Jay E. Adams Critique

     The book, John Adams, by David McCullough, is a powerfully written biography of one of our nation’s greatest heroes. This biography explores Adams’ life in great depth, unveiling a side to his life unbeknownst to those who have never studied his life in great detail. Through diary entries, letters, and various other documents, the reader grasps a sense of what Adams’ day to day life was like, and is also able to grasp the enormity of his lifetime accomplishments.

As the second president of the United States and the first vice president, John Adams had experienced various kinds of lives of different social positions. Adams, in his early years, tried diverse professions like writer, lawyer, public speaker, and congressman. Later, he became one of the leaders of several political fields, such as the American Revolution and foreign relationships, whose contributions had influenced the United States Constitution. "People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity," said by him, John Adams was more admirable to be a political philosopher than a politician. ("John Adams")

Within the psychology field and in society, there is a common belief that theological principles, scripture, Christianity, and psychological principles are not compatible. Instead they believe that modern psychology is secular, scientific, and sacrilegious. However, many Christian psychologists and counselors, organizations and associations such as the Society for Christian Psychology, are striving to unite, integrate and incorporate Christian values, principles and knowledge into modern psychological counseling, research, and practice. Two of the main perspectives that tries to merge the two principles and theories is the Integration perspective and the Christian Psychology perspective.

Ron Hawkins and Tim Clinton (2015), The New Christian Counselor: A Fresh Biblical & Transformational Approach book, is a resourceful guide for Christian counselors. Hawkins and Clinton (2015) state, “that the discipline of Christian Counseling is growing into a solid and substantiated multifaceted scriptural discipline of wide-reaching distinction” (p. 5). Furthermore, the definition of what Christian counseling is has changed over time.

McMinn (1996) uses a cognitive/behavioral approach. Many clients, especially those in the “Bible Belt” seek our Christian counselors. They look for a counselor that will hold them accountable for their actions and make them question themselves. However, I also believe that the counselor must identify when their client is ready for this approach. Too much too soon can lead to dissolution of the counseling relationship. I enjoyed McMinn’s approach to prayer. I agree with McMinn that God is always a part of the counseling session. Without God we cannot experience healing. In my opinion, the way a counselor displays their spirituality and approaches spirituality in the counseling setting is a key factor in how well the counselor can blend psychotherapy

Adams’ son is on his second voyage to France with his father. In her letter, Adams is writing from home to her son addressing his known reluctance of the trip. Adams endeavors to give reasons and her opinion on why traveling on important.

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, on the family farm in the North Precinct of Braintree, Massachusetts. He was the second of five children to his parents John and Susanna Boylston Adams. John's father was his role model because he wasn't only a farmer by trade, but he also took on many other time consuming jobs around the community to help others. Everyone in his hometown in some way dealt with him because he owned the titles of: the deacon of the church, selectman, tax collector, constable, and the lieutenant of the militia. John's mother was from a very wealthy Boston family, but infamous for having a bad temper. She remarried in 1766 following the death of John's father five years earlier due to the flu epidemic. John

Ansel adams and John Davies are both very famous and well known landscape photographers who have very conceptual ideas and techniques in their photography. they are both known for their brilliant black and white landscape photography.

Bob Kelleman, in his book Gospel-Centered Counseling, suggests that a study of human mind is not a product of modern psychology. However, men’s attempt to know and understand human suffering and problems began even far back from Greek philosophy. Thus, Paul rightly says in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (KJV).” However, it is certainly true that rise of psychology in modern era restricted the use of counseling to a secular world, while breaking a tie between counseling and religion in its usage. Secular society claimed counseling has no place in religion, its usage and methodology can be utilized and systemized only by pure science. This is how Christian ministry began to lose a counseling in its domain.

I personally enjoyed reading Entwistles’ book “Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity: An Introduction to Worldview Issues, Philosophical foundations and models of integration. I did have a difficult decipher his “language” and found myself having to read a sentence more than once. I really enjoyed seeing Entwistles’ points about integrating psychology and Christian theology. I realize as a future Christian counselor is will be very important for me to effectively integrate the two and without knowledge on how to achieve that I will not be doing my clients any good. Although I did enjoy reading this book I did feel that there was not enough emphasis on faith and the Holy Spirit. I definitely agree that our worldview influences our perspectives but I also feel that the Holy Spirit is changing those perspectives as well. Because we are humans we have a sinful nature and because of this nature we can only help someone to a certain point. The Holy Spirit is there guiding us and giving us the discernment that we need in difficult situations. I feel that the Holy Spirit should be a key player in any counseling situation and should have been discussed more in this book. I understand that integration was the main topic but our worldview is not the only thing that sways our perspectives. As stated early I really did enjoy reading Entwistles book. I completely agree that we have to be faithful to his

In 2011 Mark McMinn updates his book on Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling, which discloses three important perspectives of Christian counseling. This recently evolving frontier for Christian counselors is what McMinn calls interdisciplinary integration. The relationship between psychology and theology is not the vital key component, but it’s how Christian faith is practiced in counseling. Bringing religion into the counseling office will bring challenges but with personal spiritual training and professional development it can be accomplished. McMinn shares a theoretical map on the prospective values and dangers of using religious interventions in counseling. In the first two chapters McMinn establishes a framework on the variety of religious interventions like prayer, the use of Scripture, forgiveness, and so on. Theses chapters would be part 1 of a 2 broad part that lays down a foundation for the rest of the book. The chapters that follow would be part 2 that explains the indispensable components in McMinn’s methodology to the integration of psychology, theology, and spiritualty in counseling. Psychology, theology, and spirituality is highlighted in the sessions of Christian counseling by guiding the person who reads an insightful understanding of integrating stages of: prayer, scripture, sin, confession,

In this paper, I discussed my personal theory regarding the integration of Christianity and psychology, as it relates to my beliefs, and how the summation of these two components will be reflected in my future counseling practice. I considered several factors that were critical to my personal counseling theory. First, I considered the human personality, such as, individual differences, motivations, and human development. Each person is unique; however, both Christianity and psychology have discovered common threads that are woven throughout the human race, and I believe that information is imperative to the counseling process. Next,

Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by Mark R. McMinn (McMinn, 1996) covers a Christian counselor's life in and out of counseling sessions. McMinn's book is dedicated to recognizing and developing the relationship between counseling and Christian faith rather than a dry Theology. This resource work divides the discussion into 8 chapters, each addressing a vital aspect of Christian psychological counseling and each having a section outlining challenges, methods and anticipated outcomes. The first chapter is co-written with James C. Wilhoit and stresses the importance of the counseling/faith relationship while presenting various challenges confronting the counselor and possible approaches to facing those challenges. The second chapter enumerates the Christian faith's major

McMinn, M. (2011). Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling (p. 254). Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers.

Some people may not be familiar with the true meaning of Christian counseling. Many may think it’s just the pastor giving advice concerning problems within their personal life. Christian counseling can be addressed this way: a discipleship created to assist people to become free to take part of God’s forgiveness, purpose, and power from on high to become sons of the living God (Hawkins & Clinton,2015). When people experience Christian counseling, they have an opportunity in expressing wholeness, spiritual maturity, relational competency, and a stability in intellect (Collins, 1993). Christian counselors desire is like a clergy to assist people with possessing their soul to trust and love God with all their hearts. Hawkins & Clinton (2015)