The Prenatal Psychology Of Frank Lake And The
Origins Of Sin And Human Dysfunction
Geoffrey Victor Whitfield
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Frank Lake was a missionary doctor turned psychiatrist for the
Church of England, a visionary whose understanding of the person led
him to develop theories and training courses in Clinical Theology
that has had a profound influence upon many people, especially
Christian care-givers, between 1962 and his death in 1982, and even
to this very day. His early focus was upon the relationship between
human distress and the earliest years of life (Object-Relations
Theory), but his later work led him to focus upon the earliest
experiences of life in the womb, particularly the first trimester.
Much of his work was controversial in both the medical and
theological communities and still is attracting much attention and
discussion. Geoffrey Whitfield was deeply involved in Clinical
Theology while Lake was alive and now, 20 years later, offers a
penetrating assessment of Lake’s work. Whitfield is fully conversant
with the ongoing conversation, particularly regarding the Maternal
Foetal Distress Syndrome. His conclusion, based largely upon
research published since Lake’s death, is that while there is now
empirical evidence to support Lake’s theories regarding the second
and third trimesters, that applicable to the first trimester is not
proved. While Whitfield is sympathetic to Lake’s work, this is not
an uncritical acceptance of all his views, rather a scholarly
investigation of empirical evidence not available to Lake. The
author pays particular attention to the relevance of psychological
and theological categories (and their inter-relationship) in
reflecting upon the data and is aware of the significance of the
issues in relation to current debates in pastoral and practical
theology. This work is clearly written and certainly an original
contribution in the fields of theology and psychology.
-Dr. David Lyall, Honorary Fellow, Faculty of
Divinity, Edinburgh University, Editor of Theology in Scotland
