Abstract
In this book, Virginia Todd Holeman challenges the assumption of a purely secular humanist approach within the practice of clinical psychology and offers a tantalizing model by which counselors can integrate the insights and values of theological traditions into their work as professional care-givers. Noting that counseling psychology has gone through a variety of different incarnations over the past century, which has moved it progressively away from earlier roots in pastoral care and formation, she aptly demonstrates that theology has become largely excluded from serious consideration within counselor training programs across North America. Holeman notes that this has resulted in two specific problems which she encountered within her own counseling practice as she strove to integrate dimensions of her own faith tradition in a theologically meaningful way. First, she notes that her training as a counselor left her ill-equipped to deal seriously with questions of systematic theology. This was further compounded by the reality that both doctrinal theology and counseling psychology have developed different professional “languages” which, at times, have become mutually unintelligible. She relates her own story of how she had to “retrain” herself within the field of systematic theology in order to better grasp the way in which the apparently abstract notions of dogmatic formulae did indeed provide a framework within which to deepen her practice as a counseling professional. She also notes how, within her practice, she encountered numerous individuals who came to her with problems which were framed theologically and for which they were looking for a theological resolution. Pointing to the absence of theologically informed counselor training programs, Holeman makes a plea to practicing Christian counselors to become more theologically informed within their own Christian traditions, and then charts a course for how they might integrate the insights of theology into their work as professional counselors.
Holeman’s work is not a fly-by-night argument. Instead, she offers a model rooted in her own practice using Bowen Family Systems Therapy and then weaves her practice together with the insights of Wesleyan theology. Rooted deeply in an Augustinian–Wesleyan Trinitarian model, she develops a framework for counselor–patient interaction which is respectful of the religious views of both the counselor and client but is informed by a deeply Christian understanding of love and community. She then goes on to draw on the insights of Wesley’s tradition of personal holiness and social justice, carefully navigating away from the Scylla and Charibdis of secular models of the same in order to develop a uniquely Christian and biblical understanding of the counselor’s work in nurturing and deepening the spiritual lives of the client(s) who come to see her. Drawing on specific examples from her own counseling practice, Holeman moves back and forth from theoretical modeling to offering narrative examples of how such an integration of theology and psychology plays out within the counseling relationship. Particularly useful is her discussion of the different layers of theology (or better, “theologizing”) that the counselor encounters within her practice and the need to become attuned to the different ways in which people wrestle with questions of ultimate reality. She then develops this theme together with Wesley’s emphasis on social action as well as an awareness of the Christian life from an eschatological perspective.
While one can certainly take exception to her decision to develop her model along Wesleyan lines, Holeman makes it clear within her introduction that she is not trying to convince her readership of the validity of Wesleyanism over and against other confessional traditions. She states, instead, that she is offering a model which she hopes will serve as a catalyst to encourage a greater dialog between counseling psychology and systematic theology in order to reconnect the two so as to deepen the practice of both. At the same time, she encourages Christian counselors to look to the insights from their own theological tradition, whether it is Wesleyan, Lutheran, or Reformed, in order to become “bilingual” in the languages of both so as to develop what she calls a theologically reflective model of counseling. Holeman is careful not to overstep the boundaries between the counselor as practitioner and the role of the clergy. She argues rather for a collaborative relationship between the two which is rooted in mutual respect. While this study is specifically written by a counseling professional for the counseling profession, her insights are equally valuable for pastoral care practitioners and spiritual directors alike.
All-in-all, this is a useful book for individuals interested in cross-disciplinary interaction between counseling psychology and the theological sciences. Holeman has opened a significant door for people serving in the helping professions to reintegrate two parallel streams of human and social formation into one. Rather than offering a final word on the subject, Holeman’s work is the beginning of a discussion which will, hopefully, continue and bear much fruit. This book is valuable to counselors, deaconesses, and pastors, as well as students who are studying in these fields.