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Book Review and Notice: Conscience: Theological and Psychological Perspectives

Man in Motion: The Psychology of Human Motivation: Gary R. Collins; Carol Stream, Ill., Creation House, 1973. 167 pp. $2.95. With this volume Gary Collins concludes his 4-volume series on psychology for church leaders. Previously he dealt with normal human development, effective counseling techniques, and abnormal psychology. Here he focuses on how people change, what causes behavior, why people are unique, and when people meet. A final chapter examines the meeting ground between psychology and Christianity. For those with a conservative theology Collins provides easy yet fruitful reading. From the mass of technical psychology he has culled out what he terms "a wealth of very practical information" for application by Christian leaders in their understanding of and working with the different needs of people in reaching them for Christ. His approach is thoughtful, not argumentative. "In spite of His foreknowledge," he contends, "God gave men (sic) the freedom to accept or reject Him and thus in our enthusiasm to convince we must not coerce or force a man to make a decision against his will" (p. 110). My difficulty with Collins' approach is the sharp way he designates Christianity as a divinely "prescriptive" absolute from psychology as a naturalistic "descriptive" relativity. Much of the time he links the two approaches by taking pieces of psychological knowledge (much of it well summarized) and tying them like fruit onto the tree of truth, which for him is Christianity. Reinforcement, programmed learning, perception, emotion and motivation as well as individual differences (in intelligence, aptitude, achievement, interests, and personality) combine with matters of social organization (group development, persuasion, communication, and leadership) to make a string of beads which a leader can use to say a psychological rosary. The basic differences, according to him, cluster around human beings as "a one-part or two-part creature, the origin and influence of conscience, the significance of religious faith, the nature of conversion, the importance of guil t, the credibility of miracles, and the existence of demons" (p. 142). When he eventually identifies "the main basis for disagreement" as "conflicting presuppositions" (pp, 142-43) then, I believe, he is closer to the real issue. But it is more precisely the issue of presuppositions and their implications that tends to be muffled by the arbitrary dichotomy between the real and the right. Man in Motion presents helpful information about the ways of people, gentle caring about their nurture and growth, and extensive suggestions for further reading in the areas of psychology with which the author deals.