The Professionalization of Pastoral Care: The SBC’s Journey from Pastoral Theology to Counseling Psychology

by T. Dale Jr. Johnson

When the organization and structure of the church in America was altered in the early 1900s to meet modern demands, the role of the pastorate became more specialized to adapt to the burdens of the new, "efficient" structure. In 1920, Gaines Dobbins utilized the business efficiency model at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to formulate a distinct ecclesiology. Discontent with traditional methods of instruction in theological education, Dobbins sought to implement theories and methodologies from modern educationalists. He adopted a psychologized educational methodology and utilized the psychology of religion as an empirical measure of the soul, human nature, and human behavior. Use of the social sciences seemed to grant Dobbins, as a practitioner, academic respectability within the realm of theological education. Both the professionalization that resulted from Dobbins's efficiency standards, and a working theory of human nature derived from psychological models, were synthesized into a specialized system of pastoral care. Dobbins followed the new shape of pastoral theology in America, adopting Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) as the model for pastoral training. As a result, CPE became an integral part of the curriculum at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for over sixty years, and spread to influence many other SBC entities.

Genres: Counselling

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 29, 2020

Reviews

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book, The Professionalization of Pastoral Care, T. Dale Johnson Jr., chronicles the SBC’s movement from a Scriptural approach to pastoral care toward a specialized, psychologically based approach. Johnson writes of many influences within the SBC, mainly focusing on Gaines Dobbins and Wayne Oates, but particularly on the visionary Dobbins, trained by—Mullins, Dewey and liberal theology to see experience as the highest goal of religious education, thus making Scripture subordinate to experience. Dobbins emphasized efficiency, pragmaticism, psychology, specialization, etc., to SBC’s pastoral care studies “to shift its focus in curriculum to extra-biblical sources,” replacing an orthodox view of human nature with psychology as the authoritative truth, hence “Scripture became less relevant for the work of pastoral ministry, excused by the demands and complexity of modernity.”

Strengths: Well documented; clear explanation of the transformation of the SBC’s pastoral care model into a system of psychotherapy, thereby superseding Scriptural authority.

Weaknesses: None in particular; perhaps lacking an explanation of how Mohler was involved in the making of good but radical changes at Southern Seminary.

Uses in Biblical Counseling: Warns how Scripture’s authority can subtly be replaced by pragmatism, psychology, or any other extra-Biblical teaching.

It is a very practical read and one that I think church leaders and students would all do well to read and gain an understanding of how ideas have consequences, knowing that sometimes those consequences have eternal ramifications that are not good.

[Jonathan Wallenbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pastoral Care Beginning

Outstanding review of how pastoral care was developed, specialized, and moved away for a solid theological foundation. Dr. Dale Johnson did a masterful job in presenting the material from its beginnings. This is a must-read for all desiring to understand why Jay Adams saw a need to call Biblical Counseling back to its Theological Foundation.

[Heidi Leatherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

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