The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context

by David A. Powlison

Beginning in the late 1960s, a biblical counseling movement sought to reclaim counseling for the church and provide a Christian alternative to mainstream psychiatry and psychotherapy. The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context is an informative and thought-provoking account of that movement. This historical account combines careful scholarship with a unique, eyewitness insight. This book is an invaluable resource for those who want to understand the biblical counseling movement. The core chapters were originally a Ph.D. dissertation in history of science and medicine (University of Pennsylvania). This new edition adds a lengthy appendix, containing articles by Dr. Powlison that give an analysis of developments within the biblical counseling movement and in its relationship to evangelical psychotherapists.

Genres: Counselling, Christian, Psychology, Nonfiction, School, Theology, Church

352 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

David Powlison, MDiv, PhD, (1949–2019) was a teacher, counselor, and the executive director of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). He wrote many books and minibooks, including Speaking Truth in Love, Seeing with New Eyes, Good and Angry, Making All Things New, God's Grace in Your Suffering, Safe and Sound, and Take Heart. David was also the editor of The Journal of Biblical Counseling.

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing that stands out to me the most about this book is how fair the author endeavored to be about all the players involved. I gained a lot of respect for Powlison from reading his history of the biblical counseling movement and I think he stands as a great model for how we are to interact with other believers and non-believers about this and any topic. He doesn’t attempt to whitewash the negative or exaggerate the positive, but presents a very full perspective of each person and each ideology as unbiasedly as possible. Even though it is written from a perspective that is highly invested in biblical truth, the language is neutral as much as possible and the author reserves his own perspective for the appendixes in the back (which I thought were great additions to this work).

This book was very helpful to me in understanding how we got to be where we are in the counseling context. My undergrad background is Psychololgy, but I have moved into the Biblical Counseling realm. I'm really growing in confidence in the perspective of biblical counseling and am really grateful that God has moved me in this direction, but one of the hardest pills to swallow is the “psychology bashing,” as Powlison puts it, that is so common in this new realm in which I (for the most part) happily find myself. Very few people I have talked with really understand the field of psychology or look past the caricatures that they have heard about from other people (believe it or not, even within the field of psychology Freud has largely been discredited). I really appreciated Powlison’s confrontation of the tendency to vilify the “other side” and was surprised to read that even Jay Adams gave credit to the field of psychology for what it was contributing outside of the therapeutic. Powlison presented decades’ worth of history that helped me see myself and my background as part of a larger picture of trends and movements and he was intentionally gracious, but painstakingly honest, about those involved. I really marveled at the openness with which he presented the strengths, weaknesses, responses and reactions to all the different pieces of the puzzle.

Though Powlison was able to evaluate different perspectives fairly, I also thought he did a great job arguing (especially in the appendixes) for what he thought is a truly biblical system of counseling. I appreciated his insight into the priorities of interacting with the world (articulating positive biblical truth, exposing and reinterpreting alternative models and learning what we can from those models). His teaching on those priorities (and what happens when we put those priorities in the wrong order) was really helpful. His discussion on sin and understanding the heart was also really helpful (sin is not just individual acts we commit consciously, but “sin also includes what we simply are and the perverse ways we think, want, remember and react”). Powlison’s point about the way we label certain one-time acts as sin, but habitual acts of the same kind as conditions or compulsions that require a different explanation was well taken. I also really appreciated Powlison’s call to create a system for biblical counseling. I think it’s a little naïve to criticize the fragmentation of psychology’s theories of human motivation and behavior and think that the church can/will come up with a GUT, Grand Unified Theory (the church can’t agree even on the things that seem explicit in the Bible so I don’t know how a unified theory of counseling is possible), but I liked his optimism and desire for organization, education and accountability within the biblical counseling movement.

I didn’t agree with all of Powlison’s perspectives. There seemed to be some double-standards between the general acceptance of medicine (which also involves a plethora of competing theories of wellness and practice and experimentation) and psychology, and also between the criticism of fragmentation in psychology that also exists in theology and the “biblical counseling movement.” We don’t have a GUT for cancer and yet no one thinks we’re wasting our time trying out all the different options or that that pursuit isn’t scientific just because it’s fragmented. The field of medicine has evolved at least as much as the field of psychology, but Christians show very little hesitation accepting the current medical treatments available. I wasn’t quite satisfied with the way the mind/body interaction was handled or with the lack of acknowledge that just as the body can be broken, the mind can be broken too. I understand that there are differences between physical and psychological but people don’t agree on what they are or how they overlap and I thought some of that was taken for granted.

As much as he attempted to be neutral and mostly succeeded, there were some statements about psychology that still felt like generalizations to me. However, this was probably the most balanced book I’ve read that still holds the Bible in its rightful place regarding our lives. I learned a lot from it. This history alone was super helpful to me. I came to a much better understanding of how things have developed and what the positive and negative arguments are for the different perspectives. Powlison did a great job defining and explaining emphases and sub-emphases so that I could follow the progression. The annotated case study was also helpful in seeing Adam’s perspective in action and being able to pick out key features of his model. I’ve been exposed to what I would consider to be nouthetic counseling a couple of times. It was similar to that case study and I didn’t find it very helpful at the time, but I can now understand a little more of what their training would have entailed and why they were handling the counseling the way they were (even though I still don’t really agree with their methods).

What I liked about this book was that no one model was held up as the gold standard of counseling, but Powlison repeatedly and unwaveringly pointed the reader back to the Bible and to Jesus Christ as our model for understanding what is wrong with people and how to fix it. While the history was fascinating and informative, Powlison’s own perspective in the appendixes really seem to envision a biblical way forward with all the passions and cautions that are necessary. It seemed more theoretical (and slightly idealistic) than practical, but I think it lays a great foundation for counseling and portrays a great model for working with others (even those with whom we disagree).

[Nick Lees · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, while a deep dive into David's master's thesis, is worth the work to read. I am so thankful for what I've learned about the biblical counseling movements, history, and context. He helpfully traces the development of secular and Christian counseling as well. I had the honor of meeting David in person once and he was a humble, gracious man. He is sorely missed in the biblical counseling world. Everyone who is interested in counseling or helping others should read this book. It gives such a great framework for thinking about the church's role and God's design for believers helping one another from his truth. We have swallowed such a lie in our culture that answers are found outside of God's will and ways. I know so many well-meaning Christians who do not like the idea of biblical counseling. I believe reading this book would change their minds.

[Simen N. Myklebust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powlison’s ph.d. thesis is this historical overview of Jay Adams and the start of the Biblical Counselling movement. He is fair and balanced and writes in his crisp and fresh English. This also means that much of his own views are kept until appendix 4, which reads as almost a second book. Together they form an impressive read and I would warmly recommend it.

Don’t think that Adams’ story is irrelevant for the Biblical counselling movement today. Many of the pressure points are clearly caught by Powlison and knowing the beginning brings a lot of the story into clearer focus.

[Kirk Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent analysis of the Biblical Counseling movement and its interaction with the secular psychologies and theories over the past several decades. Originally a PhD dissertation, it is very dense and is certainly not for the faint of heart, but for anyone interested in Biblical Counseling or the history of psychology and counseling in the United States it is an extremely helpful resource.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN EXCELLENT HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THIS MODERN DEVELOPMENT

David Arthur Powlison (1949-2019) was an American Christian counselor who served at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) and taught at Westminster Theological Seminary.

He wrote in the Preface to this 2010 book, “This new edition … is a title change from the [1996] original… This accurately describes both the topic: biblical counseling; and the intellectual task: to trace the history and to set that history in its sociocultural context, both ecclesiastical and professional. Why the change? The original title was ‘Competent to Counsel? The History of a Conservative Protestant Anti-Psychiatry Movement.’ This Ph.D. dissertation… was written primarily for practitioners in its particular field… [The term] ‘Anti-psychiatry’ tends to be read as a defining characteristic of the biblical counseling movement… But the biblical counseling movement has never been ‘anti-psychiatry’ in the way that adjective tends to be heard by nonhistorians… The second change is more substantive… this book is written from the standpoint of a professional historian, seeking … to be accurate… [and] fair-minded. But for this new edition I’ve added three articles that show explicitly where I stand.”

He states in the Introduction, “In 1970 Jay Adams, a … Presbyterian pastor and seminary professor, published an inflammatory book about counseling. Written for an audience of theologically conservative Protestants… ‘Competent to Counsel’ attacked the hegemony of the psychiatric establishment over the church’s thinking and practice in the area of problems in living… He wanted conservative Protestants to take care of their own, to defer and refer to psychiatric authorities no longer. The agitator succeeded in … gaining both loyal converts and resolute foes.” (Pg. 1)

He continues, “Predictably, Adams suspected those fellow conservative Protestants who sought to acquire secular credentials and to replicate professional mental health structures, ideas, and practices within the Christian community… Pastor and church were the primary institutions … intended to replace the characteristic institutions of America’s … mental health system… As a worldview, Adams’s [‘nouthetic’] counseling had totalitarian qualities… Adams repeatedly attacked the three major schools of personality theory (psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral) along with medical model psychiatry … He expressed guarded appreciation only for experimental psychology… and for anti-psychiatrists such as … Thomas Szasz.” (Pg. 1-3)

He goes on, “He was primarily an entrepreneurial system builder, with aspirations to retake turf for a particular constituency… He sought to offer… an intellectual, methodological, and institutional alternative to the mental health system. Adams possessed two resources lacking in most anti-psychiatries. First, he could draw upon … the vast intellectual resources of classical Protestantism… Second, Adams belonged to a community … and had a teaching position at one of the leading educational institutions, Westminster Theological Seminary.” (Pg. 4-5)

He had stated in the Abstract, “Adams gained followers among pastors and their parishioners but largely lost the interprofessional conflict. In the 1980s evangelical psychotherapists successfully asserted their claim to cultural authority over problems in living, extending their institutional power in higher education, publishing, and the provision of care. [Adams’s] nouthetic counseling movement became isolated from the mainstream of conservative Protestantism; its institutions languished; fault lines emerged internally. But in the 1990s, nouthetic counseling again began to prosper.” (Pg. xvii)

Powlison explains, “Let me say outright that I am a sympathetic critic… My sympathies arise from sharing similar Christian convictions, of a Reformed persuasion, nurtured through master of divinity studies at Westminster Theological Seminary… I teach pastoral counseling at Westminster Theological Seminary and succeeded Adams as editor of the ‘Journal of Pastoral Practice’ in 1992.” (Pg. 14)
He reports, “Through the1970s and 1980s psychology-related academic programs would proliferate among evangelicals; psychotherapy professions experienced tremendous growth; and the popular authority of psychologists soared. Evangelical psychotherapists would prove to be the agents of a belated triumph of the therapeutic within their subculture during the 1980s. By the 1990s one of their leaders could justly speak of ‘the Christian mental health establishment.’” (Pg. 28)

He provides background on Jay Adams: “Adams received minimal exposure to psychology during his extended undergraduate education: RE [Reformed Episcopal Seminary] offered no counseling courses … His first pastorate was a Mount Prospect United Presbyterian Church outside Pittsburgh… Over the next decade Adams read widely in the counseling field… Adams also attended the workshops that mental health professionals offered to pastors… Local church counseling problems were not the only difficulties Adams faced… In the 1950s, the United Presbyterians were contemplating a merger into the perceivedly corrupt PCUSA. Adams strongly opposed the merger and became a spokesman for this cause… In 1954 the Mount Prospect church split in a backlash over the stir produced there by Adams’s aggressive and successful evangelism and by his stand in the wider ecclesiastical community… Adams was never sentimental about preserving unity at all costs … he was willing to lead like-minded people to separate from existing institutions and to form new institutions. (Pg. 30-31)

He adds, "But Adams eventually launched his counseling revolution neither as a local church pastor nor as a denominational administrator. His eventual platform proved to be a theological seminary.” (Pg. 33) He continues, “by 1968 Adams and his fellows …. reincorporated as the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF), envisioning a far wider scope of… counseling services, education and training of counselors, publication and mass media, and diversified institutions of care.” (Pg. 41) He summarizes, “Adams would be viewed ambivalently by the community most at odds with him. On the one hand, he was attacked as the enfant terrible of the conservative Protestant counseling world… On the other hand, many of the leading psychologists appreciated Adams as the biblical conscience of the evangelical counseling world…. To Adams, the psychotherapists essentially acted as false teachers leading the church astray, however… well-intended their work… Neither Adams nor his critics would budge… both sides created stereotypes of the other.” (Pg. 43-44)

He notes, “During the 1970s and 80s, presumably hundreds of thousands of people sought help from nouthetic counselors or sought to help themselves utilizing some self-help booklet authored by Adams. The vast majority of counseling encounters were informal, for Adams’s biblical counseling was intentionally counseling for the pastor’s study, the church foyer, the telephone, or breakfast at a restaurant… in the early to mid-1970s Adams wrote a series of pamphlets on basic life problems: hopelessness… marital conflict, depression, and addiction. Each sold between 200,000 and 400,000 copies.” (Pg. 76) Later, he observes, “Adams both reassured and challenged his constituents by appealing to their most fundamental loyalties… Similarly, Adams appealed to his constituents’ fundamental suspicions of secular intellectual and institutional systems… he charged as interlopers the psychotherapeutic professionals … They were false prophets.” (Pg. 96)

He summarizes, “What specific rhetorical resources did Adams employ[?]… I will identify six characteristic elements… First, he often conducted his attack in testimonial form…. Second, he took advantage of the disarray and internal criticisms within psychology-related fields…. Third, Adams proposed a normative sociology of the professions radically at odds from current historical reality… Fourth, Adams offered carefully delimited commendations of psychology… Fifth, he set forth highly … simplified versions of the leading theoretical schools within modern psychology, and then criticized these for being antithetical to Christian presuppositions… Sixth, he criticized the prominence of secular psychological concepts and practices…” (Pg. 146) He adds, “Adams drew on numerous other anti-psychiatry and anti-psychotherapeutic writers. Thomas Szasz was frequently cited.” (Pg. 148)

He states, “The heart of Adams’s analysis … lay in his assertion that any and all approaches to interpreting problems in living … entailed theological commitments that were subject to theological scrutiny and evaluation.” (Pg. 156) He continues, “in Adams’s hands, the three major psychological schools [Freud, Rogers, and Skinner] each evidenced marked theological deficiencies. Each… denied human depravity and responsibility to God, the need for repentance and faith, the truth of the Bible … the necessity of Christ.” (Pg. 157-158)

He recounts, “The nouthetic counseling movement entered the 1980s full of optimism… Adams became a best-selling author and renowned counseling authority. The major institutions… CCEF, the pastoral counseling program at Westminster Theological Seminary, the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, the ‘Journal of Pastoral Practice’---all initially prospered… Evangelical psychotherapists had been put on the defensive by the popularity of Adams’s blunt, sweeping critique… and by his biblicistic alternative… he had sought to undermine the psychotherapists’ support base rather than win them to his cause.” (Pg. 201-202)

But then, “By the mid-1980s, ‘Bible-believing evangelical’ had become one flesh with ‘professional psychotherapist.’ ... Nouthetic counseling gained a reputation for being unsympathetic and dogmatic… Adams’s attempt… had underestimated the strength of the psychotherapists, the plausibility of their ideas and practices, and the implausibility of his own proposals even among his intended audience.” (Pg. 205-206)

He adds, “Two other developments in the 1980s are worth noting. First, a new and strident polemicism … emerged. For example, Martin and Deidre Bobgan and Dave Hunt … intensified the polemics… They railed at ‘psychoheresy’ [as those] who were ‘seducing’ Christianity… In 1994 the Bobgans repudiated the entire biblical counseling movement and attacked … Jay Adams himself… In a second major development… ‘Nally v. Grace Community Church’ … clergy malpractice lawsuit in California … [came] close to overturning a great many of the precedents that had shielded pastoral counselors and the content of their counsel.” (Pg. 217-218)

This book is an extremely informative history (and reasonably fair-minded), that will be great interest to those studying Christian approaches to psychology.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Read this along with Heath Lambert's more recent analysis of the second generation biblical counseling movement for a fuller picture.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Powlison is an excellent writer and story-teller. This is not a dry history, but a flowing narrative. I am now reading Lambert's sequel to this book.

[victoria]

Do not be misled by a pretty cover - this is a dissertation, and a rather divisive one at that. Not trendy, easy-to-read JMC-like material (appreciate you, JMC).

Powlinsons “The Biblical Counseling Movement” is literally a history and context of the Biblical (nouthetic, from the Greek “to exhort”) counseling movement, which is probably not what you think that it is. “Historically, biblical counseling is one of many proposals to reconfigure psychiatric thought and practice (and it is one of the few that generated a significant social movement.)”

If you read this and/or study biblical counseling - which I exhort you to do, with a good friend and a very strong cup of coffee! - you will wrestle. Or be relieved. Or both.

1. Are modern psychological theories bad theology, misinterpreting functional problems in living?
2. Are psychotherapeutic professions a false pastorate, interloping on tasks that properly belong to pastors?
3. Does the Bible teach church leaders all that they need to know to “shepherd the flock” and counsel competently?

“It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this book. The ‘counseling wars’ of the past half century have ignited passions often characterized by labels rather than by careful analytic thought. This is the first broadly comprehensive history of these developments. Although Powlinson is one of the important players, he takes extraordinary pains not to misrepresent those with whom he disagrees. Above all, while trying to be open to truth and insight whatever their source is (after all, the reaches of common grace are vast), Powlinson faithfully argues that the Christian faith must play a constitutive role in building a robust model of Christian counseling. Amen and amen.”
- DA Carson

Provocative and delightful.

[Mark Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful and honest history of the biblical councelling movement [worts and all]. This largely based as a biography of Jay Adams made for an enjoyable read [who thought a PhD dissertation could be so readable and even creative]. I was greatly helped and encouraged to read of both the strengths and short comings of the biblical councelling model and movement. Such humility gives me hope that those who will move the movement forward will progress not toward the silver bullet 'fix' to the cure of souls but to work forward from first principles, seeking God's hand to guide the hurting and broken toward reconciliation with the one who made them and saves them.

[Eleasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The definitive history of the Biblical counseling movement out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by a witness and friend to some of the major players -- this is David Powlison's PhD dissertation! One of the required textbooka for CCEF's Theology and Secular Psychology course (a must for anyone keen to think theologically about modern secular psychology).

[David J. Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough, balanced historical assessment of the biblical counseling movement.

This was originally the author’s PhD dissertation, so it reads like one. But if you are curious enough about the story it’s a worthy read.

[Robert Renteria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good dissertation on the emergence of a discipline almost dormant. The serious Christian who wants to counsel in the church and do so Biblically needs to see how it has developed as of late

[Katherine B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might be the most boring book I have read for school yet. I think there was probably good information in this book, but it could have been arranged so much better.

[Heidi Leatherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great info!

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Powlison’s book The Biblical Counseling Movement provides an in-depth survey
of the history of the Nouthetic Counseling movement, focusing on the anti-psychiatry counseling
revolution initiated by Jay Adams with the publication of his book, Competent to Counsel,
showing the thrust of Adams’s book as an attack on “the hegemony of the psychiatric
establishment over the church’s thinking and practice.” The “therapeutic was triumphant” and Adams’s Biblicist concern, argued that pastors are to shepherd people, not refer people.
Powlison documents Adams’s upbringing, education, significance influences, his relationship
with Bettler, Goode, McBride, Broger, Smith, Eyrich, Scipione, Bobgans, Westminister, FBCM, CCEF, and NANC, etc. He examines the fallout of the Krishum Symposium, main theological arguments against psychotherapists/psychiatrists, the clientele of CCEF, noting too how “Adams tapped a wide-spread, previously inarticulate discontent,” the thrust of Adams’s Positive system, the weaknesses of his philosophy, the reactions of the nonadherents Adams’s views, the disconcerting stagnation, fault lines, and changes within NANC as success waned in the 80’s.

Strengths: very detailed, well documented, and honest, covering a broad range of the
development of the nouthetic counseling movement from 1970 to 1999. Shows both strengths
and weaknesses of Adams’s philosophy. Footnotes are a gold mine.

Weaknesses: indicates that Adams’s agenda was shockingly wrong; argues that
Adams understated the positive contribution of secular knowledge and theory, offering no
Clarifying explanation from the author’s perspective.

Uses in Biblical Counseling: Challenges one to learn from Adams’s mistakes, his
boldness, and his firm confidence in the Scriptures as the authority for all counsel.

Several Years ago, with my first reading I wrote: "If you are curious to know more about the history of the true Biblical Counseling movement, beginning back when Jay Adams published his infamous book, "Competent to Counsel," then this book by David Powlison is the book for you. Actually, the author writes about the theological and ecclesiastical culture leading up to the release of the Competent book, showing what lead Adams to feel compelled to write this book that in many ways shook the church. Powlison helps one understand why the Competent to Counsel book was necessary, helpful, and why it was both loved and hated by those in the church. For those of us who are involved in the true Biblical Counseling movement, we are eternally grateful for the boldness of Adams in speaking truth-hard truth, that had to be spoken, even though it catapulted him into the spotlight of negativity of those who disagreed with him. The book by Adams started the Biblical Counseling movement and Powlison shows how the early years of the movement went through growth and refinement. If you love to read about the history of the church in the 20th century, this is one element that I believe you'll find very insightful."

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powlison begins by listing the genesis of this project. He was influenced greatly by Rosenerg’s “Crisis in Psychiatric Legitimacy and Abott’s System of Professions. Abbott disclosed the the change in jurisdictional boundaries as psychiatry replaced the pastorate as the the magnet for who to see about personal problems. Rosenberg discussed the social legitimacy of psychiatry which depends on its inherent medical identity. He also notes how psychiatry has “been assigned an immense social role in secular America. This profession has assumed responsibility for the varied ills, dysfunctions, and pains of the human soul. Yet the profession’s knowledge and efficacy lag seriously behind its responsibility to provide aid” (6). Many today aren't willing to suffer through anxiety or depression about life any more than they would be to suffer through a physical ailment. Psychiatry has been given the task not only to deal with the mentally ill and socially deviant, but it has also been given the task of dealing with the problems of the everyday rank and file American.

Powlison sketches the lay of the land Jay Adams was entering as he developed a unique system of counseling solely based on the Bible’s teachings. He also presents a few critiques from outsiders on Adams model before laying out twists and turns with the biblical counseling movement since its beginning.

This was a really influential book for me and I thoroughly enjoyed every page. The appendices include some of Powlison’s best written work over the years as well. Any student of biblical counseling will thoroughly enjoy this one.

[Nate Claiborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I was able to read through this book and I found it helpful in several ways. I would count myself as standing in the overlap between the two types of readers I highlighted above. I am interested in promoting biblical counseling and think on the whole, Adams was on to something, and was more or less right about the place of biblical counseling in distinction from what psychologists are up to. I am also interested in apologetics and seeing Adams as an apologist has been informative as well as vexing. I can't say I've come to a firm conclusion about what aspects of Adams to emulate and what to avoid, but it's surely something that'll be rolling around in the back of my mind this summer.

Read the rest of the review on my blog

[J. J.]

Incredible book. Powlison performed a great service in writing this book (which is basically his doctoral dissertation prepared for broader publication). I've been helped immensely by it as we've spent the last two years building and preparing to launch our inaugural biblical counseling ministry training here at Bridgeway. I would recommend following it up by reading Heath Lambert's "Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams" which serves as a chronological sequel of sorts to this book. A nice one-two punch. I would also highly recommend Robert Kellemen's "Equipping Counselors for Your Church" as well as John Henderson's "Equipped to Counsel" training materials (still awaiting publication).

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough about the wisdom of this man. This book is not for everyone - it has a pretty specific audience, it is a specific academically-written history of the moments and thoughts of a specific group of people. But for me this book is one of those rare works I can call seminal - one that not only teaches you, but points you in a direction to a path down which you begin to walk. And it has a lot to do with the man behind the book and all the wisdom he distills into every careful word.

[Gabriel Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! I would recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in the differences between counseling modes ("Christian", "Biblical", "Integration") or to anyone that wants to know more about Biblical counseling. This book is part biography and part Biblical counseling outline and defense.

[Mandy J. Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a deep and challenging read if you are not accustomed to academic reads. However, while the first chapter was a bit dizzying, it quickly got to a historical timeline of Biblical counseling which was fascinating and helpful. Gaining a big picture view of the birth and growth of nouthetic counseling was most helpful in continuing the practice today.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can say this is the most interesting dissertation I've ever read. I actually don't remember whether I've read any others. Anyway, I now feel that I have a good grasp on Jay Adams development of nouthetic counseling and the birth of the Christian Counseling Education Foundation.