Counseling and Christianity: Five Approaches

Christian Association for Psychological Studies Books

by Eric L. Johnson (Foreword), Stephen P. Greggo (Editor), Timothy A. Sisemore (Editor)

What does authentic Christian counseling look like in practice? This volume explores how five major perspectives on the interface of Christianity and psychology would each actually be applied in a clinical setting. Respected experts associated with each of the perspectives depict how to assess, conceptualize, counsel and offer aftercare to Jake, a hypothetical client with a variety of complex issues. In each case the contributors seek to explain how theory can translate into real-life counseling scenarios. This book builds on the framework of Eric L. Johnson's Psychology Five Views . These include the Levels-of-Explanation Approach, the Integration Approach, the Christian Psychology Approach, the Transformational Approach and the Biblical Counseling Approach. While Counseling and Christianity can be used independently of Johnson's volume, the two can also function as useful companions. Christians who counsel, both those in practice and those still in training, will be served by this volume as it strengthens the connections between theory and practice in relating our faith to the mental health disciplines. They will finally get an answer to their persistent but unanswered "What would that counseling view look like behind closed doors?" Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.

Genres: Counselling, Psychology, Christianity, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, School

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 2012

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book was insightful. Honestly though, it broke my heart. Out of the five views on "christian" counseling, only one of them communicated the necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. In the case study, only one of the counselors out of the 5 said anything about the necessity for the unbeliever being counseled to be born again- The biblical counselor. The other four were content in helping this man have a more "healthy" life on his way to eternity in hell. Dr. Stuart Scott did a great job with biblical counseling- explaining and modeling it, the only chapter I consider christian. The sad part of the book is the reality that out of the five views, only Dr. Scott's biblical counseling view actually used more than two bible passages if they used any at all. God's word makes us "wise unto salvation through faith and Christ Jesus" and it is "Sufficient for all things pertaining to life and Godliness". Why not use it instead of self help self esteem garbage that does not work.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830...

[Henry Holmberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was like a lettuce wrap burger: disappointing, great, disappointing.

The book consists of 5 Christian counselors and their 5 different approaches to treating a hypothetical client. Rather than simple explanation of differing counseling strategies, the use of a thorough and specific case study leads this book into practical pictures of what each counselor (and their respective wave of Christian counseling) would actually do in sessions with a client.

The chapters written by these five counselors are insightful and well written. They give accurate and detailed pictures of what each wing of Christian counseling is made of.

The unfortunate lettuce of the book is the introduction and concluding chapters. The editors certainly mean well, and did a great job compiling these different views into one volume, but they fall short of adding anything meaningful to the book. Instead the intro and concluding chapters feel like an attempt to amalgamate five distinct viewpoints into one happy unified Christian blob. I appreciate the desire for unity, but the attempt falls flat and does not seem to take seriously the important differences between views.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Random thoughts... This book is four stars not because everything in it is four stars but because it is a great resource for those interested in ‘counseling’. It does a great/fair job to allow the reader to see each view in practice and analyze differences. Some of the conclusions of the book are off-putting as it tries to be ‘fair’ in saying no one view is correct and all are compatible with the Christian faith. I would say 1 or 2 are incompatible and the other 2 ’might be’ compatible at times but not holistically. Only the Biblical counseling section is faithful to Scripture. I enjoyed this book because it shows how distinct Biblical counseling is from the other four views. Only the Biblical counseling view even mentions the gospel and references scripture over 200 times. The other four views do not mention the gospel and reference scripture a total of 15 times combined! One of the views does not even reference scripture. As someone who advocates for Biblical counseling, I genuinely tried to hear the other views from an open perspective. The other four views were troubling because they would open their arguments talking a Christian lingo and worldview, but that all went out the door once they started counseling the person in the case study.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to understand how 4 out of the 5 approaches are Christian. Only Dr. Scott spoke with clarity and confidence along with humility as he presented an approach entirely founded on God’s word.

[Jake Auton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am probably being a little harsh on this review simply out of ignorance. This book provides a case study based on the theories talked about in another book that I have not read, which made it a little hard to follow. Also, most of the content, while trying to be practical for the case study, seemed very theoretical and hard to follow. I really liked one of the views but felt like a small portion from each view is necessary. The different authors also made the book a little challenging because I had to adjust to a new style each chapter. However, I must admit, while I was a little lost of the theory, the case study did help me understand more.

[Mak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Representatives of 5 different approaches to counseling give a fictional case study their best shot. Helpful to see, in each, what they believe the main problems and methods of change are in human life. Good opportunity to compare!

[Coleson White · Rating 3 out of 5]

One might think that the term Christian counselor implies that the counselor is a Christian. That is not the case apparently.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb book with questions that sparked my thinking about the major issues of Christian counselling. There are two introductory and two concluding chapters, with the five approaches in the middle, each written by the proponent of a different Christian counselling approach. The editors set up a case study of a young adult named Jake who is studying at a Christian college, and each approach author has to write as a supervising counsellor to someone who will be treating Jake. This makes for fascinating and concrete comparisons. Jake's is a complex case with childhood trauma (finding his alcoholic father dead), a stint in the army that included a head injury (possible PTSD say some of the authors), a breakup with his girlfriend, and her child who may or may not be his.

The concluding chapters contrast the approaches and provide a series of insightful questions that can be used to evaluate one's own view on Christian counselling. I imagine this is a popular textbook introducing Christian counselling. There are three further case studies provided at the end that are suggested as exercises for the reader.

[Bo Cogbill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent overview, though a pretty dry read. This is an important book, in that so much of what the layperson thinks is Biblical Counseling is mainly just Christian Psychology. As a pastor who does my fair share of counseling, I can't count the number of hours I have had to walk with people to uncounsel what they had been taught before being able to help them think God's thoughts after Him.

There are so many counselors that do so much damage when they deliver psychology in Bible language. And because people tend to spend more time listening to their counselor and reading Christian pop-psychology than studying God's Word and listening to sound teaching, they end up having a psychology lens through which they read their Bibles rather than a Bible lens through which they can recognize and reject psychology. Typically, when I see people embrace this approach, they end up destroying not only themselves but those God would have them reconcile with. Psychology gives them a strong log to destroy their brother rather than the gospel with which specs can be removed.

Psychology is an alternative worldview, with an alternative anthropology, standard for flourishing and righteousness, offers no atonement, and ultimately no healing. So an already shattered person ends up being duck taped together and then tries to make everyone in their image, only to perpetuate destruction, with Bible verses to help.

I am glad to see a recovery of biblical counseling responding to this brutalizing movement in the Church, and I pray God would grant increased wisdom to His people to discern these empty philosophies that offer peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

[Dónal Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times this was not easy to read since I have no counseling background and some of the early and late chapters were quite theoretical. But the meat was well worth it, reading how each counseling approach dealt with a specific persons needs was very illuminating. For me, the first four views incorporated secular psychology somehow and one felt they needed a Psychology degree to help anyone. Scott's chapter on biblical counseling was worth the price of the book and stood out among the rest. Very applicable it made me come away appreciating the simplicity power and sufficiency of Scripture in counseling anyone. What an encouragement it was to better counsel others well with the Bible as well as attend to our own sanctification. God will do it as we do it! Great paradigm shifting work, so applicable particularly to any Christian in the counseling field

[AddyF · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read for those who are interested in Christian counseling. The author creates a fictional client, describes the client's problems, and then five contributing authors, representing five different models of Christian counseling, explain how they would counsel the client. The models range from the Levels of Explanation approach one one end which sees faith and faith practices as scientifically beneficial, to the biblical counseling model which uses the Bible only and eschews science. In the middle are three approaches that, to various degrees, integrate the Bible with psychology. While I think different authors within each of the five "camps" might've done better or worse at representing each of the models, this book was a good way to be introduced to the five different approaches.

[Marc Sims · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first book I have read on counseling and the various approaches a Christian can take in interacting with sexual psychology. I feel like I don’t know enough to be critical of any view, though the Levels-of-Explanation and Transformational Psychology approach seemed pretty off (the former being entirely secular, seeing religion as a functional means to help in therapy, and the latter being deeply mystical and overly subjective). I found myself finding a lot I liked in the Intergrationist and Christian Psychology chapters, but felt most at home in the Biblical Counseling section.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a helpful book, and well-organized. The typical "Views" book has several positions presenting, critiquing and rebutting. This one presented a sample "case" and asked each position to respond with a plan for helping the counselee. It also included several other cases for discussion. The aim of the book was to help readers shape their convictions as counselors and I thought the way it was organized supported this aim well. A great book to read for a class. For more theory and less practice, I'd read its predecessor, Five Views on Psychology and Christianity.

[Denice Colson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great analysis of Christian integration! A must read!

I think this is a must read for all beginning counselors who want to integrate Christian faith into counseling. I’ve been in the field 42 years practicing integration and found it insightful and helpful. I found my style has progressed from integrative to either Christian psychology or maybe even transformational. I supervise students for practicum/internship and may make it a requirement. I’m currently using it for a workshop on Ethical Strategies for Christian Integration. Very helpful text!

[Katie Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book for anyone interested in or with questions on Christian Counseling. It is a helpful overview of the five approaches and the model of using a case study to display each of them in action gives clarity on how they are worked out.

My convictions lean toward the Biblical Counseling model—I feel even just reading the case study summary + the chapter on Biblical Counseling would be insightful for anyone seeking better understanding of this model or helps implementing it.

[Bethany Stout · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is helpful for professionals and clients. It helps professionals know what approach they want to take in blending evidence-based practices and biblical guidance. It also helps anyone who is seeking counseling to know the terminology of what they’re looking for in sessions. People might not realize how many different approaches there are to christian counseling. Professionals would read as a textbook and clients would probably skim.

[Eric Fults · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of five different styles of combining counseling with Christianity. good presentation of each of the five views, given by someone actually holding that view. helpful overview. the book ends with the authors arguing for a syncretistic approach to Christianity and counseling, or at least a utilitarian approach, which took away from the five presentations.

[Nathan Stine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still not certain where I fall on counseling philosophies, but I certainly found the final view the most convincing though I wasn’t fully sold. The importance of infallible scripture was almost wholly lacking from the other views. Only Dr. Scott said anything about whether or not the counselee was even saved! I would much rather suffer from severe depression the rest of my life and be saved than have a carefree life that finishes with a very sobering final judgement. I think common grace methods of counseling should not be completely neglected, but they should always be viewed as auxiliary to the meat and potatoes of true nouthetic/biblical counseling. So maybe just writing this review has helped me sharpen my view!

[Tiehu Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book provide practical approach to christian counseling.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the application nature of this book in which each view conceptualized a case. However, I wish that there was a straightforward "here's some elements of x view" before the application.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource

This is a helpful text I use over and over to begin research in counseling and especially when I am addressing pastoral level helpers.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5, this book was really helpful in distilling the five major views of Christian counseling.

[Alan Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a helpful resource. I’m sure this work is more appreciated by experts in the field of counseling. Though at time dry, this is a work of expertise.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Done w book 2 for class! This wasn’t really super enjoyable or helpful if I’m being honest. Kinda interesting but I see why I’d never heard of it before

[Melanie Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for school and ended up really enjoying it. Good to see the same case study looked at from different perspectives with Christianity as a foundation.

[Grace Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was eye-opening to see the different approaches to counseling within the Christian circle and to evaluate their strengths and what sort of counselee they best serve.

[Sean Perron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good choice of contributors.

[James Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for discussion... Not so much for instruction.

Don't get me wrong; it's not that this book does not offer instruction, it offers a multitude of conflicting instruction, and then advises the reader to choose the best approach. Therefore, the authors do not suggest a specific methodology (though I believe biblical counseling is the proper method). A little too subjective for my taste, but at the same time, it makes for great discussion!

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent multi-faceted look at an integrated approach to counseling. I'm looking forward to further understanding the nuances between the views presented by McMinn, Moon, and Langberg. Moon's contribution was especially exciting for me as it was the first time I've heard of spiritual direction being woven into the counseling process.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me see the differences in different counseling streams. I enjoyed it more than the psychology and christianity book because it was less theory and more practice.