The Minister as Diagnostician Quotes

“He was a penetrating diagnostician who went well beyond surface impressions. He distinguished between good and poor diagnostic indicators and felt that some “signs” are suspect, if not worthless. For instance, he saw no diagnostic value in the mere intensity of affections; he would not take body effects and verbosity as yardsticks of conversion. He distrusted some clients’ lavish use of Biblical proof texts, and saw no diagnostic value in the mere frequency of worship attendance and profuse engagement in God-talk.”
― Paul W. Pruyser, The Minister as Diagnostician: Personal Problems in Pastoral Perspective

“To diagnose means grasping things as they really are, so as to do the right thing. Hence, in medicine, diagnosis at its best entails etiology, for the penetrating view arrives at causes and deals with patterns of cause-and-effect relations in the course of illness.”
― Paul W. Pruyser, The Minister as Diagnostician: Personal Problems in Pastoral Perspective