Authors and Arguments in Biblical Counseling: A Review and Analysis

In this article, Bill Smith provides insight into his conversion to biblical counseling convictions. Smith discusses his apologetic work to clarify and classify various biblical counseling responses to integration of psychology and Scripture. He starts by looking at various authors who have written defenses of biblical counseling or critiques of modern psychologies (Adams, Vitz, Kilpatrick, Bobgan, Powlison Ganz, Bulkley, Owen, and Almy). He identifies each author’s central concerns and arguments, and the audience that each approach is likely to reach. Smith concludes by identifying three areas where the biblical counseling movement needs to improve its apologetic: Our manner and tone needs to be gracious, not belligerent; The art of persuasion need to be refined; and A more consistent presuppositional epistemology needs to control.