Fuller Seminary Professor Commends Compass Psychotheology

Compass Psychotheology has taken two lifetimes to pioneer and develop. Mine, and my wife, Kate's. I'm Dan Montgomery and I freely gave myself to this endeavor, which started forty years ago in seminary, when I realized that I was drawn not only to the Bible and theology, but also to the field of psychology.

The Bible riveted my attention and stirred my deepest emotions. But something else was happening. I was realizing that I am a psychological person as well as a spiritual being. Yes, as a Christian the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit indwells me. But as a psychological personality I also have competing motives, private perceptions of life events, emotional feelings, cognitive thoughts, bodily sensations, and limitations on my knowledge, learning, and memory that are built into my human nature.

When God through prayer issued new marching orders to me: Dan, I want you to take a Ph.D. degree in clinical and counseling psychology, it made perfect sense! 

And I found new answers to my curiosity about: 

• How dreams work—even how God can use them in personal guidance, as he did with Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar. 
• How emotions and thoughts need to complement one another if we want to develop psychological and spiritual maturity. 
• How the unconscious can make resourceful contributions to self-understanding and a richer life in Christ, once we grasp the primitive language that it speaks. 
• How we humans always have mixed motives that include an element of self-interest, no matter how righteous or loving we think we are. 

That doctorate at the University of New Mexico and the dissertation that came with it ("Personality Fulfillment in Religious Life") became foundational to my lifetime: Of doing psychotherapy, reading the Bible through in numerous translations, teaching university level psychology, and writing the Compass Series books with my wife Kate.

Kate is a marvel to behold, with her superb education from the University of Toronto, and her twenty years as a Professor of Child and Human Development. But what really got my attention was how the Holy Spirit came upon her in a new way fifteen years ago, telling her in no uncertain terms that she was to leave college teaching in order to help me write the new books God has purposed for us to author.

Now for the biggest challenge of our lives, for God unveiled a surprise. It's as if he said, "Hey you two, it's time to put your writing gifts to the test. I want you to create a new field of learning that integrates psychology, theology, and philosophy." Of course it didn't come that clearly at first. But piece by piece, precept upon precept, we both came to understand this as our mission for the Lord.

Ten thousand hours later, we had created a 500 page manuscript called "Compass Psychotheology," but weren't sure what we had. I said to Kate one day, "We need to send this manuscript to a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. They have the best reputation for holding together historical Christianity with contemporary science. Maybe someone there can tell us what we've accomplished, if we've accomplished anything at all."

I sent an email attachment of the book to the senior professor of theology and ministry because his photo looked friendly on the Fuller website, saying that if he ever got around to browsing it, we'd be grateful, and that if it didn't interest him he could delete it.

That was on Friday. The next day a ping from our computer revealed an email response from Ray S. Anderson, Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary.  

 This is what Dr. Anderson said:

“Dan and Kate Montgomery do not attempt to integrate psychology and theology by beginning with a state of disintegration and attempting to create a synthesis or a state of collaboration between the two disciplines. Rather, Compass Psychotheology begins with a model of human wholism based on the ontological intimacy that God intended by endowing humans with personal being that reflects the divine image.

"In their compass model, a comprehensive view of personality disorders, both psychological and spiritual, are shown to have a common source in defection from an original state of wholeness. Spiritual growth and psychological health result from a rhythm of being and becoming. 

"This is a stunning and stimulating contribution to the literature on integration. I recommend it as required reading for integration courses here at Fuller Seminary.”

Compass Psychotheology: Where Psychology and Theology Really Meet