{Book Review} The Gospel for Disordered Lives

B&H Academic is the publisher of The Gospel for Disordered Lives: An Introduction to Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling. It is co-authored by Robert D. Jones, Kristin Kellen, and Rob Green. 

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The Gospel for Disordered Lives: An Introduction to Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling

As a biblical counselor myself, I thoroughly enjoy reading the works of others in the biblical counseling movement. This introduction by B&H Academic is a wonderful addition to the current corpus of literature out there. It offers some features that aren’t found in other books. There’s nothing novel in these pages, but the book provides lots of different elements (found in other books) within one book. To say it another way, the five parts of this book aren’t found together in one book anywhere else. That’s one of the beautiful aspects of this book. The other neat element of this book is that it is co-authored by three counselors who have somehow made this book flow as if it were one author. They did a fantastic job of collaborating on this project. 

As mentioned above, there are five parts in this book. They are:

1. An Overview of Biblical Counseling
2. Theological Foundations for Biblical Counseling
3. The Process and Methods of Biblical Counseling
4. Common Individual Problems and Procedures
5. Counseling Specific Age Groups

There are a total of 40 chapters with part four containing the largest amount of chapters (on counseling specific problems).

I read parts one and two within a few days, and it was a great refresher for me on the basics of biblical counseling. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the Bible and epistemology because our understanding of that subject affects our methodology of counseling.

Part three is a very well-done section with its practical advice on how to do biblical counseling. It includes sections on the process of counseling, homework, counseling non-Christians, and ethical and legal issues.

Part four is the section that I will be returning to again and again. The whole book is an excellent read from cover to cover, but part four will be used as a reference tool by me over and over again (and hopefully by many others). This section deals with anger, worry, depression, suicide, eating disorders, SSA, sexual abuse, and much more. These are 10-12 page chapters that give a ton of information on how to help others dealing with these issues in a very short space. The authors did a phenomenal job in giving biblical counselors a resource to use in caring for others.

The last section, part 5, is very unique, and something I haven’t seen elsewhere. It’s a guide for counseling specific age groups. I’m so glad they included this. 

Conclusion

This book is a must-have for biblical counselors! Whether you’re a new student or an experienced pastor who counsels, this book will bless you and further equip you. I can’t recommend it highly enough! Tolle lege, take up and read! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to B&H Academic for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.