THE
PSYCHOLOGY OF TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN SINS AND VIRTUES
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A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THEOLOGY:
A MORE DETAILED LOOK AT THE INTENSELY
PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIANT OF CHRISTIANITY
Finding in late medieval and early modern theological writings a highly
psychological form of Christianity is not surprising, because in the late
fifteenth century confession spread widely. This spread created an intriguing historical
parallel, because many core ideas of modern behavioral sciences are based on
observations made by psychiatrists and psychotherapists. Catholic confessors
have had this same ability to investigate the inner processes of the mind since
the 12th century. The
similarities do not end there, because modern scientists spread their
discoveries by publishing them in specialist periodicals. Confessors published their “research results”
in confessors’ manuals, which were printed by the hundreds of thousand already
in the late 15th century, immediately after the discovery of
printing. (Link) Puzzlingly, almost no research has been done
on the manuals, and not a single one has been translated from Latin to
English. Among English Protestants’
favorite sources were Martinio Azpilcueta (Doctore Navarro), Enchiridion
Sive Manuale Confessiorum et Poenitentium,
LINK and Guilelmus Peraldus, Summa de Vitiis
LINK
Confession’s
spread made a practice very similar to psychoanalysis compulsory for (at least)
the upper and middle classes in Western Europe.
This addition to their professional duties put the clergy in an
exceptional situation, because they were continuously confessing laymen while
also being confessed themselves. Daily immersion
in inner mental processes made it natural for theologians to apply what they
saw to interpret the Bible. As a result,
connecting the Bible's terms and concepts closely to psychological observations
became common in theological writing.
The ensuing "applied psychology Christianity" seems to have
been quite different from what had existed previously, and it certainly
differed drastically from what followed -- including modern Christianities.
Historians have accused late medieval
Catholicism of intolerance, but in reality the church was accommodating enough
to permit the existence of two quite different traditions. The mainstream theology of the time was based
on the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
The second tradition appears to have grown out of the monasteries, and
its literature centered on the Scales of Perfection. Confusingly, contemporaries commonly called
the second tradition “mystical theology,” even though (at least in the English
discussions of that tradition) there are no references to the lights and
visions today thought to be parts of mysticism.
The late medieval meaning of “mysticism” seems to have been close to
what today is called “depth psychology.”
Historians generally call the second tradition Devotio Moderna,
and it contained the well-developed psychology of sins, virtues, and the
conversion process, which later became hugely influential in (at least) English
Protestantism. The far-reaching
similarities between the Scales of Perfection branch of late medieval
Catholicism and early modern English Protestantism are discussed in the first
section of main volume 1.
Outline
of the Christian psychology
The
old Christian psychology was based on a starkly dualistic view of human
nature. People consisted of an
animal-like body onto which had been grafted a brain capable of impressive
rational thinking. In the Creation, God
gave Adam’s brain total control of the body’s urges. In the fall, the body’s urges successfully
revolted. Due to this original sin, all
of Adam’s descendants -- i.e., all humans -- are now born with their body’s
animal urges (the Bible’s “flesh”) in full control of their thoughts, emotions,
and behavior. Ironically, this is the
same view of human nature, that neo-Darwinian evolutionary psychologists have
recently (re)discovered – the “flesh” of the old theology/Bible is today called
“genes.”
The assumption that the body’s animal urges
were the root of most sins makes traditional Christian sins easy to
understand: Old sins were what today are called the body’s innate,
evolution-developed, gene-coded behaviors. The most important and
dangerous sins were pride and envy, which motivated Lucifer’s failed revolt
against God and thus brought about the devil’s fall from heaven and sins entry
into the world. Pride and envy look very much like the psychological and
behavioral manifestations of the drive to dominate, which evolutionary
biologists have found in almost all animals that live in groups, including Homo
Sapiens. Pride’s deep root is a desire to rise above others, to rule
them, and to be admired and praised by them. Envy also stems from the
competitive urge, but in this case the competition manifests itself
differently. The envious try to surpass others by tearing down those
ahead of them. Anger/hate, gluttony, and lechery are manifestations of
the fighting, feeding, and sexual drives respectively.
The
body’s animal urges/genes controlled humans through an unconscious
psychological mechanism called “passion.”
This concept’s role as sins’ “communication method” made it a central
part of the old Christian psychology.
When passions grew strong, they took near-complete control of people by
influencing all parts of the mind: Will,
emotions, free associations, fantasies, train of thoughts, self-evident
assumptions, fast instinctive feeling-reactions, and what people honestly
believed to be their rational reasoning.
The last two of these influences were the most significant, because
passions’ ability to determine what people felt naturally pleasant gave them very
powerful influence on behavior. In
thinking, strong passions’ ability to create unconscious biases easily reached
a level where objective, evidence-based, truly scientific and rational
reasoning became impossible. Some
sense-produced evidence felt so pleasant it could not possibly be wrong, while
other observations felt so revolting they either were not taken into
consideration at all or were immediately rationalized away. Old theologian-therapists summed this effect
by the expression: “Passions extinguish the light of reason.”
Modern
behavioral sciences have nothing similar to the old Christian psychology’s
“passion” – “attitude” comes closest. We
may be very seriously underestimating the brain’s innate irrationality.
According to the old theory, passions
were usually connected to genes, but they were a totally different psychological
system, which could operate independently from genes and attach its powerful
motivation and irrationalization to just about any activity, idea, person, or
physical object/place. An especially
fascinating part of the Christian psychology was the belief that hobbies and
recreations were examples of passions’ influence. This view is intriguing, because the
overwhelming evidence supporting it makes a rather irrefutable case. Once passions attach their instinctive feeling
of pleasure to an activity, people will eagerly pursue that activity
irrespective of how useless and/or time-consuming and/or strenuous and/or
dangerous and/or expensive and/or unhealthy it may be. Examples abound: Recreational hunting and fishing, downhill
skiing, mountaineering, horseback riding, parachuting, recreational gardening,
recreational flying, boating, sailing, surfing, bowling, vacation-houses, golf,
camping, all-night partying, computer hackers, card-playing, billiards, etc.,
etc., etc.
The time, effort, and money people are
willing to waste in various pastimes is psychologically very significant,
because it shows that human nature contains a powerful and totally flexible
motivational mechanism. One of the old
Christian psychology’s main aims was to give the brain’s conscious, rational
thinking control of this mechanism. The
feat was not easy, but it could be accomplished.
As we
may recall, late medieval and early modern theologians’ immersion in
depth-psychology made it natural to apply their psychological observations to
interpreting the Bible. The massive motivating power of passions’ instinctive
pleasure combined with the ability to control that pleasure provides an example
of this “applied psychology Christianity.”
Since instinctive pleasure had a very powerful influence on behavior, truly
pious, Touched-by-Grace Christians not only had to adhere Christianity’s
virtues, they had to experience that virtuous behavior instinctively pleasant. Christian obedience was no longer limited to
physical behavior, it now extended to feelings.
Christianity changing gene-coded
human nature
The Bible threatens proud people with ferocious punishments: "Pride
goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov.
16:18); "The Lord will destroy the house of the proud." (Prov.
15:25); "Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord:
though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished." (Prov. 16:5)
". . . the proud that are cursed." (Psalm 119:21). "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in
spirit." (Prov. 29:23).
Confessors “research” supported the Bible’s threats by abundant
observational evidence showing that sins (in modern terminology, the body’s
gene-coded urges), especially pride/drive to
dominate, produced destructive effects to individuals and societies through
entirely “secular,” physical cause-and-effect mechanisms. This evidence starkly
contradicts the implications of Darwin’s theory, according to which the body’s
innate urges must be beneficial, because they have been “created” by success
over hundreds of millennia of struggle for survival.
The idea that the flesh and its sinful passions (i.e., genes) have to be
overcome agrees fully with the Bible’s outline:
Seeing fallen humans’ suffering made God take pity, and He sent His Only
Son, Christ, down to earth (i.e., brought Christianity into being) to offer
fallen humans the possibility of being freed from the punishments of original
sin, one of which was hereditary slavery to the sinful urges of the flesh. In early modern England, the most common term
used to denote the process through which Christianity liberated fallen humans
from their hereditary slavery to body’s animal-like, sinful urges/sins was
“conversion.”
The flesh and its sinful passions operated unconsciously. The obvious place to begin liberating people
from their slavery to sins thus was making them notice sins’ (formerly)
unconscious influence. This feat was
surprisingly difficult, because most people honestly believed they already knew
themselves perfectly well. This belief
made fallen humans absolutely certain no hidden, unconscious forces biased
their reasoning and influenced their behavior.
The very first step to true self-knowledge was breaking this false
self-confidence about self-knowledge. The
old Christian psychology knew several effective methods that could accomplish
this feat.
Once people had discovered their (formerly) unconscious sins, there followed
the second main hurdle to successful conversion: People began an intense effort to control
their sins by willpower. Old religious
psychologists time after time warned about this effort, because it could not possibly
succeed. The inevitable and repeated
failures produced a deep depression, which could grow so serious as to cause
either a suicide or an abandonment of all hope and return back to old sinful
life. The proper approach at this step
was to stop trying to mortify sins by one’s own efforts, and to rely on praying
for God to send His Touch of Grace, which could and would effectively mortify
the flesh and its sinful passions – in modern terminology, deactivate the
genes.
English Protestants’ descriptions of the Touch of Grace followed the
model described in great detail in the Scales of Perfection. According to this model, the Touch produced
very real, easily observable effects.
The most important of these effects was a change the convert’s nature,
which occurred at a deep psychological level.
Sins that had formerly felt instinctively pleasant now felt revolting,
and Christian virtues, such as humility, meekness, contentment, and chastity,
that had formerly felt (at best) tedious now felt instinctively pleasant. There was no longer any need to use willpower
to behave virtuously, because the pleasure-reflex made virtuous behavior appear
all by itself. Expressed in modern
terms, Christianity’s virtues had turned into the convert’s nature. Intriguingly, several English
theologian-therapists explicitly described the effect of Grace as God putting a
new instinctual nature into the person.
Modern behavioral sciences do not consider this kind of a thoroughgoing,
permanent change in humans’ gene-coded urges to be possible. Yet, so many detailed descriptions exist
about these changes, that they are very probably based on observations:
it is a wonder in the eyes of the world many times, to see
the change of a converted sinner: when they see, that he that lived in fleshly
pleasures, does now despise them, and has no such mind of his former sports and
delights! They marvel what ails the man that he is so changed, when they hear
him that was wont to curse and swear, and deride those that feared God, to
lament now his wickednesses, to reprove others that do as he was wont to do,
and warn them to take heed of going that way. People will marvel what has
befallen the man that has made this alteration.
. . . indeed it is a kind of miracle to see the effects of the power of
Christ, and how suddenly oftentimes the change is made, that would never have
been made by any other means. . . .
If you doubt all this that I say, whether
conversion does make a man thus cast away his sin, while the hypocrite stands
dallying with it, and can not leave it, look into the example of all true
converts. (Richard Baxter, “Treatise on
Conversion” in The Practical Works
of Richard Baxter, Ed. by William Orme. (London: James Duncan, 1830.), VII,
pp. 104 ff.)
Abundant evidence from the old conversion process and its effects (see
the hypocrisy tests below) make it almost certain that modern behavioral sciences
greatly underestimate the ability of culture to change even the innate, gene
coded parts of human nature – if exceptionally effective methods are used.
Did the
psychological Christianity really change human nature?
According to the old religious psychology, successful conversion made the demanding moral virtues of strict Christianity feel instinctively pleasant. Modern evolutionary psychology regards this kind of a change in instinctive human nature as totally impossible. Fortunately the old argument produces a testable hypothesis: If the preachers actually succeeded in delivering on the promise of attaching love/pleasure to their religion, then we should see the new, strict variant of Christianity spreading rapidly all by itself. This indeed was the case. Adherence to the flesh/genes opposing Puritanism grew rapidly in 17th century England with no support from the government. In fact, the government made quite intense efforts to prevent the spread of this new religion. Historians, for example Patrick Collinson, have wondered about this “voluntarism.” A look at the new Christianity’s psychological theology provides a simple explanation for the eager acceptance: Expressed in old, Skinnerian terminology, the theologian-therapists had figured out a way to turn this new religion and its virtues into positive reinforcers. As a result, converted people experienced Puritanism as a delightful, interesting hobby..
Eager acceptance and subsequent rapid spread of the flesh/genes
overcoming Christianity are not the only evidence supporting the occurrence of what
today would be called a large-scale change in human nature in early modern
England. A second type of evidence comes
from the old theology itself, because the theologian-therapists knew well that people could force themselves by
willpower to act virtuously, even though they experienced that behavior
unpleasant. This willpower-based
religiosity was explicitly rejected, and a special branch of theology called
"detecting hypocrisy" existed to catch the “forced obedience.” This branch consisted of innumerable
easy-to-use tests to determine if the sinful passions still controlled a
person. These tests were very effective,
because many of them relied on triggering passions’ fast, instinctive emotional
reactions, which could not be hidden or faked.
The wide spread and remarkable efficiency of hypocrisy means that there almost certainly was more to the piety of early modern English Protestantism than people forcing themselves by willpower to act virtuously. Only people whose deepest desires and instinctive pleasures had been changed by conversion, and who felt virtuous behaviors, such as humility and working in their callings, as instinctively pleasant, can have passed the tests that widespread training in the detection of hypocrisy made a popular pastime in seventeenth-century England. Paradoxically, the methods used to detect hypocrisy were so widely known and so effective, that hypocrisy is unlikely to have been common. Incredible as it may seem to modern observers, many of the godly in 17th century England almost certainly liked their quiet, pious, work-filled lifestyle and adhered to that lifestyle voluntarily, because they felt it pleasant and enjoyable..
Postscript 1: The strongest modern
evidence supporting the stability of gene-coded urges is the remarkable
persistence in similarities found time after time in studies of identical
twins. The most likely explanation for
this stability is that the changes in gene-coded behavior required very
exceptional experiences. Furthermore,
some parts of the conversion process were remarkably unpleasant and even
dangerous. As a result, the traditional
conversion process and the associated personality-changing experiences are
extremely rare today. Indeed, trying to
apply the old conversion would probably be illegal in most countries. Among many other problems, the old “preaching
the law” with its “detailed and particular application of sins” would almost
certainly be criminally punishable “hate speech” everywhere except in the USA. (Thank God for the Constitution!)
Postscript 2: The old
psychology-centered Christianity held the same dualistic view of (fallen) human
nature as a combination of an animal body and a brain capable of rational
thinking, that modern evolutionary psychologists have in recent decades
rediscovered. Most evolutionary psychologists
advocate gratifying the body’s innate urges.
This view follows logically from Darwin’s theory, which posits the
body’s urges must be beneficial, because they have been “created” by hundreds
of millennia of success in the struggle for survival. Some evolutionary psychologists have adopted
the opposite view, and argue humans should resist their bodies’ innate
urges. The most influential of this
group is Richard Dawkins, who found that the innate urges are inherently
selfish. As a result of this discovery, Dawkins concluded that humans should
use their brain’s reasoning capability to revolt against their genes.
A survey of the depth-psychological variant of Christianity reveals a
truly paradoxical – and ironic – “agreement:”
The revolt Dawkins advocates has already happened in very large scale at
least once in history. The evidence is
overwhelming, because what old theologians described as Christianity’s aim to
liberate fallen humans from their hereditary slavery to the body’s flesh and
its sinful passions refers to exactly the same phenomenon, which today’s most
influential atheist, Richard Dawkins describes as “the revolt of the brain
against genes,” and which he intensely advocates. More impressive yet,
the Christian side of this “agreement” is impeccably Biblical: “And they
who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
(Galatians 5:24)
A close look at the Christian version of the revolt against genes does,
however, reveal two significant differences in details: 1) There is far more to
genes’ dangers than just selfishness; 2) Revolting against genes is far more
difficult than Dawkins assumes. The reason for this difficulty is
obvious: Resisting the body’s innate urges means adhering to morals,
which we are genetically coded to hate, and which our brains have a powerful,
innate, unconscious motivation to rationalize away.
.
The old psychology of sins and virtues will be described in several books. These will be available late 2024 or early 2025. The exact publication dates and links will be
posted here.
Christianity and Freedom: Religion's Effort to Overcome Human Body's Innate Drive to Dominate/Lust for Power Vols. 1 & 2. About 200 pages each volume. This two-volume book contains a summary of the traditional Christian psychology of sins, virtues, and the conversion process which deactivated sins and turned virtues into a person's instinctive nature. Volume 1 describes the background and context of this religion and Volume 2 sums the old Christian psychology.
In addition to the general survey, there will be 7 short, (about 80 pages) nuanced, fully source-evidence-supported and footnoted discussions of the most important details of the old Christian psychology of sins and virtues. The "specialist texts" are based on the most popular (as measured by the number of editions published) early modern English writers. However, the sins and virtues are the same as in Catholicism (at least some branches of Catholicism), because English Protestant theologians sourced their discussions of sins from Catholic confessors’ manuals. Currently the following are available (there may be more to come):
1) Psychology of the Fall and Its Original Sin: Traditional Christianity’s Version of the Primacy of Affect View of Human Nature. [This is a detailed description of the old Christian psychology.]
2) The Most Important Sins, Part 1: Pride and Some of Its Destructive Effects in Today’s America. [An in-depth look at the psychology of the sin of pride. This sin was thought to produce disastrous effects to people and societies, and the book describes examples of these effects in today’s everyday life.]
3) The Most Important Sins, Part 2: Envy, Hate/Anger, and Love.
4) Why Did the Strict, Unpleasant, Nature-Overcoming Variant of Christianity Spread? [A description of the harsh, fire and brimstone preaching of law, which breached people’s psychological defenses and forced them to notice their normally unconscious sins, such as pride, envy, and anger/hate.]
5) Discovering the Sins That Unconsciously Control You: How to do Traditional Christian Self-Analytic Meditation. [This book describes the introspective meditation, which produced full knowledge of sins’ previously unconscious influence. The book was written so it can be used as a manual.]
6) How the Touch of Grace Changes Human Nature: The Thoughts and Feelings of Truly Virtuous Christians.
7) How to Detect Hypocrisy in Yourself and in Others.
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