Foundations for Soul Care


Book Description

Eric L. Johnson proceeds to offer a new framework for the care of souls that is comprehensive in scope, yet flows from a Christian understanding of human beings--what amounts to a distinctly Christian version of psychology. This book is a must-read for any serious Christian teacher, student, or practitioner in the fields of psychology or counseling.




Competent Christian Counseling, Volume One


Book Description

The authoritative new reference guide that equips counselors, pastors and church leaders, and caregivers for an effective ministry of soul care. Under the guidance of the highly respected American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), more than 40 leading Christian professionals have come together to provide this comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date reference guide for professional and lay counselors, pastors, and leaders in training. Competent Christian Counseling offers you: • the best contributions on spiritual formation and pastoral care from Scripture as well as from giants of church history • the latest research, theory, and successful practice methods in Christian counseling • a practical, 21st century model of Christian counseling that is not only “counselor friendly,” but also facilitates effective, biblical client change--all geared to help people mature in the ways and wisdom of Jesus Christ. Competent Christian Counseling, edited by Timothy Clinton and George Ohlschlager, is destined to be regarded for years to come as the authoritative, trustworthy resource for Christian counseling.




God and Soul Care


Book Description

Christianity, at its heart, is a therapeutic faith. In this companion to Foundations for Soul Care, Eric L. Johnson presents a systematic account of Christianity as divine therapy. A groundbreaking achievement in the synthesis of theology and psychology, this is an indispensable resource for students, scholars, pastors, and clinicians.




Psychology and Christianity


Book Description

How are Christians to understand and undertake the discipline of psychology? This question has been of keen interest because of the importance we place on a correct understanding of human nature.This collection of essays edited by Eric Johnson and Stanton Jones offers four different models for the relationship between Christianity and psychology.




A Theology of Biblical Counseling


Book Description

Since the beginning of the biblical counseling movement in 1970, biblical counselors have argued that counseling is a ministry of the Word, just like preaching or missions. As a ministry, counseling must be defined according to sound biblical theology rather than secular principles of psychology. For over four decades, biblical theology has been at the core of the biblical counseling movement. Leaders in biblical counseling have emphasized a commitment to teaching doctrine in their counseling courses out of the conviction that good theology leads to good counseling…and bad theology leads to bad counseling. A Theology of Biblical Counseling is a landmark new book that covers the history of the biblical counseling movement, the core convictions that underlie sound counseling, and practical wisdom for counseling today. Dr. Heath Lambert shows how biblical counseling is rooted in the Scriptures while illustrating the real challenges counselors face today through true stories from the counseling room. A substantive textbook written in accessible language, it is an ideal resource for use in training biblical counselors at colleges, seminaries, and training institutes. In each chapter, doctrine comes to life in real ministry to real people, dramatically demonstrating how theology intersects with the lives of actual counselees.




Caring for Souls


Book Description

Caring for Souls is a helpful primer on the intersection of psychology and Scripture. How psychology fits into Christianity is a thorny and often confusing subject for many. There is a great deal of disagreement even among experts. In Caring for Souls, Gary Bredfeldt and Harry Shields address the intersection of Scripture and psychology in Christian counseling. The authors address different approaches and analyze them against Scripture, and then provide readers with practical teaching on implementing biblical counseling.




Foundations of Pastoral Care


Book Description

Introduces both clergy and laity to the ministry skills and personal qualities needed to provide effective care for people inside and outside the church...




Care of Souls


Book Description

A practicing psychologist explores the church's role in soul care, advocating a counseling method that anchors modern therapy in timeless biblical principles.




Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls


Book Description

In recent years, many Christian clergy, laity and mental health professionals have rediscovered the ancient practices of spiritual direction. Seen as a refreshing alternative to the techniques and limitations of modern psychology, such practices offer new insights for pastoral care. But many remain unclear on what spiritual direction is and whether its methods are applicable to their own clients and parishioners. Spiritual direction is a practice of Christian soul care that is found most notably in the Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopal traditions but is also present in Wesleyan/Holiness, Pentecostal/charismatic, social justice and Reformed communities. Predating modern counseling and psychotherapy movements but sharing key principles and insights for spiritual formation, spiritual direction offers significant resources for today s pastors, counselors, therapists, chaplains and other caregivers attuned to the work of God in people s lives. In this landmark volume, editors Gary W. Moon and David G. Benner, along with a team of expert contributors, provide a comprehensive survey of spiritual direction in its myriad Christian forms. Specific chapters offer careful historical perspective and contemporary analysis of how Christians from various backgrounds have practiced spiritual direction, with particular attention to each tradition s definition of spiritual direction, the process of authentic transformation, the role of the spiritual director, indicators of mature spirituality and other aspects of the spiritual direction process. Chapters also provide psychological and clinical insight into how spiritual direction is similar to, different from and can be integrated with psychotherapy and pastoral counseling to help others experience spiritual transformation and union with God.




The Soul of Care


Book Description

A moving memoir and an extraordinary love story that shows how an expert physician became a family caregiver and learned why care is so central to all our lives and yet is at risk in today's world. When Dr. Arthur Kleinman, an eminent Harvard psychiatrist and social anthropologist, began caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, he found just how far the act of caregiving extended beyond the boundaries of medicine. In The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor, Kleinman delivers a deeply humane and inspiring story of his life in medicine and his marriage to Joan, and he describes the practical, emotional and moral aspects of caretaking. He also writes about the problems our society faces as medical technology advances and the cost of health care soars but caring for patients no longer seems important. Caregiving is long, hard, unglamorous work--at moments joyous, more often tedious, sometimes agonizing, but it is always rich in meaning. In the face of our current political indifference and the challenge to the health care system, he emphasizes how we must ask uncomfortable questions of ourselves, and of our doctors. To give care, to be "present" for someone who needs us, and to feel and show kindness are deep emotional and moral experiences, enactments of our core values. The practice of caregiving teaches us what is most important in life, and reveals the very heart of what it is to be human.