A Disturbance in the Modern Biblical Counseling Movement
Obi-Wan Kenobi, of Star Wars fame, “felt a great disturbance in the Force” when he sensed the destruction of Alderaan. In recent months, I have “felt a great disturbance in the biblical counseling movement.”
A History of Conflict
Historically, it’s certainly nothing new for the modern nouthetic-biblical counseling movement to experience disturbance or tension. David Powlison, in his book, The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context, narrates the story of two famous, or infamous, attempts for early nouthetic leaders and early Christian integrative counselors to come to a meeting of the minds. Unfortunately, each meeting ended with more division than prior to the meetings.
In the 1990s, tensions existed between NANC and CCEF, over several issues, not the least of which was conflict related to a behavioral focus or a heart/motivation focus.
In 2011, Donn Arms posted a scathing review of Heath Lambert’s The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams. Arms went as far as linking Lambert to secular Rogerian counseling.
“While Lambert believes these differences are the result of growth and maturity in the movement, a careful examination of Lambert’s evidence often reveals a departure from what is biblical and helpful and is a retreat
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
