Ready to Restore, New Edition: An Introductory Guide to Biblical Counseling

by Jay E. Adams

This accessible introductory volume brings Jay Adams’s counseling expertise to ordinary Christians who want to counsel peers in need. Redesigned for its fortieth anniversary and celebrating more than 60,000 copies sold, this edition includes updated lists of critical resources.

Endorsements“Returns counseling to laymen and women who are well-schooled in biblical hermeneutics, theology, and discipleship. It has all the foundational ideas that make biblical counseling effective.”

—John D. Street, Chair of the Graduate Department of Biblical Counseling, The Master’s University and Seminary

“A very readable small book that will help you to cut your teeth on the basics of biblical counseling.”

—Lou Priolo, Pastor of Counseling, Christ Covenant, Atlanta

“The mainstay of many lay counseling training programs since it was first published.”

—Jim Berg, Professor of Biblical Counseling, Bob Jones University

“You will be hard-pressed to find a better brief introduction to the biblical rationale and fundamental methodologies of biblical counseling.”

—T. Dale Johnson Jr., Executive Director, Association of Certified Biblical Counselors

“The essence of the biblical counseling movement. A primary primer for the encouragement and training of lay folks who do the work of this important ministry.”

—Howard Eyrich, Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program, Birmingham Theological Seminary

“This volume contains excellent information on some of the fundamentals of truly biblical counseling.”

—Wayne Mack, Director, Association of Certified Biblical Counselors—Africa

Genres: Counselling

170 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 8, 2021

About the author

Jay Edward Adams is a Reformed Christian author. He has written over 100 books and these have been published in sixteen languages.
He received a Bachelor of Divinity from Reformed Episcopal Seminary, a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from Johns Hopkins University,a Masters in Sacred Theology from Temple University, and a PhD in Speech from the University of Missouri.
Adams' book Competent to Counsel launched the nouthetic counseling movement, a movement whose aim was to use strictly biblical counseling methods. He is the founder of the Intitute for Nothetic Studies.

Reviews

[Kaitlyn B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give it less stars, I would

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone just jumping into the counseling world, this is a helpful primer that does not feel like a daunting read. Adams is quick to point out that this book is meant only to help lay the groundwork as you prepare to become a biblical counselor, but it does cover the general basics of counseling. The chapters are short, which helps with the feeling of accessibility.


I will say, though: P&R did a disservice to this book with the amount of typos and errors inside. I can’t tell you how many times I found a misspelled word or misplaced punctuation. I even found a few words that were spelled correctly but were one letter difference from the intended word. It took away from the book, honestly, and these were big mistakes that most people would notice. (Aka, not just grammar nerds analyzing every little detail could find a lot of the mistakes.)

[vince watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Thought provoking,

A fast pace guide to biblical counseling, but some grammatical error and odd usage of women versus men accusations to make some dated analogies.
Overall concept is on point to separate biblical counseling from clinical counseling!

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary, fantastic.

[Luke Rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This introductory guide is so helpful. I found it both whet my appetite but also offered some very helpful insight to develop this skill.

[Kenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to biblical counseling book. The task of counseling people is the burden of every Christian with the goal of restoring people to usefulness in the church (Gal 6:1).