If you really understand a concept you will have a rich vocabulary for it. For example, when you first become aware of trees, a tree is simply a tree. Later a tree is deciduous or non-deciduous, an oak, an elm, a hardwood, a pine. If the entire world of trees is referred to only as “trees” then we don’t really know the category.
This book tells the personal histories of twelve Christian psychologists. These are “testimonies” that show how intellectual commitments, professional activities and personal life intertwine. These life stories, though engaging, also reveal limitations in the writers’ assumptions about psychology.
Worthington’s book asserts that psychological science can enhance the Christian’s relationship with God. Welch engages this premise from a biblical counseling standpoint while listening carefully to the contributions Worthington offers to the dialogue.
Hurry Down Sunshine is a father’s memoir of his daughter’s disintegration into mania. Ed Welch explores how a story, whatever its underlying presuppositions, can inform us. This story in particular can help us to better understand a profound human struggle. It challenges us to more clearly demonstrate how a biblical worldview engages phenomena not found in the pages of the Bible.
When someone has a problem, most of us would prefer to offer help that intrigues, surprises or at least sounds somewhat intelligent. Philippians 4:6 seems to fall short of these goals.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
So you wake up soon after your wedding day—maybe it was a couple hours after the wedding, maybe a couple weeks—and say, “What have I done?”
There are many painful things we experience in life. This one weighs in as one of the most painful. You feel as though you have just received a life sentence or (maybe) a death sentence. Ironically, though recently married, you feel more alone than ever. Aloneness in marriage is just the worst.
Counselors always talk about listening. We make a big deal out of it and will keep making a big deal out of it.
And sometimes we can almost hear the response, “Okay, I got it. Listen before you talk. Blah, blah, blah. Tell people what you heard them say before you say anything, (which sounds weird and no one would ever do that in everyday conversation.)”
If you study counseling with us and have ever thought this—it is our fault.
Biblical counseling is a hybrid of discipleship and biblical friendship, neither of which can be mistaken for a passing fad. "God has spoken" is the driving principle of biblical counseling. Scripture speaks with great breadth, to all the common problems we all encounter, from loneliness to schizophrenia. God speaks with great depth, getting to the very heart of problems.
Works an extended case study of a depressed woman, unpacking the motivational dynamics for her legalism, self-righteousness and despair. Looks at the misuse of law in the "mental courtroom" of the counselee. Traces the many practical differences between living legalistically and living by faith. Practical applications to counseling depressed people, as well as critique of the inadequate ways typical forms of Christian counseling deal with these issues. A good article to give to critics of biblical counseling.
Someone reminded me recently that I included the word should a few times in a recent book. The person thought this was a bad thing, but I don’t agree. Should is a perfectly fine word.
On that same day I was listening to a married couple when I heard the husband say it.
“I should . . . .”
“Stop, stop, stop,” I blurted out before he could say anything else. Should, I thought, was a dirty word in this case.
Well, which is it? Good or bad? Useful or oppressive?
