The past few years I have become quite excited about the idea of holistic biblical care. The idea really began to germinate in my heart when a definition of biblical counseling emerged from my dissertation (and reached consensus by top scholars in Christian soul care) that, in part, read as follows:
“The biblical counselor does not ignore physical issues or emotional data, but seeks to integrate them into a holistic understanding of the person and where change needs to take place.” [1]
As I have been preparing my talk for this year’s conference I have come to the realization that emphasizing holistic care really takes us back to the roots of the modern biblical counseling movement. While reading through Jay Adams’ The Christian Counselors Manual, I came across the following:
“It is of special importance to counselors to recognize that focus upon ‘the problem’ to the exclusion of or diminished interest in the rest of the counselees life patterns easily can result in counseling failure.”[2]
He then offers a very helpful diagram to illustrate areas he felt were essential to biblical care that included the whole person:
[1] Jeremy A. Lelek, Biblical Counseling Basics: Roots, Beliefs, Future
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