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A response to "emotion as an integrative topic: an analysis of faithful feelings" James R. Beck some thoughts on integration.

Article Excerpt
INTRODUCTION AND CHOICE OF TOPIC

I must admit that in starting the study of emotion in the New Testament, I did not think about integration. Not did I plan for the study to lead me down roads in so many different disciplines--psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, sociology, philosophy and church history to name the major avenues. My only goal, starting out, was to find out what the New Testament had to say about how we should feel as Christians. It seemed to me that even in the midst of extensive linguistic and theological analysis of words such as love, joy, sorrow, and anger we (biblical scholars) were still missing something.

I began to study under a world-class New Testament scholar. After more than a year of preparatory study I was passed on to a junior colleague with the thought that most everything that was needed had been said about the emotions in the New Testament. There was no condescension or negativity from him in this whatsoever; he is not that kind of man. He just did not know how to advise me on how to do more on this specific topic. The fact is, I had not yet begun my interdisciplinary study and did not have strong thoughts that actually went beyond what had been already been written. All I had was a strong hunch. His contention was actually true when speaking of strictly theological studies. Completing my PhD, this same professor was one of my examiners and was extremely generous--without his good words I am confident Faithful Feelings would never have been published.

All this is to say that the interdisciplinary study of emotions made all the difference.

My study would not have been possible without the work of so many in each of these other disciplines. The roads I roamed were well-traveled; the problem was that many of us (biblical scholars) had not traveled widely enough to connect our paths to yours.

So first, a word of thanks for all your good work on how we as humans, created in God's image, function. I look forward to a lifetime of working together to learn how the latest research and observations in the field of psychology can help us understand the Bible. Further, I am confident that having a humble and teachable spirit combined with comprehensive research will yield exciting results for all of us.

When I first read Dr. Beck's...

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