Model of Personality
Augustine and motivation As will be shown, Augustinian theology provides an historical and theological point of contact for Hughes’ model of motivation, and so offers a frame of reference against which strengths and weaknesses may be articulated. As Hurding has summarised, Hughes’ model may be depicted as ‘a layer theory’, comprising five internal areas of functioning with the ‘core’ being the spiritual area. This focus on internality or inwardness was shared by Augustine who, like Hughes, also emphasised the importance of the ‘vertical’ relationship with God in shaping personality, and in doing so, de-emphasised the importance of social relationships. This emphasis has been criticised by Gunton who characterises Augustine’s approach as leading to individualism and intellectualism at the expense of persons in relationships. This criticism is a moot point for Hughes and Crabb, for as already outlined, relationality is at the heart of their models – security and self-worth in particular, have been articulated, at least in part, as products (McFadyen’s ‘sediments’) of relational experiences. Crabb specifically highlights the importance of the Church community as a place of healing and spiritual growth. These clearly relational ideas however may be undermined by the traditional Waverley Model’s diagram which is ostensibly self-contained, apparently unaffected by social conditions, and exclusively internally derived, (see Appendix A). This in turn may be partly derived from the focus given to the pre-Fall Genesis account when building the core of the model. From this context, apart from the two humans, there is no wider community of fellow humans from which to gain support or to find encouragement – they lived in isolation with God. This explains the need to expand the model to include a social dimension, a need facilitated by an amendment to a more open-ended diagram of personality. Speaking of Confessions, probably Augustine’s best known work, Brown characterises it as ‘a manifesto for the unexpected, hidden qualities of the inner world’.103 Bailie makes clear his view regarding Augustine’s connection with the concept of inwardness: ‘Not only, however, does Augustine represent the Cartesian revolution in embryo, but, more importantly, he 77
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