The Biblical Counseling Movement

Beginning in the late 1960s, a biblical counseling movement sought to reclaim counseling for the church and provide a Christian alternative to mainstream psychiatry and psychotherapy. The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context is an informative and thought-provoking account of that movement. David Powlison's historical account ...

This ground-breaking exploration of the biblical counseling movement's development since Jay Adams shows how shifts in methodology and style are producing a new generation of increasingly well-balanced counselors.

Are you looking for a brief introduction to what the biblical counseling movement is and how it has changed over the years? In Developments in Biblical Counseling , J. Cameron Fraser turns a journalistic eye to this question and presents a concise assessment. Introducing us to the formative work of Jay Adams, Fraser outlines several themes of biblical counseling that became foundational for the movement as a whole and observes how the movement received criticisms from outside and made necessary developments from within. He points out that some of these developments have an affinity with Puritan approaches to counseling that Adams rejects but may point in a more consistently biblical direction. Table of Contents: 1. Some Foundational Views of Nouthetic Counseling 2. Some Criticisms of Nouthetic Counseling 3. Some Developments in Biblical Counseling 4. Biblical and Puritan Counseling

Since the beginning of the biblical counseling movement in 1970, biblical counselors have argued that counseling is a ministry of the Word, just like preaching or missions. As a ministry, counseling must be defined according to sound biblical theology rather than secular principles of psychology. For over four decades, biblical theology has been at the core of the biblical counseling movement. Leaders in biblical counseling have emphasized a commitment to teaching doctrine in their counseling courses out of the conviction that good theology leads to good counseling…and bad theology leads to bad counseling. A Theology of Biblical Counseling is a landmark new book that covers the history of the biblical counseling movement, the core convictions that underlie sound counseling, and practical wisdom for counseling today. Dr. Heath Lambert shows how biblical counseling is rooted in the Scriptures while illustrating the real challenges counselors face today through true stories from the counseling room. A substantive textbook written in accessible language, it is an ideal resource for use in training biblical counselors at colleges, seminaries, and training institutes. In each chapter, doctrine comes to life in real ministry to real people, dramatically demonstrating how theology intersects with the lives of actual counselees.

This book reviews the biblical counseling of Dr. Jay Adams, Dr. David Powlison, Dr. Heath Lambert, Dr. John Street, Dr. Jim Newheiser, Dr. Paul Tripp, and Pastor Randy Patten and reveals that the best examples of biblical counseling done by some of the foremost leaders of the biblical counseling movement have grave biblical errors. The undoing of the biblical counseling movement does not primarily come from their teachings, but from their practices and presentations of actual counseling when examined with the Bible. This book is an exposé of what seven of the recognized leaders and teachers of biblical counseling actually do in counseling and why believers should shun their counseling conversations.

Master the essentials of effective biblical counseling Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling is a comprehensive resource that will help you understand how to minister from God’s truth to change lives. With the cumulative wisdom of almost 40 contributors with exceptional credentials and experience, you’ll discover a valuable model for counseling that explains… The Why of Biblical Counseling Why the Bible is sufficient and relevant for addressing every issue we face Why biblical counseling is so effective in helping people face life’s struggles in Christ’s strength The How of Biblical Counseling How you can lead struggling, hurting people to the hope and strength available only in Christ How to counsel in a way that is Christ-centered and God-glorifying Every chapter provides a wonderful blend of theological wisdom and practical expertise, and is written to be accessible to everyone who wishes to extend Christ’s love to others—pastors, church leaders, counseling practitioners, instructors, lay people, and students. In this massively important new book…leading figures in the biblical counseling movement set forth a wealth of wisdom. We have needed this book for a long time. —Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling is warm, personal, gentle, always wanting to listen and know the person, confident in the Spirit’s working through the Word of Christ. —Dr. Ed Welch, CCEF faculty, author of Shame Interrupted

In this comprehensive account of biblical counseling, Jeremy Lelek recounts its history, discusses its beliefs, and provides insight for the future. Valuable for those both inside and outside of biblical counseling, Biblical Counseling Basics draws from a wide range of and experts to guide readers through Christian soul care.

The Bible is the only textbook believers need to help counselees with their problems. Jay Adams explains why this bold statement is not only true, but gives hope to both the counselor and his counselee. Here he outlines the basis and purpose for using the Scriptures in counseling and lists these goals for the Biblical counselor: - Understand and evaluate the counselee's problem scripturally. - Seek to understand the Holy Spirit's purpose (telos) in every Scripture passage used in counseling. - Strive to meet each counselee's problem with God's full solution. He cautions that the goals can be achieved only by counselors who "allow neither a distortion, dilution, nor admixture of the Biblical data to enter the counseling situation, whether introduced by the counselee or the counselor's own misuse of the Scriptures." Here is specific help for all who want to do truly biblical counseling. As all have come to expect from the pen of Jay Adams, his guidelines are clear and understandable, the directions are explicit, and the examples given are pointed and practical.