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.
Some helpful ideas here, but, as expected, Adams lacks the proper nuance, compassion, and gospel-centrality I’d hope to experience and/or model in counseling.
Jay Adams provides an incredibly needed emphasis on faith (that counselors often lack) in the realm of counseling. Adams sets the premise of the book on Hebrews 11:6. Surely, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Consider this: Faith and works without the other is dead (James 2:17,26). So, by not emphasizing faith, we would be trying to encourage our counselees to please God with dead works! This book is definitely a resource belonging on the bookshelves of all counselors.