Theology and Secular Psychology

The following books were used during the 2006-2007 academic year at Westminster Theological Seminary, in the course on Secular Psychology taught by David Arthur Powlison, Adjunct Professor of Practical Theology:

From the seminary catalog:

Theology and Secular Psychology

Purpose:
• To teach students how to understand psychologists’ observations, theories, and practices, and how to engage them critically, humbly, and lovingly
• To reinterpret through a redemptive gaze the things that psychologists see most clearly and care about most deeply
• To understand where biblical counseling fits in our cultural context, both within the evangelical church and within the surrounding mental health system

Topics covered include the skills of reinterpretation and redemptive interaction; historical over view of the biblical counseling and the evangelical psychotherapy movements; the lay of the land in contemporary counseling; assessment of motivation theories and self-esteem theory; and primary source readings from a half dozen representative psychologists, ranging from high culture to self-help.