JBC Vol. 33 · No. 3 Articles
Editorial: Questions about Questions
Counselors like good questions; they are an essential feature of counseling. Yet Ed Welch has some cautions for us about the number and timing of the questions we ask. In this thought-provoking editorial, he considers how Scripture guides us to the priority of compassionately knowing and responding to people, which naturally impacts our questions and […]
Scrupulosity: When Doubts Devour
In this article, Mike Emlet walks us through the experience of scrupulosity, which is considered a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder. Overly-scrupulous people are plagued by obsessive doubts and worries about their spiritual and moral lives and engage in various repetitive behaviors to try to quiet their anxiety. Emlet identifies the connection between scrupulosity and […]
God’s Providence and Human Agency in Counseling
What is the relationship between God’s involvement and ours in counseling? Does it really matter what a counselor says if it’s God who changes people? Todd Stryd was interested in answering these questions both for himself and for others who do counseling. His study of the matter offers us a theologically rich and helpful understanding […]
Be Like Martha? God’s Invitation to Over-Responsible People
Believers who identify with the biblical character of Martha (Luke 10) tend toward over-responsibility, often finding themselves “busy with many things.” Using this story as an illustration, Laura Andrews flags the flawed thinking and misplaced personal expectations that fuel this tendency. Her article helps counselors identify this pattern and lays out a process to help […]
How to Help Kids with Shame
Parents and counselors often don’t know what to do when children feel inferior, unattractive, or like they don’t fit in. Welch frames these experiences as expressions of shame—something the Bible has much to say about. Through the case study of a young boy struggling in school, Welch invites parents and counselors to see that when […]
Growing in Weakness: A Tribute to David Powlison
This article is a tribute to our late senior editor David Powlison. “Growing in Weakness” is based on a self-counseling project Robinson prepared for one of Dr. Powlison’s classes. In it, she tells the story of how she came to recognize her powerful desires to appear strong, competent, and worthy of love, and how they […]
JBC Volume 33:3 Digital Version
Purchase the digital edition of the Journal of Biblical Counseling volume 33:3. The mission of the Journal of Biblical Counseling (JBC) is to develop clear thinking and effective practice in biblical counseling. We seek to do this through publishing articles that faithfully bring the God of truth, mercy and power to the issues that face pastoral […]
JBC Volume 33:3 Print Version
Purchase the print edition of the Journal of Biblical Counseling volume 33:3. The mission of the Journal of Biblical Counseling (JBC) is to develop clear thinking and effective practice in biblical counseling. We seek to do this through publishing articles that faithfully bring the God of truth, mercy and power to the issues that face pastoral […]
About the JBC
EDITORIAL STAFF
Managing Editor: Kimberly Monroe
Assistant Editor: Lauren Whitman
Assistant Editor: Michael Gembola
Proofreader: Bruce E. Eaton
MORE JBC LINKS
For 40 years, the Journal of Biblical Counseling of CCEF has provided a forum for biblical counseling’s development and application. The mission of the JBC is to develop clear thinking and effective practice in biblical counseling. We seek to do this through publishing articles that faithfully bring the God of truth, mercy and power to the issues that face pastoral ministries of counseling and discipleship.
Our past Senior Editor David Powlison writes, “CCEF works and prays to restore Christ to counseling—and to restore counseling to the church. The Journal of Biblical Counseling serves this mission as a publishing ministry of CCEF. We believe that true, life-explaining insight into people necessarily involves thinking Christianly. Loving, lasting help necessarily involves practicing ‘counseling’ as one aspect of consciously Christian ministry. The deeper you gaze into what actually goes wrong with people—the weight of our sins and sorrows—the more clearly you see that Jesus Christ is essential to making it right.”
The journal includes articles and reviews from CCEF faculty like David Powlison, Ed Welch, Michael Emlet, Winston Smith, Julie Lowe, and more. It also includes other authors in the field including Paul Tripp, Jay Adams, John Piper, Tim Keller, and more.
The Journal of Biblical Counseling (JBC) is currently published three times per year, available in both print and digital subscriptions. The JBC was published as a print journal from 1993-2007 (Issues: 11:2–25:3). From 1977-1992, it was published as The Journal of Pastoral Practice (Issues: 1:1–11:1).