I’m continuing to read Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s story of her life and transition from Muslim girl to atheist woman. Very compelling. After becoming a citizen of Holland and entering the political scene, she began to battle injustices and lack of freedom within the Islamic communities in Europe. She describes the reaction from native Dutch who found her abject criticisms of Islam to be offensive. When she spoke out against the government support of Koranic based schools because they limited critical thinking and continued oppressive views of women, the liberal Dutch thought she was giving unnecessary fodder to the hard right or anti-immigrant politicians. Here’s what she said about switching political parties: Continue reading
Multicultural vs. multiculturalism
Filed under Abuse, book reviews, Cultural Anthropology, Great Quotes, News and politics
Christian Counseling or Spiritual Guidance?
Sorry for the absence. Grading and teaching, teaching and grading….soon to be over but not yet.
In chapter 5 of Christian Counseling, Malony and Augsburger address this question: How might Christian counseling help believers discern how faith works out in everyday life? The authors believe, “Christian counseling should provide an opportunity to explore faith in a manner that goes far beyond [living in a christian culture in an unconscious manner].” Using the analogy of walking (casual christian living) vs. hiking, they say, “The task of Christian counseling is to help walkers become hikers.” Continue reading
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Filed under book reviews, christian counseling, christian psychology
Spam!
265 Spam posts since this am. Unfortunately, 3 or 4 snuck through the spam filter and were publically displayed. In my stats box, I can see which links get clicked (so if someone goes to a friend’s site, I can tell that). Sadly, someone clicked their way to porn links in the spam email. So, for now, I will moderate each post to avoid unwanted, tempting links. Your post won’t go up immediately unless you have already been approved by me.
God help us.
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Christian put-downs? Do they fit in the mission of God?
In the world that I live in (theological academia) we engage in hearty discussions about the positions and ideas others put in the public domain. When discussing a theological point, we debate who is the closest to being right and are quick to point out where eminent thinkers have wandered off the path of reason and truth. Most of the time, this is done in the spirit of desiring to have increasing knowledge and wisdom. Well, maybe not most of the time, but at least part of the time. Of course, we usually think that our thoughts and ideas are closer to God’s truth than our counterparts. This is especially true when we begin to think critically about long-held ideas and beliefs–ideas and beliefs that we, along with the majority, held explicitly or implicitly. But something else happens when we find ourselves in the minority opinion. Continue reading
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What is the method of Christian counseling?
In chapter 4 of Christian Counseling, Malony and Augsburger attempt to prescribe what should happen in counseling, “after you say ‘hello?’ In other words, What do you do when the door is shut and there is nothing but space between you and another person?” (p. 26). Note that they do not intend to survey what Christians do, but what they should do.
So, what should they do? The authors suggest that like all counselors, Christians should listen first; advise second. The first part is universal to all counselors, the advising will need to be uniquely Christian. So far, so good. At this point, the authors detour into what behavioral essentials mark the Christian life: prayer, worship, bible study, acts of service to others. The question they undertake is to discern whether these activities are to be part of the counselor’s work with the client. The authors answer both yes and no.
Yes, these behaviors are important in reaching the “master motive” of Christian counseling: increasing and maintaining a sense of God (p. 28). To do so counselors help people encounter (not study) God AND to interpret that experience (just as Moses encounters God at the burning bush, so he also needs God’s words to understand. So, there are explicit uses of prayer, scriptures (not worship as they deem that a church role), and service.
No, the counselor does not always explicitly use these activities. They may incarnate Christ through modeling and not words.
So, how do the authors suggest that be worked out? Intentionality in the following way:
Action 1: Pray for the session prior to meeting with the client
Action 2: Invite the client to pray silently and end with a liturgical phrase such as, “The Lord be with you…”
Action 3: Proclamation: The risen Christ is with us (naming that Christ is present in the session)
Action 4: Creative middle: the heart of the counseling that may be following a particular counseling model. Mostly, there will be searching for insight and moving towards practicing new habits.
Action 5: Committing clients to God
Commentary: If I were more liturgical, I might like this. But I’m not. I’ve never done exactly what they say. However, I think it is helpful to remember why we are counseling (the superordinate goals). And so, I do pray for clients and for wisdom, we do have a middle part, and then we ask for God’s help at the end. My beef with this chapter is that the creative middle is massively important. How does one use the Word there, if at all. How does one listen and advise. Too little is given to that area. I understand that there will be differing opinions but a methodology chapter that focuses on starting and stopping sessions misses much.
What do you think about the essential behaviors of the Christian life? Somehow they cover most of it and yet of course it feels rather thin since lists never convey the rich vitality of living in community.
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Filed under book reviews, christian counseling, counseling skills
Reconciliation Blues at Biblical last night
In last night’s Ethics/Cross Cultural Counseling class we had a phone interview with Edward Gilbreath, author of Reconciliation Blues. I heartily recommend his book. See my side bar for a link to his blog. Here’s a couple of my personal take-aways: Continue reading
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Science Monday: Confidentiality and Teens
Tonight in my ethics class we will be discussing the concepts of privacy, confidentiality, and privileged communications. Such fun topics to scare the students with :).
Counseling teens presents a higher order of stress and confusion when it comes to confidentiality. When should a counselor break confidence with a teen and tell his/her parents something revealed in a session? If she smokes cigarettes? Crack? If he is having unprotected sex? Continue reading
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Filed under confidentiality, counseling science, ethics
What is the substance of Christian counseling?
In this third chapter, the authors consider the substance of Christian counseling. They present the apologetic that all counseling (secular to Christian) is evangelistic in nature. “It is now accepted that all counseling is impositional. Every counselor imposes a point of view on those who come for help. All counseling is rhetoric–that is, designed to influence clients…” (p. 18). They distinguish between overt and covert forms of “evangelism” but contend that all counseling makes metaphysical or quasi-religious claims about the nature of persons and the nature of change. They believe that “sharp distinctions between religious and psychological theories are ill-advised” due to the the subjectivity of theories (p. 20).
Since counseling theory is just that, not something provable in a grand sort of way (neither is it completely without objective data however), both christian and secular counseling theories share some commonalities:
1. Observations (subjective facts)
2. Intervening variables (meanings given to those “facts”)
3. Mediating constructs (higher level abstractions and assumptions made from steps 1 and 2)
So, for christian counseling, we have the intervening variable of God. God is. And God advocates, reconciles, heals and directs.
Commentary: I’m surprised by several things in this chapter. It is good to hear their dictum that all counseling is impositional. I remember saying that in my doctoral program and being pooh-poohed for saying such. Biblical counselors have been saying this for years but it is good for others to “catch up.” I think they are basically advocating a presuppositional view of counseling. There are no “brute” facts but observations that are immediately interpreted and supported by interpretations on a higher scale. Unfortunately, this chapter is quite short and not much in the area of substance as it is supposed to be about. Really, it should be entitled, The starting point of Christian counseling. Further, God is active in our day-to-day lives in the roles they list. But so much could be said beyond their few paragraphs. Next they plan to look at the process of christian counseling.
I’m getting the feeling that this is an apologetic for these two authors to stake their claim. But, it doesn’t have that much substance yet.
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Filed under book reviews, christian counseling, christian psychology
Sandy Cove retreat
Normally, I don’t much enjoy faculty retreats. Now I like the company but it usually entails lots of sitting and takes me away from home. But, this year we are at Sandy Cove (a retreat on the top of the Chesapeake Bay). Had my coffee, paper, bible, etc. this am out on the peaceful dock. Water was calm. Ospreys in their nest; a blue heron picking up fish on the shore. Warm sun at my back. With the exception of not having my wife by my side, it couldn’t get a whole lot better…well the coffee could have been better but I can’t be too picky.
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What is Christian Counseling? Chapter 2
In this chapter of Christian Counseling, Maloney & Augsburger articulate the differences between those who want explicit Christian counseling and those who want Christians who counsel. They detail many reasons why clients seek out Christians. Continue reading
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Filed under book reviews, christian counseling, christian psychology
Musings on Faith and Psychology 