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Loading... A Theology of Biblical Counseling: The Doctrinal Foundations of Counseling Ministryby Heath Lambert
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  ssimon2000 | May 31, 2016 |  no reviews | add a review
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 unpacks the core theological 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. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)253.5Religions Christian pastoral theology, homiletics and religious orders Pastoral Ministry; Pastoral Theology Pastoral CounsellingLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.33)
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Wikipedia in English
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I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
First some background. As I have mentioned in a few other reviews, I am a Baptist, head deacon at my church, and spend a lot of time studying the Bible in preparation for presenting sermons. My church operates a free seminary, Beth Haven Baptist Seminary, with a primary focus on Biblical counseling. Obviously, this book appealed to me in that I wanted to see what perspective others had about Biblical counseling.
I’ve read many of Heath Lambert’s sermons online, so I am familiar with his writing style, as well as his theological stance on several topics. Primarily, he’s a dichotomist, someone who believes that man is divided into TWO parts: body and soul. This, I believe, is contrary to the Bible, which says that man was created in God’s own image, which is three-in-one (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). This means that man was created in three parts, as well: body, soul, and spirit. Without getting too deep into scripture, there are many instances in both the Old and New Testament that bear this out. Because of Dr. Lambert’s skewed view on man’s makeup, his view on biblical counseling is potentially skewed, as well.
The first line in the book sets his thesis: “Counseling is a theological discipline.” While it may not seem contentious, this is the dividing line between biblical counseling and Christian counseling. Basically, biblical counseling is based on the thought that the Bible is wholly sufficient as a resource for all of life’s troubles, while Christian counseling follows the thought that along with the Bible, out secular resources and techniques must be used to help the one being counseled.
Dr. Lambert sets a foundation early in chapter one about the sufficiency of scripture in regards to counseling. From there he offers some interesting insights into the application of the bible for counseling, but some of the examples are over simplistic. For example, he cites an example of a man whose son died and whose wife left him for another man. Lambert basically counsels the man that he simply needs to let go of his anger and get over it right now. Obviously, this is something that man will be dealing with for years and years, and it’s not something easily overcome.
The other impression I got of Dr. Lambert is his “I’m completely right, and if you don’t believe what I believe about biblical counseling, you will always be wrong.” I can’t cite specific instances I which he says this, but that’s the impression I got.
Overall, this is not a bad book by any means. If you are even somewhat interested in the counseling field, this a good starting point to understand the theology and background in biblical counseling. (