might play in the study of the Bible. I begin by examining the historical reasons for suspicion of psychology within the community of biblical scholarship, focusing on several perennial objections. Having addressed these objections, I go on to set out a framework for the legitimate use of psychology in enhancing understanding of the process of production and reception of the biblical texts, and of elucidating their meaning. Finally, I suggest that some contemporary methodological quality-control systems from psychology might inform the question of what constitutes a good reading of a particular text. I explore this issue further by using the example of trauma processing in relation to the New Testament, suggesting that if the text is to be received as transformative, a good reading is likely to be dissonant, challenging, or ugly. © 2012 The Author.

Authors: Collicutt, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
• Volume: 63
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-48
• Publication date: 2012-04-01
• DOI: 10.1093/jts/fls059
• EISSN: 1477-4607
• ISSN: 0022-5185
• Language: English