A History of the Cure of Souls

by John Thomas McNeill

Book by McNeill, John T.

Genres: History, Religion

371 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

Reviews

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

In his History of the Cure of Souls, John T. McNeill defines soul care “the sustaining and curative treatment of persons that reach beyond the requirements of the animal life” thus making the cure of souls a broad topic for any and every religion and philosophy to address. McNeill shows us soul care from many views, including ancient guides of Israel, wise men of Egypt, Edom, and Babylon, philosophers of ancient Greece, gurus and spiritual leaders of Asiatic religions, and the New Testament, primarily Christ and the Apostle Paul; then on to historical soul guidance within Christendom, emphasizing church discipline, repentance, confession, penance, letters of consolation to the grieving, ending by observing the encroachment of psychiatry into soul care.

Strengths: warns of modern attempts to silence the conscience; and shows many ancient approaches to soul care and guidance. Very informative.

Weaknesses: casts doubt upon the inspiration and authority of Scripture, giving extra-biblical sources absolute authority above Scripture; integrates religion with psychotherapy.

Uses in Biblical Counseling: encourages the high calling of soul care; serves as a warning against normalization of psychotherapy in soul care; illustrates the reality of the broken cisterns of counsel apart of the all-sufficient Word of God.

This book is not a page turner, but if one is inclined to like history and want to see the unfolding of this topic throughout the history of mankind, he/she might find this a fascinating read.

[David Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dry and scholarly work covering the history of the "cure of souls," primarily within the Christian faith tradition. There is much of interest within, but the wading through is quite tedious.