Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 85:1 (Spring 2023)
Article: Distinctives Of Biblical Counseling
Author: Ed Welch

WTJ 85:1 (Spring 2023) p. 101

Distinctives Of Biblical Counseling

Ed Welch

I. A Brief History Of Biblical Counseling

Biblical counseling claims a lineage that goes through the church fathers, the Reformation, the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards and Spurgeon. Although not a new concept, it appeared at a time when pastoral counsel was languishing, and secular theories of the person were shaping pastoral care. This made its voice stand out, at least in some circles. Yet, when it is done well, biblical counseling should sound like a natural, almost ordinary, application of Scripture.

Its recent expression has been pioneered and developed at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) and, as a result, also at Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS), where CCEF has functioned as WTS adjunct faculty within its practical theology department. CCEF was incorporated in 1968 and was initially associated with two men, Jay Adams and John Bettler, who both taught homiletics and pastoral care courses at WTS. Bettler was the first Executive Director of CCEF while Adams focused on writing. Adams’s primary involvement was with the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC), a group whose intent was to certify this new breed of counselors. In 1980, CCEF entered into a contractual relationship with WTS to teach its Doctor of Ministry program in counseling with a new faculty, and that relationship has continued to the present, with the recent focus being the online Master of Arts in counseling.

In the early 1980s, CCEF first identified its work as biblical counseling—little “b,” little “c.” It was a description, not a brand. It was an invitation to a mission: to explore and apply how Scripture, and especially its summary in the gospel of Jesus Christ, speaks with depth to our daily problems in living. The goal was to enrich practical theology and pastoral practice in the church of Jesus Christ. But names also create distinctions. Biblical counseling distinguished CCEF’s

WTJ 85:1 (Spring 2023) p. 102

work from the Christian psychotherapy that was popular in evangelical seminaries at the time, sometimes called Christian Counseling, and it distinguished CCEF from Nouthetic Counseling, which was closely associated with Adams and his book Competent to Counsel.1

The purpose of this article is to draw out what is distinctive about the present practice of biblical counseling. Yet, since the field of biblical counseling is more fully populated now and the label is used for a heterogeneous group, the article will first locate CCEF within this larger group and then move to its distinctives.

II. CCEF Within The Broad Sp...

You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe

visitor : : uid: ()