Isomorphic Indicators in Theological and Psychological Science

Abstract

The culture split between science and theology by which theology tends to abandon the concrete observable world to science, while science tends to dismiss questions of ontology (God), is presented as a framework within which to examine the preceding articles in this issue. The inadequacy of attempting to bridge this dichotomy by constructing a synthesis between psychology and theology on the common ground of religious experience is shown. An alternative approach to theology as having its focus on the interaction between the human self, others and God is presented, suggesting that a convergence between theology and psychology can be found in their common interest in the nature of the human self as being-in-becoming. This convergence is examined as an isomorphic structure where, despite different “ancestry,” theology and psychology attempt to explain and give meaning to human experience as grounded in being (ontology), experienced in a knowing way (epistemology), and open to change by the reality of transcendent being which moves the self toward goals which offer healing and hope (teleology).