If you're in the psychology field, you know that the discipline can sometimes be unfriendly toward the Christian faith.  Why? 

The following is part of an interview done with Professor Michael Pakaluk, who teaches at the Institute for the Phychological Sciences. 

He speaks about the integration of Christian faith with the The Integration of Psychology and Philosophy

Interview With Professor Michael Pakaluk

By Genevieve Pollock

ARLINGTON, Virginia, OCT. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- In an institute founded only a decade ago, scholars are gathering in a quest to remedy an age-old problem: the disintegration of psychology and philosophy, science and Catholic thought.

Michael Pakaluk is one of these scholars, a philosophy professor who teaches at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences.

He is the author of many scholarly articles and several books, including the Clarendon Aristotle volume on books VIII and IX of the Nicomachean Ethics (1998), and "Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: An Introduction" (Cambridge, 2005). His most recent book, "The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God," is forthcoming with Ignatius Press.

In this interview with ZENIT, Pakaluk speaks about an integration project currently under way at the institute, which is bringing together psychology, philosophy and theology in both a theoretical and practical way.

ZENIT: What is the project of "integration" that is being pursued at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences?  

Pakaluk: "Integration" at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences means simply the study of psychology with confidence in the harmony of faith and reason.   

Clearly, that sort of "integration" can be sought within any discipline, although it is most important -- and potentially the most fruitful -- in areas such as philosophy and psychology, which deal with fundamental realities for human life.

John Paul II once remarked in an address to psychiatrists that "by its very nature, your work often brings you to the very threshold of the human mystery."  

If one adds to this, as an additional premise, the famous statement of "Gaudium et Spes" that "it is only in the mystery of the incarnate Word that the mystery of man is brought to light," it follows by a kind of syllogism that psychology is unavoidably integrative in this sense.

ZENIT: If that's what "integration" means, why is the Institute for the Psychological Sciences unique? Isn't integration what every Catholic psychology program should be attempting?

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