The nature of man according to the Old Testament writers, with implications for a psychology of religion

At the center of the many divergent efforts to solve man's problems, there exist different conceptions of the nature of man. The psychology of religion attempts to bring into the study of religion a mutual respect for the insights of both theology and psychology, in order to more fully understand man's nature and behavior. Although there are tensions between theology and psychology which derive in part from their different views of the basic nature of man, we must search for ways to resolve these tensions, and thereby harmonize the two disciplines. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the structure of personality according to Old Testament Hebrew psychology in order to draw implications for a psychology of religion. In order to lay a proper foundation for such a study, we first recapitulate the successes or inadequacies of other theories of man which are representative of modern thought.