The Way of Wisdom in Pastoral Counseling

by Daniel S. Schipani

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to read about the pastoral counselling

[Benjamin Shurance]

I just picked this book up to skim it over and found myself surprisingly engaged. Of course, Schipani is one of my favorite authors. Everything I've read by him before this book had been in Spanish, and was painstakingly difficult to digest (not because of my bad Spanish but because of his über-technical writing style). He's obviously a great scholar, but not an enjoyable read. However, this book was considerably more accessible, and included much more personal feeling and experience.

Why do I love Schipani? He's a true scholar who's grounded in humble practice. He moves back and forth between the U.S. and Latin America with ease (born in Argentina; on faculty at AMBS). He's thoroughly Anabaptist, with a praxis modeled after Jesus and grounded in community. He is greated informed by liberation theology while fully committed to the truth of the Bible. He works a lot with human development, and his books all center on the Kingdom of God. He is thoroughly interdisciplinary. How could I not love him?

In this book, he argues for pastoral counseling based in communities which points towards, not "mental health", but Wisdom. Theology and psychology can and will work together, but theology must provide the framework and the directives, while psychology will merely inform.