The Biblical Counseling Movement after Adams

The Biblical Counseling Movement after Adams is brief look at the history of biblical counseling, and a great primer for those who are new or unfamiliar with biblical counseling. Lambert is a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and was recently elected as the executive director of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, or NANC. In the book, Lambert describes the many developments and advancements made in biblical counseling, from its beginnings with Jay Adams through current leaders such as David Powlison, and Paul Tripp with an eye towards the future of the movement and areas in need of further study and growth.SummaryIn the book Lambert undertakes the ambitious project of surveying the history and development of biblical counseling. He begins by looking back a few centuries to the time of the Puritans. He then traces the use of or rather the neglect of biblical insight in helping people with their problems from the period after the Puritans to Jay Adams and his seminal work in the field. Lambert looks in detail at several reasons for the neglect of God’s Word in counseling in the centuries between the Puritans and Adams. He then spends several chapters describing Adams work and initial development in biblical counseling and from there how the movement has grown and advanced. Lambert initially looks at the changes in how biblical counselors think about counseling itself. In particular Lambert discusses how the movement has advanced in its understanding of suffering and how this affects the counselee. A critique of Adams and the early biblical counseling movement was that it focused heavily on sin and did not adequately address suffering. Lambert goes on to describe how counselors such as David Powlison, Tim Lane and Paul Tripp have worked to develop a more robust understanding of suffering and the counselee. In the same chapter, human motivation is discussed as well as the development of the concept of “idols of the heart.” The book then moves on to discuss how biblical counselors do or practice biblical counseling. Many areas of agreement or consistency are covered before some areas of growth and development are discussed. In particular the idea that the counselor is a fellow sinner and sufferer alongside the counselee is described in the advancement section. The next chapter is about how biblical counselors talk about biblical counseling. It is essentially a history of Adams and current leaders in the movement such as Powlison and examples of their interaction with those outside of the biblical counseling movement, both Christian and secular. Lambert then goes on to discuss biblical counseling’s view on Scripture. In this area though there is little real advancement as the movement has always been thoroughly committed to the sufficiency of Scripture from Adams time until today. Lastly, Lambert discusses an area still in need of advancement. In this chapter he discusses idolatry and “idols of the heart” and how this model for understanding human motivation may be further understood and developed.The Biblical Counseling Movement after Adams serves as an understandable and interesting introduction into the history and advancement of the Biblical counseling movement. In limited space Lambert does a masterful job in developing and tracing both the foundational work and thought of Adams in the field and how the movement how grown, changed and developed over the years. As a student of biblical counseling I found Lamberts survey very helpful in understanding the beginning of the biblical counseling movement and the many areas that Adams was trying to confront. The insight that Lambert gives into the historical situation into which Adams wrote and sought to minister was very helpful in understanding many of the areas he focused on and potential areas of neglect or blind-spots in his work. In discussing the areas of growth or advancement in the movement Lambert also clearly showed just how important many of the current leaders in the movement such as David Powlison have been to develop a more biblically faithful model in helping people work through their problems.One area of weakness in the book was chapter 6 in which Lambert writes about an area still in need of future development in biblical counseling. I found Lambert’s discussion of idolatry in the Old and New Testament to be very helpful and informative but he then goes on to argue that idolatry as not the root problem and “idols of the heart” as not going deep enough into human motivation. Lambert says that main problem is not “idols of the heart” but self-exaltation or people wanting to be God. I thought that Lambert could be developed his argument in much greater detail, and perhaps in a book length treatment is needed because I failed to see how self-exaltation or people desiring to be God does not fit into the category of idolatry. If idolatry is replacing the true God with a substitute then humans desire to replace God with themselves still seems to fit the biblical description of idolatry particularly Paul’s discussion of idolatry in Romans 1.I found The Biblical Counseling Movement after Adams to be a very informative book. It serves as a great introduction to the history and development of the Biblical Counseling movement. Lambert does a great job in detailing both Adams thought and initial work in the field and also how new leaders have built off Adams work and advanced the movement. Being able to trace how Biblical Counseling has grown and advanced over the years gives both hope and motivation. Hope that God has and will continue to grow and bless this movement that seeks to honor Him and His Word and help His people. It also gives motivation that the work is not done and much more study and thought is needed. Overall the book was very well written and instructive. It gave me a greater appreciation for Adams work, and the many leaders who have labored to use the Scripture to give help and hope to God’s people.I am currently a graduate student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and this review was originally written as an assignment for a class.

In a genuine articulation both of his own story and of his colleagues' and mentors' stories, Heath Lambert covers the necessary improvements that have occurred in the biblical counseling movement over the last half-century. Heath Lambert broaches conceptual, methodological, and apologetic advances in the movement after laying a historical foundation of the absolute abandonment of the counseling task by church leadership in the mid-twentieth century. In the pioneering of Jay Adams, Lambert describes the launching of the new prodigal movement that returned many counselor's gaze to the sufficiency of Scripture and to the root of the counselee's difficulties, sin. In further development of the biblical counseling model led by David Powlison, Lambert elucidates an active balancing of the movement, issuing a concern for emphasis on the experience of the counselee and his suffering. Lambert's work is unparalleled in its breadth, as he has quite definitively and successfully identified an evolutionary succession of the biblical counseling movement by delineating first, second, and even third generations of biblical counselors and their contributions in light of the opposition of secular and Christian psychological/counseling models. He composes a crystal clear theological camaraderie among the first two generations and convinces the current, third generation to be catalysts in further advancement. In The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams, Lambert has truly answered the call himself of being a developer and catalyst of the biblical counseling movement by contributing to the awareness and necessity of the counseling task within the lives of his academic peers, church leadership, and laity.In the beginning, Lambert describes the shift in the locus of thoroughly theological counseling from the church towards secular institutions; this progressing from the mid-nineteenth century until its complete relocation in the mid-twentieth century. He explains such a divergence, or theological neglect, in terms of how secular and religious culture and historical events impacted the church's understanding of, commitment to, and development in the counseling task.Jay Adams abruptly entered the scene with a "jaw-dropping" resurgence of theological and methodological commitment in his Competent to Counsel in the 1960's (35). The entire thrust of Adam's model was a wild pendulum swing away from the dearth of accountability for the responsibility of the counselee in his contemporaries' models. His goal was to see the counselee put away his sin. His approach did just that--not much more than that, in fact. Though Adam's central task was positive, he vehemently opposed fundamentally bankrupt "secular priests" doing the job of the clergy (38). Lambert recognizes that Adams's approach was in need of improvement. However, Lambert also exposes Adams's "historical necess[ity]" in his somewhat staunch, authoritative appeals and less than couth interaction with those of differing counseling models.David Powlison, portrayed as the leader of the second generation of the biblical counseling movement, then builds a more balanced theme of suffering upon Adams's "critical first step" in his development of sin. Powlison and other leaders in the second generation understood that effective gathering of all data in a counseling session meant the biblical task of the counselor identifying with the pain of the counselee. In contrast to the one-dimensional first generation, Powlison's advancement saw the need for the counselee to gain trust in the counselor by developing their relationship--Adams had exerted a more "professional" approach, deemphasizing the emotional connection in the counseling relationship. Powlison developed a viewpoint of "responsibility amid hardship," which retains loyalty to the responsibility of the counselee's sinful behavior without disregarding his painful experiences--a recognizable theme in Powlison's progressive thinking (58). A common theme of the second generation biblical counselors has been how humans, as worshiping beings, exalt, protect, and perfect "idols of the heart."Lambert also discusses advancements in how biblical counselors talk about counseling. He asserts that the first generation biblical counselors had barbarous antics in articulating and defending the biblical counseling model, also that the movement itself was "relatively insular" (101). However, Lambert describes "eight apologetic moments," spanning two generations, and their resulting advancement in how biblical counselors relate to outsiders. Again, the second generation's improvements are easily seen: providing priorities of engagement and demonstrating a positive view of the value of other models. According to Lambert, biblical counselors have the farthest to go in the area of apologetics.In the area of biblical advancement, Lambert opposes James Beck and Eric Johnson's claims by defending that essentially no fundamental change has occurred regarding the sufficiency and centrality of Scripture in the counseling task. He recognizes changes in the methodology of the use of Scripture in the counseling task, but not the necessity and exclusive reliance on it.Lambert expresses need for further clarification and articulation of human motivation. That the heart develops a "need" for idols is indicative of a deeper condition of self-worship; one's sin "has its root in pursuing one's desires above all other considerations" (144). Humans desire equality with God and servitude of others. Lambert notes that a better understanding of pride, people, sin, and repentance, along with compassionate counseling and protection against idol-hunts and introspection will serve to advance the biblical counseling movement in critical ways including the competency of the counselor.Lambert's book is profitable in that it is clear, purposeful, and relevant in carefully uncovering the changes and developments of the biblical counseling movement. He seems to engage well with the history of the movement, highlighting important details of the need for the inauguration of the movement as well as the setting in which it began. His objective comments on Adams's aggressiveness are complemented by his deep appreciation for Adams's labor. Lambert is careful to attribute positive awareness of Adams's task, giving him credit for his achievements and defending him against overly critical opposition.The structure of the book is helpful and well organized as Lambert's thoughts articulate major issues integral to the contemporary conceptions of the biblical counseling movement. That he includes the relationship of the counselee with the counselor demonstrates Lambert's insight in the infrastructure of the movement and its current methodological reputation. That Lambert includes the interaction between biblical counselors and others' models is also indicative of a concern for inter-dependencies with proponents of alternative models in the task of the care of souls. He promotes the strategy and need for biblical counselors to develop their own discipline while recognizing and utilizing secular accomplishments. This insightful approach gives great credence to his work.In an effort to delineate historical, theological, methodological, and apologetic advancements, Lambert disappoints in being both negligent of secularist's concerns regarding the movement and bias concerning BC leadership. As this book's purpose is to aid in the advancement of the biblical counseling movement, it is understandable that Lambert would not be clear or in depth in all areas surrounding its issues. However, he proposes the development of the biblical counseling movement and the need for further advancement in it from a strictly one-sided, internal perspective without giving due diligence to the arguments proposed by the outsiders of the movement. One such example is that he fails to mention secularists' non-biblical pursuit of answers to human ailments as contributing to religious or theological counseling's decline. He gives ample room to explaining many secular issues regarding the decline of the church's engagement in counseling, yet he does not explain from a secular perspective how the biblical counseling model deviates from the secular model. Lambert writing from a strictly internal perspective is one of the most critical areas of limitation in the scope of application of his book.Lambert's presentation of Powlison's work is generally overly positive and uncritical. That Powlison wrote a very generous foreword should forewarn the reader of inherent bias concerning Powlison's contributions to the current state of the movement. While Adams's work is dealt with in a fair, respectfully critical way, Powlison's work is seen in a light of almost perfection. It is understandable that as Powlison's pupil, Lambert would write in a positive tone, but in this book, Lambert portrays Powlison as one without functional error. In fact, the only time Lambert describes a weakness of Powlison's model, he immediately praises him for offering a "balanced," "fair" representation of the biblical counseling movement (113). It may be implied that Powlison's work on "idols of the heart" might have contributed to an "idol hunt," or even of a poor articulation of the idol theme. However, that is simply speculation given that Lambert "complements the teachings on the idols of the heart as developed by David Powlison and those following him" (146). The reader may ask a few questions regarding how Powlison is portrayed. Why should Powlison look so good? Does Lambert have an underlying motive of apologetics in his portrayal of Powlison and his work? Is Lambert trying to substantiate the current state of the biblical counseling movement by making Powlison, the recognized leader, look so good? If I was distracted by these questions, surely proponents of alternative counseling models may legitimately be left with these questions and distracted by them while sifting through the book's content.Lambert's work in calling attention to the changes and developments of the biblical counseling movement is well received by a select readership. He cautiously constructs a critique of the first generation in critical areas as well as demonstrates significant understanding of the developments of the second generation in light of current trends in the counseling discipline. His adequacy in contribution to the biblical counseling discipline is both exceptional and limited. I would recommend this book to most biblical counselors and secular psychologists strictly as a history and overview of the main topics of the biblical counseling movement from a biblical counselor's perspective. I would not, however, exonerate it of bias. Its isolated, overly optimistic opinion of current leadership lends itself to scrutiny in alternative models' perspectives, by promoting an imbalanced interpretation of biblical counseling trends. However, I could see tremendous benefit of this book in the hands of first generation biblical counselors, given that they recognize their need of adaptation and adoption of critical necessary improvements in their methodology. In reading The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams, biblical counselors will receive much to apply in the area of fundamental methodology in the counseling task and much to accomplish in the advancement of the biblical counseling movement.I am currently a graduate student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and originally submitted this review as an assignment.