How Christian Mysticism and Bion Can Help Expand the Christian Filter: A Response to Bland & Hoard (2026)
Gabrielle Taylor
Journal of Psychology and Theology June 1, 2026 DOI: 10.1177/00916471261434169 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that Evangelical Christianity's 'Christian filter' may be enriched by incorporating Christian mysticism and Bion's concept of 'O,' which could support spiritual and psychological growth by tolerating mystery, unknowing, and lived experience, rather than foreclosing them through perfectionism and moralism. |
Abstract
This article offers a clinical-theological response to Bland and Hoard’s Lacanian account of Christian perfectionism. I engage with Earl’s clinical work with patient Lucas for exploring the limits of the Christian filter embedded in his Evangelical Christianity. Drawing on Christian mysticism and Bion’s concept of “O,” I suggest that Evangelical Christianity may be enriched by a greater tolerance for mystery, unknowing, and lived experience. Lucas’s perfectionism is understood as a defensive stance, a moral narcissism, that forecloses desire, relationality, and psychological growth by resisting ambiguity and affective experience. Christian mysticism, articulated through Meister Eckhart, offers a non-dual framework in which human longing, fallibility, and desire become sites of growth rather than threats to one’s faith. Integrating Bion’s emphasis on emotional containment and learning through experience, I posit that a mystically informed Christian filter can support both spiritual growth and psychological transformation by holding complexity without collapsing into moralism or certainty.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |