Reviving Christian Humanism: The New Conversation on Spirituality, Theology, and Psychology (review)

Don S. Browning has written for decades about the relationship between religious traditions and the social sciences, particularly psychology. In works such as Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies (1987, 2004 2^nd edition) and A Fundamental Practical Theology (1991), Browning constructs a mutually critical correlation between theology and social scientific ways of knowing. He is optimistic about the possibility and the fruit of this mutual correlation, with theology and science each informing, critiquing, and deepening the other. With critical interpretation, the social sciences and theology both can supply important wisdom about human nature and human flourishing that can guide public and religious life. This last book, Reviving Christian Humanism: The New Conversation on Spirituality, Theology, and Psychology, evolved from the six Templeton lectures that Browning gave at Boston University in 2008, sponsored by the Danielsen Institute, a center for clinical training, psychotherapy, teaching, and research. The book synthesizes and advances Browning's previous reflections on the interface between theology, spirituality, and psychology as it offers a constructive vision of a new religious humanism. Given that Browning passed away in June, 2010, the book offers us a poignant opportunity to see an eminent practical theologian reflecting upon and refining his thought as he looks to the future. Browning's discussion of the relationships among spirituality, religion, and science will be of particular relevance to scholars of spirituality.

The book ranges over many topics, including cognitive science, psychology, philosophy, moral theology, family and marriage counseling, institutional ethics, and family law. As in previous works, Browning's interdisciplinary dialogue partners are many and varied. One needs some scholarly background to comprehend Browning's conversations with figures as diverse as philosopher Paul Ricoeur, psychotherapist Carl Rogers, pragmatist William James, 16^th century spiritual teacher Ignatius of Loyola, Roman Catholic moral theologian Louis Janssens, and legal scholar Margaret Brinig. In many ways, this is part of Browning's unique contribution: his ability to bring multiple disciplines into conversation and to draw upon a wide range of scholars in a conversation that is firmly rooted in the academy yet also pushes its borders.

Browning articulates the central point of his wide-ranging book: "My central argument is that Christian humanism in particular, and religious humanism in general, can best be revived if the conversation between science and religion proceeds within what I call a 'critical hermeneutic philosophy'" (1). By Christian humanism, he refers to "various historic expressions of Christianity that were concerned with the spiritual goods of salvation and justification as well as the finite and inner-worldly goods of health, education, and sufficient wealth . . ." (1). This Christian humanism sustains a conversation with science and philosophy in order to better understand these finite goods and the workings of nature that impinge on human well-being and morality.

Browning asserts that the dialogue between science and religion can contribute to our understanding of spirituality. Indeed, he argues that the "new science of spiritual transformation plus the collective experiences of modernization can and should intentionally join with inherited traditions to give institutional form to a more inner-worldly spirituality—a spirituality that I have called a revived religious humanism" (85). Science, he notes affirmingly, feeds an inner-worldly spirituality that "tends to be built around the importance of human connections (family, loved ones, and friendships), work or vocation, and practical judgments or practical reason that supports human flourishing. There is a transcendent dimension to this spirituality, but it is one that both reinforces yet sometimes relativizes these more earthly goods" (81). Browning points to evidence of this more traditionally Protestant, inner-worldly spirituality in the focus on human flourishing, happiness, and health in the writing of Owen Flanagan, Jonathan Haidt, Martin Seligman, Chris Peterson, and John Cacioppo, as well as in developments in research on lay spirituality and practical reason. He points to Ignatius as an example of the integration of a humanistic spirituality that attends to pre-moral goods and orders them through...