Periodical Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 18:34 (Spring 2005)
Article: Periodical Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Periodical Reviews

By the Members of the Grace Evangelical Society

“An Insiders Effort to Blow Up Psychiatry,” Jeffrey H. Boyd, Chafer Theological Seminary Journal (Spring 2004): 28-48.

Boyd is a former Episcopal clergyman who went to medical school and became a psychiatrist.

There is much to like about this article. Boyd shows how true psychology and psychiatry must take God into account. Therapists must seek to help their patients become God-pleasers, rather than pleasing themselves.

“I am an anti-psychiatry psychiatrist. What I am opposed to is not psychiatry per-se, but the naturalistic assumptions underlying most of the secular mental health movement, i.e., the assumption that humans can be understood without ever mentioning or thinking about God” (p. 43). Bravo!

Boyd indicates that one of the reasons he has remained a psychiatrist is “because an outspoken Christian is needed somewhere in the ranks of secular psychiatry” (p. 43). Again, I applaud his conviction and reasoning.

JOTGES readers will likely be bothered by the fact that the gospel is not clearly articulated in this article. This can be understood in that the purpose of this article is not to explain the good news. However, if the purpose of the article is to explain where psychology and psychiatry has gone astray, surely the gospel is central. Thus at least a passing mention of the grace of God in justification should have been included. For one’s view of God is only correct if we understand and believe the free grace message.

Boyd does hint at the condition of eternal life twice and both times his comments are fuzzy. He speaks of a woman who invited and took Jesus into her heart (pp. 47-48). What that means is not made clear.

In spite of this weakness, I highly recommend this article. I realize that the CTS Journal published the article for its helpful comments on

mental health, not for its comments or lack thereof about the grace message. This is must reading for anyone interested in mental health.

Robert N. Wilkin
Editor
Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Irving, TX

“Why Truth Matters Most: An Apologetic for Truth-Seeking in Postmodern Times,” Douglas Groothuis, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (September 2004): 441-54.

Truth serves as the bedrock of our society. From the complex code that drives our computers to human language, communication demands such a concept. For without it, language would cease to communicate. The w...

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