The Nature of Causality and the Design of Integration Research

Efforts to integrate psychological and theological insights hinge on conceptions of causality, which are frequently implicit and unexamined. Aristotle postulated four forms of causality, subsequent to which psychology and theology selected competing forms. Scientific efforts in psychology follow largely from efficient cause views, whereas theology utilizes conceptions traditionally of final cause format. In addition to simple but powerful linear models, psychologists employ interactive and feedback models that overcome the deficiencies of the linear sequence. The nature of the linear, interactive, and feedback models restructure integration efforts to link psychology and theology in research and model building activities. The postmodern emphases in contemporary psychology and theology reflect dissatisfactions with traditional causal notions which, too, re-engineer integration.