Beyond Hellish Self-Centredness

Recently, I finished reading David Powlison's, Seeing with New Eyes. My ol' mate Kristan recommended it to me years ago, and I'm very thankful that he did.

Powlison's writing about Counseling as a professional in the field. But he's an evangelical trying to put the horse back in front of the cart in a discipline where the cart has led the way for a good while. (Note: this book pre-dates Tim Chester's, You Can Change, by some 5 years, I think).

I particularly appreciated his thoughtful critique of Gary Chapman's, The Five Love Languages. Chapman's book, says Powlison,

"...not only leaves fundamental self-interest unchallenged, it plays to self-interest." (230)

He pithily captures the dynamic here:

"[Five Love Languages] does slightly alter the 'You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' calculus. It is a 'glorified version', taking a small step in the right direction by reversing the order. 'I scratch your back (and then it's likely you'll scratch mine).' " (232)

Now, let's be clear, there's lots of handy stuff in Chapman's book as Powlison is quick to point out. But oh-so-many Christian-ish psychology books pull the same move (e.g. Kevin Leman's books spring to mind).

Powlison pin-points the problem when he makes the gospel his point of comparison:

"The love of Christ speaks a 'love language'--mercy to hellishly self-centred people..." (236)

That's the language in which Christians must become fluent.