Christian Psychology
85
model of knowledge and provides an outline for testing
religious truth claims in the mode of evidentialist apolo-
getics. Smith concludes the chapter by briefly surveying
implications of his discussion for bioethics, education,
and public discourse.
A welcome aspect of Smith’s argument against
naturalistic accounts of knowledge is the positive value
that he shows that our knowledge has. Given the scope
and quality of knowledge we may gain, Smith contends
that the one who designed our ability to know reality
“made us in such ways that go far beyond our mere
needs to survive, but also thrive” (204). To illustrate
that our knowing capacities have been designed for
flourishing, Smith considers the kind of knowledge
that is necessary for meaningful personal relationships,
which is certainly an essential component for human
flourishing (228-230).
Of particular importance for the development of
Christian psychology, Smith uses examples explicitly
related to the social sciences. Most poignantly, Smith
uses his own experience of being helped by therapy
to illustrate the inability to naturalism to ground the
possibility of self-knowledge properly (229-230). Since
naturalism struggles with accounting for the intention-
ality of awareness, it seems to preclude being able to pay
attention to states of ourselves such as thoughts, desires,
and emotions. If we cannot access our experiences and
emotions directly, we will be unable to correct our
conceptualizations of them through a healing process
(47-48). Yet, these things are crucial for health and
wholeness, and for healing in therapeutic relationships.
Both theoretically and practically, naturalism fails
to account for the ordinary things we take ourselves
to know and for our epistemic abilities. Certainly a
naturalist may persist, and may make adjustments to
save the theory. Dennett, for example, contends that
our conscious awareness is an illusion. It is difficult
to see how one could live that view consistently, let
alone flourish under such a counterintuitive restriction.
Knowledge is much better than the naturalist can say!
Holeman, Virginia Todd
(2012).
Theology for Better
Counseling: Trinitarian Reflections for Healing and
Formation.
IVP Academic. 208 pp. $20.00
Reviewed by
Michael A. Strating
, Master’s Student in
Adult Clinical Psychology, University of Windsor, ON,
Canada. He may be contacted at:
How does my faith relate to and influence my daily
work? This question is especially important for those of
us who have been called to serve in helping professions.
In working with deeply personal and spiritually-relevant
content, counseling at all levels (be it lay or professional,
Christian or non-Christian) is unavoidably and greatly
influenced and directed by foundational worldview
beliefs and assumptions (Richards, Rector, & Tjeltveit,
1999). So, the question remains, how do our Christian
beliefs and theologies translate into our practice as
counselors and how can we do this more effectively?
These are the essential questions Holeman seeks to ad-
dress in her book,
Theology for Better Counseling
.
Overview & Summary
Why is theology important in counseling? This is the
first issue that Holeman addresses in the opening chap-
ter. Clients often raise theologically explicit or implicit
themes when addressing concerns in therapy (e.g.,
What is the meaning of suffering? Who is God and how
does He relate to me?). Furthermore, when clients are
faced with distressing life events they may be challenged
to reconcile long-standing beliefs with contradictory life
experiences (i.e.
theological disequilibrium
; p. 11) which
may become areas of clinical focus. As such, theology
is not only relevant and applicable, but can also be
very valuable and informative in directing therapy. In
light of concerns that therapists typically receive little
(if any) formal training in theology and even less in its
incorporation into clinical practice, Holeman, therefore,
challenges therapists to be “as well-formed theologically
as [they are] clinically”, especially since they are often
left to work this out largely on their own. The remain-
ing bulk of the chapter is then dedicated to outlining
Holeman’s own theological commitments, surveying
the current state of theological integration in Christian
education programs, and introducing theology and
theological reflection in terms of what it is, its role, and
its purposes and prerequisites.
Chapter two outlines a theoretical framework,
describing elements of theologically reflective counsel-
ing; what it looks like and what to look for. After a
brief overview of the history of integration, Holeman
describes ways therapists can prepare themselves to be
theologically reflective counselors and how this plays
into the process of therapy. A four-component meta-
model of counseling process – applicable across thera-
peutic modalities and specific theological propositions
– is presented which involves: 1) attending to theologi-
cal echoes, 2) addressing salient theological themes, 3)
aligning areas of life to be more theologically congru-
ent, and 4) attaining a deeper Christian character.
After further elaboration on each of these components,
themes that arise repeatedly throughout the remain-
der of the book related to hermeneutical and ethical
considerations are introduced and addressed. Together,
these first two chapters form the essential theoretical
backbone for the remainder of the book.
Drawing from Wesleyan theology, psychological
research, and clinical experience, Holeman dedicates the
remaining five chapters of
Theology for Better Counseling
to the application of this framework using specific theo-
logical themes and ideas. Chapters focus on the follow-
ing themes: the Trinity and common factors (Chapter
