The Language of Counseling and the Christian Counselor's Wordbook

by Jay E. Adams

Language of Counseling (View amazon detail page) 087552009X

Genres: Counselling

90 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1981

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

[Glenn Crouch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hadn’t read any of this Author prior to this, so as a pastor I thought I would give him a try - and I liked the title and description for this little book.

Whilst I agree with a number (if not most) of the points the Author makes concerning language, I found it difficult to like a book that without any evidence makes a bold statement such as Alcoholism is a “fictional disease” (p51). His approach seems too legalistic for my tastes and seems bordering on dangerous with how dismissive it is of modern psychology and medicine when it comes to the struggles people have. At other times the Author seems to prove an argument by quoting himself (as in another book he wrote).

Perhaps I am missing something, but I don’t feel inclined to read more from this author...

[Paul Dare · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very helpful and handy quick reference guide to the topics and terms that Jay Adams discusses in his other works. Even if you haven’t read any of Adams’ other books this tiny volume is a great place to start. You’ll get a feel for his style, pick up on how direct and Biblically based he is and be helped as he clears away the falsehoods that surround many of these topics and lays out the (albeit short) truth on a particular subject. Even if you are not a counselor, there are gems for any Christian in this book. This is one to keep handy as a quick reference and if what Jay writes on a topic here is not enough, he always references you to his other works wherein he expands on the subjects he introduces you to here. I really enjoyed this book.

I’m pretty sure this is out of print. If you want to read it, it’s been included in Jay’s The Language of Counseling.

[Marc Plazola · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a most necessary, helpful read! Rarely do we take notice about what we say and how we speak in everyday life—much less in counseling. Our vocabulary, our tone of voice, our volume, our pace...all affects the counsel that we give. For instance, we can diagnose (or misdiagnose) someone's problem as sickness when the problem is sin, and vice versa. Our language in counseling can be deterministic in the direction our counseling takes. A most recommended read, indeed.