Generation To Generation Friedman Summary

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Generation to Generation
Family Process In Church and Synagogue
Edwin H. Friedman “Generation to Generation” is a great book that was written to help pastors understand and better help families in a counseling setting. Edwin H. Friedman also applies all of his information in dealing with congregations. From the outset of the book Friedman states that his argument is, “all [clergy] are simultaneously involved in three distinctive families… the families with the congregation, our congregations, and our own.”(Friedman, pg. 1) With this as the clear purpose Friedman does a great job of walking us through this idea, by breaking down each point, and interjecting enough case study to make it easy to understand.
The book is broken up into four sections. Family Theory, The Families within the Congregation, The Congregation as a Family
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This way we order things is as important in family counseling as anything else. According to Friedman systems thinking “focuses less on content and more on processes that govern the data.”(pg.15) This idea gives us a glimpse into process that is important. We data is present it can be processed in many different ways. A great example is if giving the numbers 2 and 3 you have data. Now, what processes are you suppose to us with that data, addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Depending in the process we use will depend on the answer you get. Systems thinking forces us to not only look at the information, but also see how it is …show more content…
They are as follows: The Identified Patient, homeostasis, differentiation of self, the extended family, and emotional triangle.
Friedman takes the rest of the chapter to really break down each of these concepts. He does a great job of giving insight on how each concept can be beneficial in the counseling

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