Page 56 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

Foundational Discussions in Christian Psychology

Phil Monroe (USA)

Comment to „Can Philip G. Mon-

Christian Counsellors roe, PsyD is
Professor
of
do Narrative Therapy? Counseling &
Original goodness instead Psychology at
Biblical Semi-
of original sin as the nary, Hatfield,
PA, USA. He
starting point for therapy directs the MA

and theology.“ in Counseling
program as well as the Global Trauma
Recovery Institute. He maintains a part-ti-
me private practice with Diane Langberg &
I thank Sam Berg for his efforts in raising an Associates.
important question about the starting point for An article by Phil: http://emcapp.ignis.
counselors as they assess and engage their cli- de/5/#/198
ents. The heart of his essay may be found in this PMonroe@biblical.edu
short quotation,
“The question is, how shall we think of the per- Creation vs. Fall Focus?
son with whom we are meeting? Do we see her As a Calvinist myself, I would prefer to nuance
as a lost sinner, or as an image-bearer?” the demon here as a distortion of the doctrine
Sam rightly points out that clients are both sin- of total depravity due to a failure within the Re-
ners and divine image-bearers, yet he argues formed community to emphasize (recognize?)
that clinical assessment and intervention stra- the conspicuous image of God in every human
tegies based primarily on the reality of the Fall being. By total depravity, Calvinists believe that
unhelpfully focus on pathology, ignore hidden original sin corrupts the whole of our beings;
client capacities, root causes and medical model no part of a person and their faculties—body
interventions, and create distance between the and soul—is free from the corruption of sin. Sin
superior therapist and the sinner client. Who is propagated in each generation not merely by
is the culprit in this problem? Interestingly, he learning but first through genetics. However,
points less to the medicalization of psychothe- such a doctrine does not intend to say that hu-
rapy and more to the Calvinist doctrine of total man beings are completely depraved, that every
depravity. This doctrine, from Berg’s point of faculty is as sinful as it could possibly be. In fact,
view, encourages counselors to treat the person Calvin starts out his Institutes by claiming that
as the problem rather than a person with a pro- we can know God by learning about our own
blem. human nature (and vice versa). This would not
Instead of starting with original sin, Berg wis- be possible for sinners if the image of God were
hes to start with original goodness still inher- not still present albeit deformed.
ent in all. We are more than sin. We have the However, I would concur with Berg that some
law of God written on our hearts which gives forms of Christian or biblical counseling do fo-
us direction, values, and standards. Therapy is cus unhelpfully on the sin side of human pro-
not so much a search for sin but reclaiming (re- blems. It appears that in the late 1960s and early
learning?) what has been lost regarding a sense 1970s early nouthetic forms of counseling de-
of personhood. When both therapist and client veloped in reaction against humanistic forms
come to the work of therapy with this in mind, of counseling. Rogerian and Maslowian models
then the work done in session is more mutual, of personhood and change seemed to some to
dialogical, and strengths-based rather than dia- promote pathology as learned behavior rather
gnostic, didactic, and pathology-oriented. than inherent. Incidently, Rogers is well-known

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