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Winnicott's object relations theory and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Article Excerpt
While various studies have focused on the practical working of the Holy Spirit in counseling and therapy and the impact of the Holy Spirit on personality growth and development, few studies have offered sustained theoretical reflections or now the work of the Holy Spirit might be understood psychologically. This article uses the object relations psychology of D.W, Winnicott to redress this need. It argues that Winnicott's developmental psychology, especially his concepts of "transitional objects" and "object usage" provide useful lenses for psychological reflections on the work of the Holy Spirit.

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Theological work focused specifically on the nature and work of the Holy Spirit is plentiful (e.g., Bloesch, 2000; Moltmann, 1997; Pin-nock, 1996). However, when one looks for works devoted to understanding the nature and work of the Holy Spirit from a psychological frame, the story is very different Apart from a few studies on the psychological nature of "speaking in tongues" (e.g., Kildahl, 1972; Malony & Lovekin, 1985; Oates, 1967) there has been little work in this area. While a few studies have focused on the work of the Holy Spirit in counseling or therapy (Decker, 2002), virtually no serious theoretical work exploring a positive psychological contribution to understanding the work of the Holy Spirit has been done.

For thirty years, the work of D.W. Winnicott has inspired a breadth of psychological reflections on the role of religion in life and culture (McDargh, 1983 Meissner, 1984; Rizutto, 1979; Sorenson, 2004). Much of the research on "God images" and their place in counseling and therapy owes a debt to his pioneering work, especially on transitional phenonmena (Lawrence, 1997; Moriarty, 2006; Rizutto, 1979; St Clair, 1984). Although there are numerous studies on the implication of Winnicott's work for understanding religious experience, very few people have employed Winnicott's theory to reflect specifically on the work of the Holy Spirit (e.g., Parker, 1999). While the role of the Holy Spirit in counseling and therapy has been the subject or over a dozen articles in journals devoted to Christianity and psychology (Decker, 2002), these studies do not take the form of sustained theoretical reflections on how the work of the Holy Spirit might be understood psychologically. Some authors have reflected on the impact of the Holy Spirit on personality noting that the Spirit helps move people to various visions of wholeness and spiritual growth (Coe, 1999; Craker, 1976; Dodd, 1999; Ingram, 1996; cf. Kunst & Tan, 1996). This article is unique in its efforts to use the work of D.W. Winnicott to reflect on the psychological mechanisms involved in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Reflecting psychologically on the work of the Holy Spirit has several advantages. It helps one identify ways in which human development and spiritual development may co-mingle. It allows for identification of parallels between the normal processes of human maturation and the formation of the Christian self. Conversely, such an approach may make Christian therapists aware of ways the work of the Holy Spirit in human development and therapy gets overlooked. Furthermore, such an approach will provide a supplemental lens for Christian therapists interested in psychological theory. It also has the potential to offer a language for those who dialogue with less overtly religious colleagues who nevertheless are open to spiritual dimensions in therapy. Finally, the particular theoretical approach employed in this essay--object relations theory--also helps accentuate the relational nature of God, including the relational aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. Grentz, 2001).

It should be emphasized that this attempt to reflect psychologically on the work of the Holy Spirit, even though cast as a positive contribution of religious experience to psychological health, is not intended to reduce such experiences to natural phenomena. Furthermore, there is an admittedly speculative quality to these reflections; they clearly are not the only ways to understand these experiences. This approach is simply offered as a heuristic lens.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

While the nature and work of the Holy Spirit does not lend itself easily to short summaries, one might note that the early Creeds affirm a belief in "the Holy Spirit ... the giver of life" (cf. Nicene Creed). Although this designation as life-giver does not capture all the work and activity of the Holy Spirit, it nevertheless reflects much of the Biblical material concerning the Holy Spirit's ministry. In the Old Testament, the dominant metaphor for the Spirit is ruach (wind, breath), and hence an early connection to the idea of the Spirit's life-giving quality. The first mention of the ruach of God is in Genesis 1, where the "Spirit" (ruach) is identified as God's creative agent moving over the primordial chaos. The life-giving aspect of the Spirit is illustrated further in the account of the valley of dry bones that come to life through the ruach of God (Ezekiel 37, Revised Standard Version).

In the New Testament this metaphor of the Spirit (Greek: pneuma; cf. English "wind") creating new life is addressed in the context of the regeneration of the believer (Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5). St. Paul further connects the life-giving work of the Spirit to the transformation of the believer into the very image or likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Thus, for Paul, the new life of the Christian can be characterized as one in which the old life of the "flesh" is exchanged for a new life dominated by the Spirit (Romans 8). If the Holy Spirit is thought of as the life-giving aspect of God's manifestation, how is this life-giving work to be understood psychologically?

WINNICOTT'S THEORY

The psychological lens employed in this article is the developmental psychology of D.W. Winnicott (1966, 1971), Winnicott's contributions are generally located within a larger psychological tradition known as object relations theory. Object relations psychology is a rather diverse group of psychoanalytic thinkers who, in extending Freud's (1905/1953, 1914/1957) insights regarding the objects of libidinal desire, modified (or replaced) his drive theory with a theory of personality development based on the quality of the relationship between the infant and its primary caregiver(s) (Greenberg &: Mitchell, 1983; Scharff & Scharff, 1992).

Object relations theory argues that the formation of the self occurs in the context of interactions with others (i.e., one's so called "objects"), that this formation follows a developmental path that begins with a sense of merger with one's caregiver and eventuates in a mature adult able to interact realistically and objectively with others. From...

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