The Wonderful Counselor, The Other Counselor, And Christian Counseling -- By: George C. Scipione

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 36:2 (Winter 1974)
Article: The Wonderful Counselor, The Other Counselor, And Christian Counseling
Author: George C. Scipione


The Wonderful Counselor, The Other Counselor, And Christian Counseling

George Scipione

I. Introduction

Who is the greatest psychologist and clinician that has ever lived? Who has contributed the most to our psychological understanding of man and offered the true solutions to his problem? If you are analytically oriented you might name Freud, Jung, Rank, Adler, Fromm, Horney, Sullivan, or Berne. If you lean toward behaviorism, probably you would cast your vote for Watson, Pavlov, Hull, or Skinner. However, if phenomenology is your interest you might advocate Rodgers, Perls, May, Binswanger, or Frankl. Perhaps you might even want to opt separately for a theoretician and a clinician. Your choice is significant because it indicates whom you depend upon for self-understanding as well as psychological understanding in general.

This choice is more difficult since, “a comprehensive view of the development of personality theory must surely begin with conceptions of man advanced by the great classical scholars … and also (must) deal with the contributions of dozens of thoughtful individuals … who lived in the intervening centuries.”1 According to Hall and Linzey, psychology did not originate in the nineteenth century. Although they refer specifically to personality theories, what they say is true for the whole of psychology. Thus, the list of possible candidates increases.

While Hall and Linzey have included men such as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, and Machiavelli, they have forgotten Moses, Paul, Luther, and Jonathan Edwards. The absence of references to Bible characters and Christian leaders is disturbing to the Christian. But most of all, failure to take notice of

Jesus Christ himself is the most serious omission of all. Without question, the choice for the believer cannot be Freud or Skinner; nor can it even be Moses or Calvin. It must be Jesus. He has contributed more to our understanding of who man is and to the solution of his problems than any other. When the nature of the question is understood, the answer is inevitable. Jesus the Christ is the greatest counselor who has ever lived.

While there are those who will admit this to be true, they nevertheless think of Christ as counselor in a naive, unintentional way. This article attempts to show that this is a false understanding of the situation. In it we shall show how the Bible clearly understands and presents Jesus as the greatest counselor.

Certain assumptions have been made. First, the Bible is the Word of God, infallible and inerrant in the autographs, the only rule for faith and practice. Second, man as creatur...

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