In brief, Bible interpretation can be defined as an ongoing attempt to gather more and more precise knowledge of what God is saying to people about the nature of reality, the nature of the world, and the nature of human beings both individually and collectively. It is the latter categories of God's Word, as revealed through the Bible, that appear to make it directly applicable to the study and practice of psychology.
However, arriving at the most precise (and hopefully most valid) interpretations of the bible in general and its applications to psychology in particular is difficult because, as noted by Myers (1986):
The language of the Bible is varied, ranging from the rigidly literal, to the highly figurative. Scripture encompasses a wise variety of classes of literature and language, history, letters, poetry, oration, allegory, parable, biography, romance, tragedy, drama, type, antitype, figure, symbol and vision. (p. 91)
Given the sheer scope of communication modes used in the bible (not to mention the fact that the bible uses both the Hebrew and Greek languages to convey its message), it is not surprising that there is also a good deal of variation in scholars discussions of the application of bible principles, and concepts to the study and practice of psychology. The purpose of this paper is to examine differing perspectives of the relevance of the bible to the study and the practice of psychology.
With respect to the foregoing, the paper discusses three major issues on which perspectives differ. These are issues involving the secular nature of psychology, the usefulness of psychological concepts, principles and theories to individuals implementing bible mandates into their everyday lives; and the place of personal experience in the bible and in psychology.
Following the review of literature on these issues, a summary of the major points made by differing perspectives is presented. This is followed by a...