An Analysis of Dallas Willard's Theology of Emotion in Light of Contemporary Neuropsychology
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An Analysis of Dallas Willard's Theology of Emotion in Light of Contemporary Neuropsychology by Matthew Robert Green A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Regis College and the Pastoral Department of the Toronto School of Theology In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology awarded by the University of St. Michael's College © Copyright by Matthew Robert Green 2016 An Analysis of Dallas Willard's Theology of Emotion in Light of Contemporary Neuropsychology Matthew Robert Green Doctor of Philosophy in Theology Regis College and the University of St. Michael’s College 2016 Abstract This thesis considers Dr. Dallas Willard’s theological and practical response to late twentieth century expressions of evangelicalism in America as the through-line of his pastoral writing. It details the cultural and theological evolution of specific issues against which Willard took a stance and explicates how his writings sought to counter them. It then narrows to consider specifically his theological anthropology, focusing on his psychology of emotion and its role in the Christian spiritual life. This latter piece is considered in depth, analyzing how he understood emotion’s proper role, the manner in which it is distorted by sin and misunderstanding, and the means by which one may gradually restore it to God’s intention for the human person. Dr. Willard’s understanding of emotion is then examined in light of the research of contemporary neuropsychologists Antonio Damasio, Joseph LeDoux, and Jaak Panksepp. The scientific research is used as a means of providing some correction, but also additional specificity and clarity to Willard’s work, which in turn provides a theological character and teleological orientation to the neuropsychologists’ work. The result is a revision of Willard’s spirituality that coincides more closely to contemporary neuropsychological perspectives on emotion, thought, and volition. ii Table of Contents Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………...iii Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………. 1 1 Methodology ...……………………………………………………………………… 3 2 Procedure …………………………………………………………………………… 6 3 Contributions to the Field …………………………………………………………. 12 4 Preliminary Definitions ……………………………………………………………. 14 5 Summary ………………………………………………………………………...… 23 Chapter 1: Historical Development of Elements Critiqued by Willard ………………… 25 1 Conversionism …………………………………………………………………….. 27 2 The Application of the Will ……………………………………………………….. 43 3 Morality: Love Versus Code of Law ……………………………………………… 47 4 Dispensationalism and Objectivism ……………………………………………….. 55 5 Supernaturalism …………………………………………………………………… 62 6 Summary …………………………………………………………………………... 70 Chapter 2: Willard’s Critique of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism ………………….. 73 1 The Gospel as Gradually Transformative …………………………………………. 75 2 The Will as Limited and Dependent ………………………………………………. 91 3 Love as the Apex of the Christian Life ……………………………………………. 97 4 God as Personal and Presently Interactive ……………………………………….. 105 5 Christianity as Relevant to Everyday Life ……………………………………….. 110 Chapter 3: Willard’s Affective Psychology ………………………………………….... 117 1 Willard’s Theological Anthropology …………………………………………….. 119 iii 2 Willard’s Affective Psychology ……………………………………………….…. 131 3 Willard’s Affective Telos ………………………………………………………… 144 4 Issues with Willard’s Psychology ………………………………………………... 168 Chapter 4: The Affective Neuropsychology of Antonio Damasio and Jaak Panksepp .. 171 1 The Nature of Emotion ………………………………………………………...… 172 2 Emotion and Thought …………………………………………………………….. 183 3 Emotion and Volition …………………………………………………………….. 193 4 Emotion and the Self ……………………………………………………………... 201 5 Regulation and Alteration of Emotion …………………………………………… 205 Chapter 5: A Re-Examination of Willard’s Theology in Light of Affective Neuropsychology ………………………………………………………………214 1 Categories of Emotion …………………………………………………………… 217 2 Mind, Body, Emotion, and Feeling ………………………………………………. 220 3 Emotion, Will, and Behaviour ………………………………………………….... 225 4 Emotion and Thought …………………………………………………………….. 242 Chapter 6: A Revised Willardian Spirituality and Further Implications of the Research …………………………………………………………………253 1 Emotion and Spiritual Development ……………………………………………... 253 2 Emotions and Spiritual Disciplines ………………………………………………. 267 3 A Recapitulation of Willard’s Spirituality ……………………………………….. 275 4 Conclusion and Directions for Further Research ………………………………… 281 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………... 287 iv Introduction When neo-evangelicalism blossomed in America in the 1950's, it began to broaden the range through which American evangelicals could express and expand their spirituality. One of the more significant expressions of this changing spirituality has loosely coalesced into what is called the spiritual formation movement, and one of the key figures in this movement was Dallas Willard (1935 – 2013), a philosopher and pastor whose writings formed the intellectual foundation for many evangelicals to understand the dynamics of their spirituality. While his pastoral works are directed primarily at the popular level, the growing influence of the spiritual formation movement combined with Willard's intellect and academic credentials has expanded their presence to more professional and academic levels. Numerous seminaries such as Biola University and training programs such as those of Renovare use them in courses on spirituality and faith development. 1 Willard believed that American evangelicalism has misunderstood the nature and character of the gospel and sought to correct a number of weaknesses that he believed had become characteristic of the culture of churches within his tradition. A wrong understanding, he argued, was hampering the church and robbing Christians of what God intended for them. “Those who operate on wrong information,” he argued, “are likely never to know the reality of God's presence ... and will miss the constant divine companionship for which their souls 1 E.g., Mike Brimmage, “SEED570 Introduction to Spiritual Formation,” accessed March 31, 2014, http://media1.biola.edu/education/downloads/ctc/syllabi/SEED%20570%20Fall%2009 .pdf. “The Renovare Institute for Spiritual Formation,” accessed March 31, 2014, http://www.renovare.org/what-we-do/institute-for-spiritual-formation. 1 2 were made,” 2 and “A lack of understanding does weaken faith and misdirect life – sometimes disastrously.” 3 Much of his work, then, was dedicated to the explication of the gospel as an invitation to transformation, describing the process that the Christian experiences and undertakes in order to fulfil God's intention for the individual person. Because Willard was quite practical and concrete in his theology, such a description was grounded in and focused at various points on the actual workings of the human person. He saw the evangelical church as “without a psychology of the spiritual life” 4 and part of his role as developing or at least describing, “a psychologically sound theology of the spiritual life…” 5 His theology, as Gary Black notes, was based in his theological anthropology, 6 and this anthropological and psychological focus necessarily described the function and role of emotion as well as the process of emotional transformation. Ultimately, his ideal Christian was characterized primarily by love while he understood anger to be a major root of disorder in the soul and of spiritual ruination. However, his discussions of emotion and its relationship to other faculties and the spiritual life are not always clear and could, at times, contradict one another. Additionally, his views of emotion seemed to be at times grounded in more popular psychology than in more scholarly research and study, which, while not necessarily incorrect or unhelpful, offers an 2 Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 10. 3 Ibid, 77. 4 Ibid, 226. 5 Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988), xi, 112-3. 6 Gary Black, Jr. The Theology of Dallas Willard: Discovering Protoevangelical Faith (Eugene, Or: Pickwick Publications, 2013), 98. 3 opportunity for analysis, clarification, and adjustment. In summary, Dallas Willard provided in his writing a robust structure for contemporary American evangelical spirituality, prescribing a number of correctives to weaknesses in the milieu. However, his theological anthropology did not incorporate a great deal of current neurological and psychological research that would have bolstered his thought on emotion and the spiritual life. This thesis will explore Willard’s interpretation of evangelical spirituality via comparison with a particular segment of neuropsychological research so as to produce a psychology of emotion that fits with current knowledge of human functioning and thereby offers a more accurate basis for Willard’s framework of spirituality for evangelicals. 1 Methodology In considering Willard's theology and psychology, of greatest significance will be his own writings in spirituality. This thesis will principally consider his first four theological books as they provide the broadest and most comprehensive platform to consider his theology and, in particular, his understanding of emotion. Four additional texts were available at the time of this writing: The Great Omission, 7 Knowing Christ Today 8, and two post-humorously published books, Living in Christ's Presence with