4MAT Review on McMinn
Stephanie Dooley
Liberty University
Summary This is a review on the book Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling written by Mark R. McMinn, Ph.D. This book is a great resource for someone who has chosen the path of Christian counseling. The author states that the main idea of the book is, “this is a book for those wanting to investigate the frontier of intra-disciplinary integration” (McMinn, 2011, p. 9). McMinn talks about religious interventions as they relate to integration along with challenges that Christian counselor may face. Integration is achieved not only by having a strong biblical and theological foundation but in addition having a person’s spiritual discipline included. …show more content…
I started seeing a Christian counselor when I was in my early teens and my parents starting going through their divorce. I had started to lash out towards my family and was losing faith especially since my they decided to get the divorce, my father stopped attending church. Due to my actions, my mom talked to our pastor and he suggested that I see a Christian Counselor. What stands out the most from my sessions, is the way that prayer seemed to be forced on me during each session. It was like the counselor would not proceed with the session if I did not repent or pray for something and I was made to pray out loud so they would know that I was actually praying. I know that it is important, especially after reading this book, to have prayer and Scripture in sessions, however, the way it was presented made me feel even less of a Christian than I was already experiencing. I feel that when using theology in a psychological session, there has to be balance and used at appropriate times. Looking back at my sessions, I feel that the use of theology was not being used as encouragement but rather to tell me I was doing it wrong and due to this, I feel that it pulled me way more from God and the church. I finally asked my mother if I could start to see another counselor and once I did, I started to see major improvement with not …show more content…
One area that was especially helpful, was the authors focus on making sure that there is a solid foundation in theology and making sure there is adequate training in using Scripture in a counseling practice. One problem with in Christianity is the lack of knowledge when it comes to Scripture and theology. Many just accept what they are told when it comes to theology and Scripture instead of taking time to actually learn about theology and how to properly quote or use Scripture while they are talking. Due to this, Scripture can be misused or misquoted and shows a lack of knowledge of the users part. The author’s advice to make sure a person is adequately trained in these areas is not only necessary but also
Stephanie Dooley
Liberty University
Summary This is a review on the book Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling written by Mark R. McMinn, Ph.D. This book is a great resource for someone who has chosen the path of Christian counseling. The author states that the main idea of the book is, “this is a book for those wanting to investigate the frontier of intra-disciplinary integration” (McMinn, 2011, p. 9). McMinn talks about religious interventions as they relate to integration along with challenges that Christian counselor may face. Integration is achieved not only by having a strong biblical and theological foundation but in addition having a person’s spiritual discipline included. …show more content…
I started seeing a Christian counselor when I was in my early teens and my parents starting going through their divorce. I had started to lash out towards my family and was losing faith especially since my they decided to get the divorce, my father stopped attending church. Due to my actions, my mom talked to our pastor and he suggested that I see a Christian Counselor. What stands out the most from my sessions, is the way that prayer seemed to be forced on me during each session. It was like the counselor would not proceed with the session if I did not repent or pray for something and I was made to pray out loud so they would know that I was actually praying. I know that it is important, especially after reading this book, to have prayer and Scripture in sessions, however, the way it was presented made me feel even less of a Christian than I was already experiencing. I feel that when using theology in a psychological session, there has to be balance and used at appropriate times. Looking back at my sessions, I feel that the use of theology was not being used as encouragement but rather to tell me I was doing it wrong and due to this, I feel that it pulled me way more from God and the church. I finally asked my mother if I could start to see another counselor and once I did, I started to see major improvement with not …show more content…
One area that was especially helpful, was the authors focus on making sure that there is a solid foundation in theology and making sure there is adequate training in using Scripture in a counseling practice. One problem with in Christianity is the lack of knowledge when it comes to Scripture and theology. Many just accept what they are told when it comes to theology and Scripture instead of taking time to actually learn about theology and how to properly quote or use Scripture while they are talking. Due to this, Scripture can be misused or misquoted and shows a lack of knowledge of the users part. The author’s advice to make sure a person is adequately trained in these areas is not only necessary but also