Theology of Christian Counseling

As a Biblical Counselor and faculty in Heritage Baptist Institute and Seminary in Houston Texas - This Book is a must for teaching the Theology of counseling to my lay counseling students. Jay Adams helps us to understand the importance of Theology in counseling, and presents it with the very important way to apply it to our lives. This is an excellent book, a must for every Biblical Counselor's book shelf.

This is an excellent text, at any level of education.I can see its use for the Pastor or biblical mind science professional.With this text, one could delve deeper in both theology and applied understandings of the mind.The Autor was authentic--and self aware of his own limitations--and the text's limitations. Principles were, correctly so, dogmatic--but the Author was not the source of dogmatism. In that, the book was balanced.It has biblical depth and exemplifies Christ-centered compassion.There is a fair and balanced analysis of competitive world-views--as it does not twist and distort--but is factual.Biblical salvation and redemption, with the power of the Holy Spirit--is the change agent or agent of change, in sharp contrast to the secular model of subjective moral relavitism.

In, "A Theology of Christian Counseling: More Than Redemption," biblical counseling pioneer, Dr. Jay Adams, offers a solid theological foundation for Christian counseling. As he notes, many people have written theologies, many have written counseling manuals, but until his book, no one in the 20th century had attempted a focused theology of counseling.Dr. Adams discusses the ten classic doctrines of the historic Christian tradition, providing an introduction to evangelical theology. He then relates each doctrine to the field of biblical counseling. As his subtitle suggests ("More Than Redemption"), the Christian life does not end at redemption, but begins there. Thus, much of "A Theology of Christian Counseling" appropriately focuses upon sanctification (the doctrine of the Christian's growth in grace). Adams is at his best here as he dissects the process of putting off the old way (mortification or, as he calls it, "dehabituation") and putting on the new way (vivification or, as he calls it, "rehabituation").In his introduction, Dr. Adams states that "A Theology of Christian Counseling" was meant only to be a first salvo. He asks that others come behind him and develop more in-depth theologies related specifically to biblical counseling. In this sense, Dr. Adams stated the one limitation of his own book--though an excellent start, its breadth of coverage leaves it lacking somewhat in depth of theology and in depth of methodological application. However, as an introduction to the field, there is none better.Reviewer: Dr. Bob Kellemen, author of "Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction" and "Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."