Mark R. McMinn’s (2011) Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling establish a way to bring Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality to Christian Counselors. He introduces a replica of how to integrate the three disciplines in the counseling office. McMinn (2011) contends that many challenges both professional and personal face Christian Counselors on the frontier of interdisciplinary integration. (Interdisciplinary integration, the new emerging frontier for Christian Counselors) therefore, he begins his book by listing the following challenges; (1). Moving from Two Areas of Competence to Three (2). Blurred Personal-Professional Distinctions (3).Expanded Definitions of Training (4). Confronting Dominant Views of Mental Health …show more content…
The concepts are; Prayer, Scripture, Sin, Confession, Forgiveness, and Redemption. The question of prayer has always been somewhat controversial in the counseling arena. One may ask” Should counselors pray with client before a session begin? Some will say yes, because prayer is crucial to every Christian practice, however, others will say no, feeling that counselors should stay away from including spirituality in counseling. (McMinn, 2011 p.77) McMinn states that there are seven different types of prayer Christian counselors can implement while counseling clients. McMinn (2011) concludes that praying silently or outside counseling sessions is not harmful to the client. The second concept McMinn addressed is Scripture use. Although the use of scripture is controversial among some persons, McMinn (2011) stresses the it is a powerful tool and it is our most important technique of perceiving who God is( p. …show more content…
My father and mother would always instruct me how to pray by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Every morning we would go in my parents’ bedroom, get on our knees and begin to pray. This devotional time was spent every morning as soon as we got out of bed. In fact, if we were asleep we were awakening to begin our daily devotion. I remember, my father would begin the prayer and each of us had to lead a portion of the ongoing prayer. My parents always instilled in me that prayer was the key to anything that I wanted to accomplish in life. However, after I prayed, I needed to believe that the work was already accomplished. Growing up in my environment, I could not understand as a child why they would wake me out of the bed in order for to come and pray. Today, I can honestly say I appreciate my parents for showing me the value of prayer. I can relate to the topic of the use of prayer because of a situation which transpired in my life approximately fifteen years ago. I have experienced the miraculous power and the value of prayer. My father was the manager and lead singer of a gospel group. The group would rehearse every Tuesday night with the singers and the musicians which consisted of approx ten members. On this particular Tuesday night after rehearsal, he complained of a slight headache. He didn’t think much more about the headache because he thought he just needed some rest after a long day at
As a Christian counselor, we have the power of the Word on our sides, but so many of us do not understand how to properly apply scripture into the counseling relationship in an effective manner. In Interventions that Apply Scripture in Psychotherapy, Garzon (2005) attempts to accomplish the following; educate individuals on the various techniques one can use to apply scripture, and to encourage and stimulate God ordained creativity in the hopes to create new techniques and methods for applying God’s Word in the counseling relationship.
This is David Entwistle 2nd edition book published in 2010 by Wipf and Stock in Oregon. Entwistle is a Christian and a licensed psychologist; he has affiliations with Molone University in Canton, Ohio serving as chair of the Psychology Department and has taught courses related to his licensed field. This book clearly is not written for any newcomers to religion. However, it was written for those interested in the integration of science and religion. The authors’ purpose for writing this book was to define the relationship between psychology and theology. There are three specific areas this book touched upon to help readers’ better approach psychology and Christianity in a personal and more professional manner: The context of philosophical issues and worldview, to help the readers become aware of assumptions or beliefs- making the reader a more critical evaluators, and to introduce and familiarize the reader with five paradigms for integrating psychology and theology.
This paper will be reviewing the book “Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity: an introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations and models of integration, by David N. Entwistle. As the title states, this book discusses how to integrate psychology and theology. It also dives into to why it is so important to be able to integrate the two. Entwistle explains that just because the two are different does not mean they should be separated and that we have to use both our worldviews. “Weaving together perspectives from psychology and Christian theology can help us understand and appreciate humanity more fully than we could either perspective alone.” (p.3)
David Entwistle's (2010) Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity is geared more towards Christians with conservative evangelical views and provides the reader an outline to different worldview disputes and truth-seeking groundwork that surround the connection that underlies psychology and theology. In addition to analyzing the possible connection of psychology and theology, Entwisle discusses the consideration of integrating Christian faith with the practice of psychology. “Christian understandings of person-hood, the purpose of human life, our need for God, and the ethical teachings of Christian faith are integral to psychology, not merely parallel to it” (p. 199). Entwistle’s viewpoint on this matter is stated clearly. He believes that it is necessary for theology and psychology be integrated in order to fully understand human nature.
Clinton, T. & Ohlschlager, G. (2002). Competent Christian counseling: Foundations and practice of compassionate soul care. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook Press.
In the first chapter of Psychology in Christian Perspective by Harold W. Faw the author talks about psychology as a subject, the different aspects of the subject and how psychology fits into the Christian world. Faw begins the chapter by describing what others think psychology and his views on psychology as well. He describes that “psychology can be described as a systematic attempt to understand human behavior and conscious experience” (Faw, 1995, p. 12). He then goes on to describe the many different types of specialties of psychology which include, neurobiological, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and psychoanalytic. These specialties are then integrated into the Christian worldview. They are all different so they all fit into
As you read through the chapters you can clearly see that there are times when overlapping ideas and thoughts about human-beings can be seen in theology and psychology. Helping readers become more aware and to understand that their presumptions are the basis to these issues and that our understanding between the relationship between psychology and Christianity are based on the assumptions. After reading this book it can be easily seen it is geared more toward students of psychology and other behavioral sciences as well as pastors that may be interested in the integration. Some questions that have arose after reading through this book is as a Christian Counselor, what are the ethical concerns that one may have in using the models of integration? And for pastors or a Christian outside the behavioral sciences, what does this book help them to achieve if they were to follow the models of
There are very many key ideas that were discussed during this interview. The main ideas that were of most interest to me included counseling individuals from various religious and spiritual backgrounds, maintaining one’s safety and the importance of counselors practicing
In this paper two topic from the Psychology and Spirituality course will be discussed in regards to spirituality and their influence on my personal life. I will examine how I have grown and what I have learned from the week on Spring Lake ranch and how I wish to continue moving forward in my attempt to be spiritual and build a closer relationship to God.
However, it does not matter how strong a person’s faith is or how weak a person faith is, everyone in Christian counseling starts off the same. It is a process how a person develops overtime. This is similar to a child learning how to tie his or her shoes. At first they do not get it but overtime, it becomes of habit and the person get better. According to Clinton, Hart and Ohlschlager (2005),” they believe that Christian counselling has to do with and learning applying the principles of the kingdom on living to the chronically sins, fears, failures, and dark areas of our life (p.21). When people are at their lowest point he or she turn to Christ to get the throughout tough times. Furthermore, in chapter two a person learns about the trust and fined our truth. In chapter two it discusses becoming a trust worthy counselor. In Chapter two, I realized that is all about gaining the clients trust. If the client, does not trust the counselor then no typ of relationship can be bonded. The client is in a venerable state and the counselor has to make sure that the can feel free to be
Worthington, E. L. Jr., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. A. (2011). Religion and spirituality. In J. C. Norcross (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press
When it comes to the point of understanding of how Christian counseling can be effective, the accepted requirements for the standards of counseling
Johnson, Eric L. (2007). Christ, The Lord of Psychology. In Daryl H. Stevenson, Brian E. Eck & Peter C. Hill (Eds.). Psychology Christianity Integration: Seminole Works that Shaped the Movement (pp. 42-57). Batavia, IL: Christian Association for Psychological Studies, Inc.
There are also many questions concerning prayer and that is why Phillip Yancey has written a book on prayer—to help struggling Christians with questions about prayer, and how one can find satisfaction when praying to God. Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference helps the reader to face some of
The shepherd and sheep relationship is the best illustration for the relationship between pastor and parishioners. When Jesus asked Simon Peter does he love him three times and said to him “Feed my sheep”, the shepherd and flock relationship has been set. Since Jesus is our good shepherd (Jn. 10:11a), he laid out a good example for us to follow - to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11b) Thus, the wellness of both in and out of the parishioners should always be the concern in the pastors’ hearts. Soul care for the people is essential. Christian friendship is the foundation of Christian soul care. Pastoral ministry including preaching, teaching, and worship forms the broad context of pastoral counseling. Pastoral care is within pastoral ministry but broader than pastoral counseling. God’s love is the source and motivation. Within the pastoral care, there are spiritual direction and pastoral