Zach Stromberg's Archive

Near the end of Maslow’s life, he began to think about a new kind of psychology that goes beyond personal experience and includes a fourth force which would be the spiritual aspects of human nature. He believed that humanistic and third-force psychology were a preparation for this acclaimed fourth force. It continues to address human needs and identity, but it goes beyond those things. He suggested that this would offer a tangible and effective satisfaction of the frustration that many desperate people have. This gives promise of life and value, instead of confusion and worthlessness.
This perfectly fits with the idea of redemption! Because of the blood we are sons and daughters of God. How can we worry about who we are, what others think, and our needs if we come to a grasp on the idea that salvation doesn’t just mean we are going to heaven, but it means that heaven is coming into us through a relationship with the holy spirit?!? There can be no doubt, hopelessness, or fear because the devil has already lost. We have been clothed by the father in purity and that brings us back to the identity of who we were created to be from the beginning, before the fall. If we focus on our true identity, sons and daughters that already please God because of his grace, we deny ourselves and everything God has we receive because we are his and ALREADY seated in the throne room of grace. We have his mind because of the holy spirit. My goodness, there cannot be doubt or fear in a Christian who knows their true identity. We weren’t called to believe in God and then live in hell until we get to heaven. We were called to die to ourselves, take up our cross and follow him while letting heaven manifest through us because of our relationship with the holy spirit!! People need to know how amazing they are because everyone was created in the image of God and everyone was washed by the blood. Maslow is right! People are broken, confused, lost, seeking their true identity, and the fourth factor of psychology brings freedom! The truth sets us free and gives us life and value; just like Maslow said, just like Jesus said. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Deny yourself, learn your identity, and receive the father’s love. Seriously, almost every Christian has a problem with themselves. Once we start believing that the cross is enough this world is going to change!

Albert Bandura constructed a study in the early 1960s that sought to understand the importance of learned behavior. He studied how children behaved after they had watched an adult act aggressively towards the Bobo doll. The experiment was one that supported his social learning theory and it showed that people can learn not only from being rewarded or punished themselves, but also by observing others who are either rewarded or punished. With this he went on to see that most of the children, after seeing the adults act aggressively towards the doll, would act similarly towards the doll. When they were not allowed to play with the toys they took out their anger on the doll. They would use physical force against it both through their own strength and through the objects they had access to while also verbally abusing it, like they had observed the adults doing. These results had setbacks, like many other studies, but are simply interesting and alarming. This shows how influenced we are by the observations we make. Unconsciously we are adapt to act in certain ways, or change certain things about ourselves because of the ways we see others act. Not only do we learn from our own personal experiences, we learn from observing the experiences of others. We are always observing and aware of our surroundings even if we do not do so intentionally, so the people we surround ourselves with actually does make a difference.

Relating this experiment to the four branches of theology, I can see how it fits into the category of the fall. The child has learned response, but anger came naturally. There are powerful and destructive emotions that were brought out in this experiment, simply because these children saw the appropriate aspect of their use. When they saw the adults acting in these violent ways, the children had no boundary to where their aggression stopped. As we saw from the results, the children that were subject to violence acted accordingly. I feel like this natural anger is related to the fall of man. We were made to live together in peace and love, and our passions are supposed to be used for the bettering of each other’s lives, and for bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. Unfortunately, this passion and built up energy can easily be channeled through anger and violence, which is what we need restoration from. We are not supposed to live with these emotions, but in love. That is why this experiment shows our fall, because we can easily be led astray just by observing the actions of others. Thankfully, we can be positively influenced by observing others as well. That is why living in a community of people who are loving is crucial to personal growth. These positive actions become learned responses because not only do we try to do them on our own, we observe others setting an example for us and their actions naturally become our own responses.

I want to take this past the initial level of the four pieces of Christianity and connect Munsterberg and Christianity in a unique way specifically tying into the aspect of community. Munsterberg was a key contributor in the development and creation of industrial, or organizational, psychology. He studied topics such as methods of personnel selection, increasing personal and team efficiency, and developing different marketing techniques (pg. 334-335). He worked to understand how people work together to accomplish a common goal. He was also curious about the things that bring people together as well as how to empower them in their gifting’s and skill sets. He observed how people work and how they work together, while analyzing their motivation, interests, and talents. These are all ideas that have been developed, researched, and have contributed greatly to efficiency in the marketplace. They have empowered leaders while improving teamwork and personal growth as companies try to accomplish a set goals.

The connection between these ideas and Christianity resides in the community of the body of Christ. As a student of psychology, business, and being a small-group leader at church, I have started to understand the connection between these three areas. Management is management whether it is leading in a marketing project or empowering people in the body of Christ. These thoughts and observations Munsterberg made are important in understanding how to encourage personal growth in relationship with Jesus, while observing the gifts and talents people have been blessed with and empowering them to serve others in those ways. Furthermore, his thoughts help leaders encourage the members to walk in the authority and influence they have been given in the Kingdom. Understanding leadership and management is important across all fields when there is a group of people and a common purpose or focus. That is why Munsterberg has helped leaders empower others in the kingdom of God.

Ernst Heinrich Weber was a physiologist who specifically focused on and interest in the sense of touch and kinesthesis. Weber understood that most of the previous research on senses and perception was directed specifically towards vision and auditory senses. He decided to focus on research skin and muscle sensations and eventually understood that the sense of touch is several senses combined and with these senses comes reaction to pressure, temperature, and pain.
Because of his intensive study of the senses Weber can be related to the category of theological development, creation. He focused on the efficiency of the human body in regards to sensations. This idea of senses and our ability to feel and move our muscles (as well as the previously researched visual and auditory senses) shows the well-being of the human make-up. The fact that we have senses to help us survive, can be considered as warnings, give us pleasure, let us see and hear, etc. really shows the beauty of the complexity of humanity. Senses guide humans through a natural and harmonious life so much so that when we are impaired in one of these areas it is considered a short coming. Weber also had a law that was considered the first quantitative law in psychology’s history. This was the first official statement of a systematic relationship between physical stimulation and a psychological experience (pg. 238). This goes on to show that Weber had a strong view and interest in creation. He focused on the relationship and effectiveness of the body and the mind and how things work together to produce the actions and reactions that we have. This curiosity in the efficiency and complexity of the body shows an awe surrounding the greatness of what a human consists of and this has really shown the beauty and perfection of creation. Without any sense of a fall, we were made to work flawlessly and Weber recognized this and diligently tried to understand it.

Schopenhauer was a very intelligent man and philosopher, however, his view of life is reflective of the fall. He had a very pessimistic view of how life is lived by humans, and this idea set the tone for his beliefs and discoveries. He was a German philosopher who was greatly influenced by Kant, which not surprisingly guided his ways of thinking in some areas. He believed that humans were motivated by only their own basic desires and he believed that this idea directed all of mankind. We all have a will to survive which causes an unending cycle of needs and need satisfaction. Most human behavior, because of this idea, he considered irrational. We have pain caused by an unsatisfied need and that causes us to act to satisfy that need. Furthermore, he thought that human desire was futile, illogical, directionless, and, by extension, so was all human action in the world. To address this idea, he wrote that “man can indeed do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wants.”

There are many more examples of the fall in Schopenhauer’s ways of thinking, but I want to specifically focus on this idea of the will to survive. The way he unravel’s this thought reflects the conclusion that human’s have needs and without fulfillment of those needs, there is a sense of pain that we endure. Even further, when we satisfy those needs it is only a momentary satisfaction which lasts only until another need presents itself. He continued to say that even when all the needs that we have are satisfied, there is not joy or freedom, but simply boredom. These main ideas significantly reflect some aspects the Christian idea of the fall represents. The fall is a failure of perfection. It went from a place of perfect creation, where there are no needs, no pains, and all fulfillment was in the creator, to this place described by Schopenhauer. It is evident: human’s have needs and there is a lot of pain in this world. People are seeking for fulfillment in every area they can because they want to satisfy their feelings of need, pain, and loss. These things are a direct reflection of the fall, and even though this wasn’t believed by Schopenhauer, there is power in the following idea of the resurrection which furthermore leads to restoration and a place of freedom and fulfillment. Schopenhauer seemingly believed that there was no true fulfillment and that there was only temporary satisfaction because need and pain is endless throughout life. That is the beauty of the resurrection of Jesus. This idea of the fall is real and prevalent in the lives of human’s, Schopenhauer understood that completely, but there is power in the resurrection that free’s us from the detriment produced by the fall of man and that leads to fulfillment, freedom, and true satisfaction.

Galileo was a brilliantly minded mathematician who contributed to growth in the advancement of thinking and science in the world. When analyzing his beliefs in the stated theological framework it is evident that Galileo can be placed in the category of creation. Galileo was a strong believer of the beauty of the universe. He believed that it was a “perfect machine whose workings could be understood only in mathematical terms,” (p. 102). He loved to analyze and marvel at the beauty and complexity of the universe as well as both the known and unknown aspects related to it. Galileo really separated himself with his explorations and conclusions, in regards to the universe, through astronomy, mathematics, and physics. He sought out more; he was curious and had the means to explore ideas that had never been associated with truth. With this he blatantly contradicted the church’s beliefs while prioritizing a deeper understanding of the universe and the harmony related to how things function. He continued to unravel the truths associated with these algorithms of the universe in regards to physics and this has expressed an appreciation of the perfection of the place where we abide.

Although Galileo had many different and separate philosophical inquiries, this idea of appreciation of the universe relates to the concept of creation. This idea of respect and admiration Galileo had blends well with the idea of perfect creation. It also challenges common beliefs for a broadened sense of understanding because not only is he exploring the mathematics and physics surrounding known things like gravity and mass, he is adventuring into new areas that hadn’t been studied or even seen. The more he searched the more his appreciation grew and the more understanding there was about the perfect complexion of the universe.

God created a perfect world, and it was good. He created wonderful things both seen and unseen that work together to create harmony among the living beings on earth. This perfection of creation branches far beyond our atmosphere, however, and Galileo understood that. He searched for more, and he continued to adventure into unknown places. This led to an even greater appreciation of creation, and because he was using mathematics to answer questions and explain his findings, there was a greater overwhelming understanding of the perfection of the universe. Galileo believed that the universe was a perfect machine; what a perfect understanding of the goodness God and his expression of goodness through creation.

Hippocrates lived between 460-377 B.C. and was known as the “father of medicine.” He was granted this title because he essentially took the development of naturalistic medicine to new heights by overcoming the previous medical beliefs centered around superstition and magic. He believed that illnesses had natural, not supernatural causes. He thought that there were four humors in the body, black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm which were associated with the commonly accepted four elements (earth, air, fire, water). When these humors were naturally and properly balanced, people are healthy. When there is an imbalance among the humors, there is sickness and illness.

As we can clearly see, Hippocrates and his set of beliefs were focused on the fall as well as the idea of new creation and restoration. Hippocrates observed and rationally analyzed sickness and pain, and that is a direct reflection of the idea of the fall of man. Because he believed that sickness was caused by the imbalance of the humors of the body, there is a perceived association that to be healthy, there needs to be balance and harmony within the body among these humors. This dreaded imbalance can be associated with the fall, which is simply a corruption of the natural world (due to sin in the case of our beliefs). In a world of perfect creation, there would be no sickness, but through observable evidence we have fallen.

Even though there is imbalance and sickness, Hippocrates also believed in a sense of restoration of the body. He believed that the body has the ability to heal itself and that it was the physicians job only to “facilitate natural healing.” In fact, he believed that the worst thing a physician could do was interfere with the body’s natural healing power. From these beliefs alone we have enough evidence to associate Hippocrates with the idea of restoration. There is imbalance and imperfection caused from the fall, and the body has the ability to regain this natural and desired balance and harmony. Regaining balance and health is synonymous to the idea portrayed by restoration, where we are born again and brought back into a sense of cleanliness and harmony.