Counselling as a Christian Challenge

This book points to the dramatic growth of the counselling profession and claims that it has a particular relevance for Christians. Any failure to acknowledge that fact would be the ultimate betrayal of Christianity today, according to the author. A religion which Christ summed up as serving him in "the hungry, the thirsty, the sick and prisoners" must learn to serve people's needs with the skills elaborated in professional counselling. The question that Andrew Monaghan raises is whether the church has been adequately attentive to the realities of life in the final decade of the 20th century. Drawing upon the insights of modern scriptural interpretation, theology, pastoral practice and the psychology of counselling techniques, the author concludes that many established attitudes must be abandoned as both unhelpful and unchristian. He goes on to give a vigorous presentation of the theory and practice of counselling in the modern world.
 
This book points to the dramatic growth of the counselling profession and claims that it has a particular relevance for Christians. Any failure to acknowledge that fact would be the ultimate betrayal of Christianity today, according to the author. A religion which Christ summed up as serving him in "the hungry, the thirsty, the sick and prisoners" must learn to serve people's needs with the skills elaborated in professional counselling. The question that Andrew Monaghan raises is whether the church has been adequately attentive to the realities of life in the final decade of the 20th century. Drawing upon the insights of modern scriptural interpretation, theology, pastoral practice and the psychology of counselling techniques, the author concludes that many established attitudes must be abandoned as both unhelpful and unchristian. He goes on to give a vigorous presentation of the theory and practice of counselling in the modern world.