Revisiting a Field of Dreams: Looking Back with Appreciation and Forward with Anticipation:

Integration is described in terms of paradox, whereby the reality of tensions, though uncomfortable, is celebrated and through which creative solutions are sometimes achieved. It is suggested those interested in integrating psychology and theology have learned to accept and value the paradox that integration entails different, and sometimes competing, perspectives. The integration enterprise will move forward as Christian psychologists both critically evaluate and constructively engage our differences. A number of signs that the integration of psychology and theology is maturing along these lines is offered. What has the mega 1989 movie Field of Dreams, a favorite of mine, to do with the integration of psychology and theology? Two decades ago, when the movie was still fresh in readers' minds, I presented that film's two-pronged message of convergence as a model for Christian psychologists (Hill, 1992, 1993). As a reminder, the Berkeley-educated lead character (played by Kevin Costner) followed the dictates of his conscience ("If you build it, he will come") and created a ball field out of his farm's corn fields in Iowa. Once "it" was built, the ghosts of legends from baseball's past emerged from the surrounding corn fields led by "he," the ghost of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson--a rather reprehensible figure in the history of baseball, perhaps best known as a participant in the "Black Sox Scandal" whereby members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to fix the 1919 World Series. Building the field of dreams meant something far more than just a love for baseball; for Costner's character it expressed both a personal convergence through a reconciliation with his now deceased father (represented by Shoeless Joe) and a cultural convergence of traditional values (represented by baseball and the corn fields of Iowa) with the 1960s counter-culture of which he and his wife were products (represented by Berkeley and by the couple's quest for a simple rural lifestyle). The Paradoxes of the Past As much as I like baseball, I apply my field of dreams to the practice of integration. The convergence that I desired to see twenty years ago was along three structured paradoxical lines: theoretical/applied, empirical/hermeneutical, and normative/descriptive. As a newly appointed editor of the Journal of Psychology & Christianity, I soon discovered that certain lines of segregation on the playing field had been drawn. Serious efforts in defining integration to that point had been largely an academic enterprise and clinicians were crying for relevance. Empirical scholarship of the quantitative variety, revered above all else in psychology, seemed to some to have been unwisely adopted by integrationists. The voices that criticized integration, especially from theological conservatives, failed to consider the descriptive responsibilities of the discipline, assuming psychology consisted only of a normative component. Tensions were sometimes high and differences were viewed as obstacles to be overcome. The notion of paradox recognizes and even celebrates the reality of tensions and the sometimes creative solutions that are achieved through the existence and the challenge of such tensions. That is, though the issues and goals facing, for example, the theoretician and the applied clinician are different, an understanding and appreciation of those differences often enhances a greater understanding of the phenomenon of interest. Credit for the concept of paradox in integration efforts can be traced back to an article in the early years of this publication. Berry (1980) posited an approach to integration in terms of paradoxical motifs--themes whose features are central to the process of integration and which are expressed in terms of their differing, often opposing characteristics which provide " ... a structure around which we can collect data, propose formulations, and assess clinical situations" (p. 39). Christian psychologists live in a paradoxical world. …