The role of the pastoral psychotherapist requires balance between the individual, the community, and God. Are you ready to take on this challenge? This unique book examines the role of pastoral psychotherapy as it relates to the individual, the community, and God, and describes the process of pastoral psychotherapy in detail. It identifies healing as a mark of God's activity, and then shows how God, through healing, creates communities that ultimately shape the selves and personalities within them. Pastoral psychotherapy is a sanctified act taking place in a sanctified space. It occurs in "sacred space" as defined/created/hallowed by God, the community, the therapist, and the client. The delineating of this sanctified holy space separates what goes on in therapy from the secular, ordinary processes of life. A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces finds God in the creation of each sacred space. Pastoral psychotherapy has developed as a means of enabling individuals and communities to cope with the ills of the modern age. It addresses sin and evil in today's world, changing the way that clients relate to people, ideas, and events in their communities, families, and individual psyches. A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces describes the process of psychotherapy from a theological point of view. It shows how God hallows sacred spaces and explores the power of God to stimulate the search for healing. A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces: explores the sharing of selves as presented by theorists on intersubjectivity identifies the creation of the therapy dyad in the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing on new trinitarian theology explores ways in which therapy both is and is not an extension of the work of Christ shows how God lures us toward spiritual growth links psychoanalysis to the mystical disciplines, interweaving mystical Christianity, object-relations view of psychoanalysis, and process theology Based on the theories of Bion, Klein, Winicott, Bollas, and Whitehead, A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces is an in-depth examination of the intricate interplay of God, community, the individual, and the therapist in pastoral psychotherapy. at www.HaworthPress.com.

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 covers the history of the biblical counseling movement, the core 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.

From a thoroughly biblical viewpoint Eduard Thurneysen probes deeply into the nature and practice of pastoral care. His rich understanding of men, his experience in counseling, and his grasp of theological thought infuse his approach with vitality and truth. As he considers the basis of pastoral care, Thurneysen puts forward the thesis that the purpose of counseling is to communicate the Word of God to individuals. Pastoral care is a ministry along with those of sermon and sacrament; its aim is to lead the counselee back to sermon and sacrament in the worship of the church. Although he does little more than hint at rules and techniques for pastoral care, Thurneysen is greatly concerned with its practical aspects. It is his belief that the care of souls occurs through conversation--confident, open-minded conversation which is founded on the Word of God, informed by prayer, and manifested in active listening to, and acceptance of, the counselee. Thurneysen demonstrates the importance of a knowledge of psychology and the principles of psychotherapy. Depth psychology and psychotherapy deeply enrich our understanding of human nature and serve to communicate the message of forgiveness all the more powerfully. This book provides a critical theological study of the whole field of pastoral care. As a work in practical theology, it will be stimulating and useful to professors of counseling as well as to students in the field. Counselors and pastors will find it helpful because it throws light on the fundamental issues involved in problems which they face in their ministries.

Foundations of Pastoral Counselling adopts a completely new approach to its subject, through an integration of philosophical ideas, theological thought, and psychotherapeutic psychology. The result is a rich, multi-faceted and often surprising discussion about the fundamental issues in pastoral counselling.

In this book David Augsburger discusses the dynamics of pastoral care and counseling across cultural lines. Augsburger combines theology with global perspective and cultural sensitivity to posit an inclusive understanding of pastoral care. This book will be of great interest to pastoral counselors in both academic and practical contexts.

This book is a full scale disciplinary framework for pastoral psychotherapists/pastoral counselors at intermediate and advanced levels of clinical training and also for experienced pastoral counselors and psychotherapists in professional practice. It harvests the great potential of postmodern sensibilities to help, accompany, and support individuals, couples, and families in recognizing and healing especially painful psychic wounds, and/or longstanding patterns of self-defeating relationships to self and others. Pamela Cooper-White's widely praised work, which has always integrated cutting-edge notions from the social sciences into pastoral therapy, here takes a distinctive and promising turn toward the relational and the theological. Pastoral psychotherapy, she argues, needs to find its framework in a strongly relational idea of the person, God, and health. Illustrated throughout by four key case studies, Cooper-White shows in Part 1 how multiplicity and relationality provide a dynamic and exciting way of viewing human potential and pain. In Part 2 she unfolds the practical applications of this paradigm for a strongly empathic therapeutic relationship and process.

An in-depth look at who pastoral caregivers are, what they do, and how and why they do it

Despite astute critiques and available resources for alternative modes of thinking and practicing, individualism continues to be a dominating and constraining ideology in the field of pastoral psychotherapy and counseling. Philip Rieff was one of the first to highlight the negative implications of individualism in psychotherapeutic theories and practices. As heirs and often enthusiasts of the Freudian tradition of which Rieff and others are critical, pastoral theologians have felt the sting of his charge, and yet the empirical research that McClure presents shows that pastoral-counseling practitioners resist change. Their attempts to overcome an individualistic perspective have been limited and ineffective because individualism is embedded in the field's dominant theological and theoretical resources, practices, and organizational arrangements. Only a radical reappraisal of these will make possible pastoral counseling practices in a post-individualistic mode. McClure proposes several critical transformations: broadening and deepening the operative theologies used to guide the healing practice, expanding the role of the pastoral counselor, reimagining the operative anthropology, reclaiming sin and judgment, nuancing the particular against the individual, rethinking the ideal outcome of the practices, and reimagining the organizational structures that support the practices. Only this level of revisioning will enable this ministry of the church to move beyond its individualistic limitations and offer healing in more complex, effective, and socially adequate ways.

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This is the first comprehensive treatment of the relationship between the doctrine of the Trinity and pastoral care and counselling. Neil Pembroke contends that an in-depth reflection on the relational dynamics in the Godhead has the capacity to radically renew pastoral practice. Pembroke applies the notion of relational space to care in a parish setting. The life of the triune God is defined by both closeness and open space. The divine persons indwell each other in love, but they also provide space for the expression of particularity. This principle of closeness-with-space is applied in three different pastoral contexts, namely, community life, spiritual friendship, and pastoral conversations. The specialized ministry of pastoral counselling is the focus in the second half of the book. Informing the various explorations is the principle of participation through love: the divine persons participate in each other's existence through loving self-communication. Pembroke shows how this trinitarian virtue is at the centre of three key counselling dynamics: the counselling alliance, empathy, and mirroring.