“Untethered Empathy”
Recently I’ve seen some biblical counselors claim (without documentation) that “the sin of empathy”/“untethered empathy” is a root cause of current problems in our biblical counseling world. It is claimed that empathy is causing counselors to turn to pragmatic secular methods rather than clinging to scriptural truth. Untethered empathy, it is claimed, is behind the failure of some biblical counselors to guard the gates against the onslaught of secular psychology.
Rather than responding purely “emotionally” to this claim, let’s logically and theologically digest and assess this claim.
The (Supposed) Sin of Empathy
The counselors making these accusations seem to be developing their claims based upon the writings of Joe Rigney about “the sin of empathy.”
You can read Joe’s book here: The Sin of Empathy. You can read two recent reviews of Joe’s book here and here. You can read my free PDF here: Empathy Is Biblical. Empathy and Christianity
As near as I can tell, and wanting to represent others accurately, here’s how some biblical counselors seem to be applying Rigney’s thinking:
Empathy can become so untethered from reason/truth that we can’t or won’t discern and stick to true doctrine. We become so emotionally enmeshed
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
