Biblical Counseling Series: Caring for Souls Chapter 1 “Matters of Biblical Authority” R

Every day, counselees are miscounseled because secular psychology plagues America and abroad. Secular psychology plagues America and Christian counselors because Christians counselors are too quick to accept postmodern thought into their counseling sessions. When Christian counselor integrate secular psychology into biblical counseling, it can cause average day-to-day citizens to get miscounseled. Dr. Harry Shields, who is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (D.Min) and pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Neenah, Wisconsin, and Dr. Gary J. Bredfeldt, who is the chairman of the department of Educational Ministries at Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, wrote Caring for Souls: Counseling under the Authority of Scripture to help educate readers on the foundational principles of Biblical Counseling. Chapter 1 “Matter of Biblical Authority” basically went through the history of how Biblical Counseling got established. Shields and Bredfeldt went through the different types of Counseling which included Nouthetic Counseling, Biblical Counseling, and Compartmentalized Counseling. Nouthetic Counseling main premise is viewing the Bible as the supreme authority to combat any question that stands in a counseling session. Questions can include: Why I am here? What is my purpose in life? How do I overcome loneliness, depression, anxiety?

The Nouthetic Counselors believe that the Bible is sufficient enough to answer these tough questions. According to Shields and Bredfeldt, Nouthetic Counselors are “found doing battle with fellow believers whom they believe to be seduced by theories of psychology and guilty of compromising the truth of Scripture through the integration of psychological findings in the ministry of counseling.” (Shields and Bredfeldt, 2001, pg. 23).The main proponents of Nouthetic Counselor (Bible only counselors) are Jay Adams, John MacArthur, Ed Welch, Deidre Bodgan, and Ed Bulkley. Jay Adams was heavily influenced “by the theology of Cornelius Van Til.”  Jay Adams coined the term Nouthetic Counseling. Nouthetic counseling “consists of lovingly confronting people out of deep concern in order to help them make those changes that God requires.” (Adams, 2018, para. 3). The Three ideas of Bible-Only approach to counseling is “Confrontation, concern, and change.” (Adams, 2018, para. 3).

The Second approach to counseling is the Bible-And Approach falls under “Christian counseling.” Christian Counseling “combines your faith with the principles of psychology to improve your mental health and relationships. More specifically, this therapy approach uses scripture and biblical teachings to help you deal with life’s challenges.” (Langham, 2019, para.1). Langham believes “The ultimate goal of Christian counseling is to help Christians identify behaviors that are inconsistent with God’s teachings, so they can become accepting of God’s will-even when it’s not their will.” The Christian counselor claim that they hold to God’s Word as Truth, but they still seek other means to counsel that person. Ultimately, The Christian counselors are basically not trusting that the Bible is sufficient to answer any question in a counseling session. This approach is mostly used when a counselee is a non-Christian. Though, the counselor should share the foundations of the Biblical truth with the non-Christian counselee. This is the second approach that Shields and Bredfeldt discussed in Caring for Souls chapter 1 “Matters of Biblical Authority.”

These are the two views that stood out the most while reading the first chapter of Caring for Souls. The Two views are the Bible-Only Approach and the Bible-And Approach.

References

Adam, J. (2018). “What is ‘Nouthetic’ Counseling?” Nouthetic Studies. Accessed August 24, 2020. http://www.nouthetic.org/about-ins/what-is-nouthetic-counseling

Evans, L.(1982). Covenant to Care. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Shields, Harry and Gary Bredfeldt. (2001). Caring for Souls: Counseling under the Authority of Scripture. Chicago, IL: Moody Press.

Langham, Dr. R.Y. Ph.D. (April 19th, 2019). “Christian Counseling.” Therapy Tribe. Accessed August 24, 2020. https://www.therapytribe.com/therapy/christian-counseling/#:~:text=Christian%20counseling%2C%20also%20known%20as,you%20deal%20with%20life’s%20challenges.

Lisle, Dr. J. (October 1, 2010). “Faith vs. Reason.” Answers in Genesis. Accessed August 24th, 2020. https://answersingenesis.org/apologetics/faith-vs-reason/

Zuckerman, Ph.D. P. July 28th, 2014. “What Does ‘Secular Mean?” Pyschology Today. Accessed August 24, 2020. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-secular-life/201407/what-does-secular-mean#:~:text=To%20be%20secular%20is%20to,non%2Dreligious%20groupings%20or%20associations.

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