Model of Personality
and thus gives no room for ‘common grace’, ie the awareness that others beyond the Church may represent the resources that God has provided. As Niebuhr puts it: ‘the world of culture – man’s achievement – exists within the world of grace – God’s kingdom.’114 This issue of ‘wisdom theology’ is explored in the next chapter (Model of Health).
Baxter, Scougal and motivation It has been noted that during the Reformation Augustine’s ideas were revitalised by, amongst others, Calvin and Luther. Richard Baxter is one example of a reformed Puritan pastor who utilised an approach to ‘counselling’ rooted in the premise that most problems stemmed from concupiscence (disoriented desire). Regarding Baxter’s method Roth states:
His goal was to move the counselee away from dysfunctional living: that is, seeking to satisfy sinful drives (Rom. 6:12; James 1:14– 15), towards seeking happiness in the One who truly can satisfy the heart – God Himself (Rom. 6:11; Psa. 37:4; Matt. 5:6).115 According to Baxter, this inward ‘revolution’ is the starting point of all godly change, and so is of primary focus in his method. Packer, who wrote his doctorate on Baxter’s doctrine of humanity, speaks of Baxter’s influence on other Christian leaders including John Wesley in the eighteenth century, Charles Spurgeon and Francis Asbury (‘the Methodist apostle of America’) in the nineteenth century. Roth argued that Puritans like Baxter believed original sin distorted motivation and hence the direction chosen in order to obtain wish fulfilment and thus satisfaction of desire. This pervasive view of corruption led Puritans (as did Augustine) to rely heavily on revealed truth (viewed as incorrupt due to a ‘high’ doctrine of inspiration) in Scripture as a means of transformation to health. This is clearly paralleled by Hughes’ view of Scripture (see Chapter 1). In the context of ministry, Baxter’s ideas regarding truth are clear; speaking of Scripture he states: ‘The wisdom of the world must not be magnified against the wisdom of God, philosophy must be taught to swoop and serve, while faith doth bear the chief sway.’116 81
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