Last year, a group in adult Sunday school at church went through Peter Scazzero's book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Because that book differed in several key philosophical aspects from Surprised by Hope (which Bibliovore and I led a discussion on) and Strange New World (our discussion class before that), we did not attend all the sessions. I'm addressing philosophy a lot on the blog this year, so I wanted to revisit Scazzero's book in that light. As a reminder, here's the general outline of this post: I will . . .
- Contextualize the author's writings as a whole (bibliography)
- Bring the author's major ideas to the present day
- Comment on major sections of the book, or important chapters, depending on organization
Scazzero's Bibliography
From Goodreads, one can find a list of 11 unique books, plus workbooks, video lessons, and translated versions for some. These center around one theme: emotional health/intelligence (as we'll see in the later sections, one can safely equivocate these terms).
- Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
- The Emotionally Healthy Leader
- The Emotionally Healthy Church
- Emotionally Healthy Discipleship
- Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day: A 40-Day Journey with the Daily Office
- Emotionally Healthy Relationships Day by Day: A 40-Day Journey to Deeply Change Your Relationships
- Daily Office--Remembering God's Presence Throughout the Day
- How Healthy is Your Spirituality?
- The Emotionally Healthy Church Planter
- Old Testament Characters: Learning to Walk with God (12 studies)
- Introducing Jesus
- New Life in Christ
- Love: Building Healthy Relationships
The first of these books, Old Testament Characters, was published in 1989; the Emotionally Healthy series was published 2003-2015 with periodic updates. Since publishing more recently and updating, Scazzero transitioned from being a pastor to being a speaker and podcast host, and recently is ceasing speaking engagements.
Scazzero's Major Ideas
The one most central idea through Scazzero's work of the last 20-odd years is that optimizing emotional health allows one to be a better Christian and human. Let's explore the smaller concepts within this central idea.
Emotional Health
Emotional health is counted as part of overall health according to almost any psychological model one uses. One book review asserts that Scazzero uses but does not cite Freud's model of the subconscious, but does not address the emotional dimension inherent in Scazzero's assumptions. A more current model that contextualizes emotional health is the 8 Dimensions of Wellness as described by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA).
Here, emotional wellness entails several abilities and habits:
- Expressing feelings coherently
- Adjusting to emotional challenges such as anxiety-inducing situations
- Coping with normal and abnormal stressors in life
- Enjoying one's life
- Knowing one's strengths
- Knowing one's areas for improvement
- Independent life and work
- Willingness to ask for help when needed
Scazzero outlines his own list of attitudes and behaviors that constitute emotional health:
- Acknowledging and accurately naming the emotions one feels
- Analyzing the role one's past experiences play in current habits
- Living in an integrated space rather than compartmentalizing
- Setting and keeping limits for one's own energy
- Comparing oneself only to one's past self, not to others
Christian Life
Here, Scazzero assumes a linear model of a Christian's life from conversion/regeneration to resurrection with Christ (though he focuses only on the earthly life aspect prior to death). This idea originated with the Desert Fathers and was developed in later monasticism and mysticism. A key player is St. Benedict, a 5th/6th century monk with feast day July 11.
We are currently reading Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option, which I've written about previously before having read it. This book thus far draws from Benedict's ideas of strategic withdrawal, simple routines, and hospitality but does not draw from the Ladder of Humility which is central to Scazzero's idea.
Human Nature
Humanity has been defined by various theologians as the image of God (imago dei), most succinctly meaning that humans are designed as God's representatives as they inhabit various parts of His creation. Philosophers in Christian and non-Christian traditions have debated related concepts such as how many "parts" the human soul has, how integrated these parts are, and consciousness.
In Scazzero's model, humans have emotional, social, intellectual, physical, and spiritual dimensions. To be the best human one can be, one must optimize function in each of these areas. He assumes, but does not justify at length, that emotional and spiritual dimensions are intimately connected, with emotional illness exerting a negative impact on the spiritual life of a person. His main reason for connecting these two areas so strongly is that God also has feelings (apparent from several quoted Scripture verses).
Book Walk-Through
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality has 8 chapters and 3 appendices. The updated edition we used in the book discussion group cited NIV, ESV, and MSG translations of Scriptural texts. The essentials of the book, we noticed, tended to be contained in chapter-starting quotes, headings, and lists; the rest of the material was mostly personal explanations, anecdotes, and autobiographical information. Despite the Bibliovore's prolific use of words, he was of the opinion that the important material in the book would have taken up about 10-20 pages.
Chapter 1 outlines the problem Scazzero sets out to solve. To be human, he says, involves emotional, social, intellectual, physical, and spiritual aspects. Symptoms of emotional ill health tied to spiritual ill health include invoking "God"/spiritual practices versus letting one's heart change; ignoring anger/sadness/fear; dying to the wrong things; denying any role of past in one's life (not just your generation but those before you); compartmentalizing life; doing "for" versus being "with" God; spiritualizing conflict away; hiding brokenness/weakness/failure; not setting limits on life; and judging others' spirituality.
Chapter 2 makes the case for knowing one's "authentic self" in order to know God. This boils down, says Scazzero, to assessing one's emotional intelligence.
Chapter 3 looks at genealogical analysis for positive and negative emotional traits and messages in one's ancestors, using the Beavers system model of family dynamics. Scazzero asks what messages each reader received, true, false, or unhelpful, about money, other cultures, and various other topics.
Chapters 4 and 5 introduce the frameworks for his proposed solution for emotional ill health. The central idea is that there are linear stages of the Christian life (a highly problematic idea because it ties to gnosticism and the bad parts of mysticism). By using Benedict's ladder of humility and a 6-stage model of "the" Christian life, Scazzero makes the case for letting go of control of one's life and allowing grief and loss to positively shape oneself. These aren't bad things at all--but the idea that they're one and done, is.
Chapters 6-8 are better in terms of consistency with more orthodox Christian teaching and practice. Scazzero makes helpful suggestions of (1) using a Daily Office and Sabbath observance (i.e., regular rest) to steady oneself, (2) acknowledge others' humanity and image-bearing-ness to serve and love them, and (3) develop a "rule of life" to help prioritize Christ. Elements of this rule/routine include Scripture, solitude, silence, Daily Office, study, Sabbath, simplicity, play/recreation, service/mission, care for physical body, emotional health, family, community, local church, and small group.
Overall, the book contained helpful content for me, but its helpfulness was overshadowed by its unhelpful philosophical underpinnings.
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