Introduction (Editorial‪)‬

That psychology as a discipline emerged concomitantly with modernity, no one would deny. The theoretical significance of this historical observation is the focus of this special issue. One might argue that psychology as a modern enterprise has liberated us from premodern dogma, arbitrary superstition and antiquated hierarchies. Given its realist epistemology and systematic analysis of human behavior, various authors in this issue would consider modern psychology a gift to the church and to society. However, there is a chorus of voices announcing the demise of modernity and with it the flawed nature of modernist psychology. The beneficence of such modernist values as objectivity, individualism, realism, and secularity is now open to debate. Moreover, new voices heralding a social movement are beginning to be heard. They predict that postmodernity, as a culture, will be more open to spirituality, different epistemologies, and the importance of linguistic differences. Given these cultural developments, what implications are there for those concerned about issues of faith and culture, confession and profession? It is possible that the implicit structure of a culture so dominates the language of the faith that church and culture are not distinguishable. Then psychology, whether premodern, modern or postmodern, socializes the Christian community into the dominant cultural discourse. One could retreat to a Biblicism that refuses to engage in conversation with any of these social conditions. Various authors in this issue raise questions about the foundationalist epistemology of modernist psychology. Some do not. How has this epistemology shaped the integrative enterprise of the past century? What are the implications of postmodernity for integrative reflections? As its title suggests, this issue of the Journal of Psychology and Theology is focused on the state of integrative research given different social and historical contexts.