Category: Existentialism

Sproul on Reconciliation

I recently picked up a copy of R.C. Sproul’s book The Hunger for Significance: Seeing the image of God in Man. I bought it in preparation for attending Ligonier Ministry’s national conference. Unfortunately, as with most conferences and events in March, it was cancelled and the lectures were moved online. I was thankful to still listen to the speakers, even if not all of the scheduled topics happened.

But this book by Sproul, which I didn’t even know about until right before the conference, is a pleasant surprise. I’m partway through chapter 2 and am stuck by how Sproul talks about the word reconciliation. On page 63 he writes:

Reconciliation means bringing people together in peace – people who were once estranged from each other. Estrangement is the one indispensable ingredient for reconciliation, for without it no reconciliation is needed. Estrangement is the shattering blow that makes reconciliation necessary if peace is to be achieved and love restored.

R.C. Sproul

I don’t think I’ve thought of it that way, that estrangement is the thing reconciliation addresses in relationships. Sproul goes on to say that Christ’s mission as “made necessary by human estrangement” (p.64). Humanity’s alienation exists on three levels, he writes:

In the first instance, man is alienated from God. I note second instance, man is alienated from his fellow man. In the third instance, man is alienated from himself.

R.C. Sproul

I’ve read a number of existential psychologists and psychotherapists who say basically the same thing. Even many attachment theorists and therapists would see something similar about the human condition and the seriousness of estrangement’s impact in relationships. I think there’s a lot of common ground between Reformed theologians and some schools of psychology when it comes to exploring alienation, reconciliation, the imago dei and human nature.

Rollo May on Human Beings

Rollo May published the first book on counseling in the United States. It is called The Art of Counseling. I got the Revised Edition while I was a graduate student in clinical psychology. From time to time I revisit this classic work. It is existentially profound, yet also simple in its approach.

As I’ve been focusing on how Reformed Theologians describe the meaning behind the biblical concept of the imago dei from Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them,” I started thinking about how someone like Rollo May would think about what is foundational about being human. Here is how May begins his book The Art of Counseling, Revised Edition:

“What is a human being? Here our constructive discussion must begin, for the effectiveness of counseling with human beings depends upon our understanding of what those human beings really are. A man is more than his body, more than his job, more than his social position, and a woman is more than a mother, more than her attractiveness, or her work. These are but aspects through which they express themselves. The totality of this expression is the external mirror of that inner structure which we call, somewhat vaguely, ‘personality.’

….For the sake of clarity let us state our conclusion before we begin; namely, that personality is characterized by freedom, individuality, social integration, and religious tension. These are the four principles, as the following discussion will indicate, that are essential to human personality. To make a more complete definition, it could be stated that personality is an actualization of the life process in a free individual who is socially integrated and is aware of spirit.”

Rollo May, (p.13-14)

In a future post I will probably compare Rollo May’s four principles for counselors to ideas from orthodox Christianity that are based in the imago dei and God’s intention for his image bearers, before and after the fall.