The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context - Softcover

David Powlison

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935273132 ISBN 13: 9781935273134

Publisher: New Growth Press, 2010

Synopsis

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.

About this title

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; Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare; The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context; Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness; Making All Things New: Restoring Joy to the Sexually Broken; and God’s Grace in Your Suffering. David was also the editor of The Journal of Biblical Counseling. 

Review:

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. While trying to be open to truth and insight whatever their source, Powlison faithfully argues that the Christian faith must play a constitutive role in building a robust model of Christian counseling. Amen and Amen. --D. A. Carson, Ph.D., Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; author of The Gagging of God, Christ and Culture Revisited, and An Introduction to the New Testament

Everyone interested in the modern biblical counseling movement needs to read this well-researched and well-written book. This is a fair and balanced presentation of one of the most important movements in the evangelical church. Readers will be equipped not only with historical insight, but, more importantly, with wisdom for how to speak the truth in love. --Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., Author of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, and Sacred Friendships

David Powlison has written the definitive account of a biblical counseling movement that arose in the 1960s and continues to influence the field of Christian counseling today. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the rapid and turbulent growth occurring in faith-based counseling in the latter part of the twentieth century. --Ian F. Jones, Ph.D., Director, Baptist Marriage and Family Counseling Center; Professor of Psychology and Counseling, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; author of The Counsel of Heaven on Earth

About this edition

• Publisher: New Growth Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1935273132
• ISBN 13: 9781935273134
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352