Model of Personality
Hughes’ and Crabb’s relationality: ‘spiritual area’ of functioning Having argued for the validity of anthropomorphic categories within the Waverley Model, the five categories used will now be outlined: spiritual, rational, volitional, emotional and physical. Extensive discussion will be confined to the core spiritual area as this is the model’s most distinctive element. This rendering seeks firstly to address contemporary psychological questions regarding the impact of the Fall upon the subjective wellbeing of the first human pair. Additionally, it becomes the means of articulating human suffering in general, rooted in a biblical world-view. Hughes’ specific approach extends a tri-partite model of personhood, and cites 1 Thessalonians 5:23, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’, as paradigmatic. Others would criticise this stance on methodological grounds. Hughes explains further that body, soul and spirit overlap and interrelate. More specifically, body is regarded as the means through which we inhabit the world; spirit as that part of us which relates to God; and soul as being comprised of thoughts, feelings and will, thus making five areas in all. For Hughes, relationships are central facets of our personhood, but of primary importance for personal functioning is our relationship with God which functions via our spiritual area. Hughes depicts the spiritual area in relational terms; derived from his own emphasis, regarding the God revealed in Scripture as a relational God. Crabb’s model uses the term ‘personal’ instead of spiritual (as in Hughes’). However, the meanings each ascribe to these different terms are synonymous. In Crabb’s chapter, ‘Dependent Beings: People are Personal’, he states: ‘As image-bearers we long for relationship. As fallen imagebearers we turn away from God to look for it. No wonder God calls us foolish!’73 So for both Crabb and Hughes, relationship with God is the key issue at the core of our humanity, and for them this mediates our general wellbeing. The Bobgans and Adams, whilst concurring with an emphasis on a God relationship, would be critical of a method which also includes an openness to insights from contemporary psychological theory and technique. Adams further critiques 61
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