Christian and Secular Counseling: A Word Study Research Project

Essay by debrawrigleyUniversity, Master'sA, November 2008

download word file, 15 pages 4.5 1 reviews

AbstractSimilarities and differences between Christian and secular counseling will be examined. A biblical word study related to common words used in counseling will be performed. The focus will be on Hebrew translations for the Old Testament and Greek translation for the New Testament and how often the translation occurs in each. Key Bible passages will be identified and explained as related to Christian counseling. Secular and Christian counseling will be compared and contrasted and ethical considerations will be explored. The author's view on secular and Christian counseling will be related as well as future plans and goals impacted by biblical studies thus far.

Christian and Secular Counseling: A Word Study Research ProjectIntroductionThe purpose of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences between secular and Christian counseling and provide insight into counseling styles and methods. A Biblical word study is performed to create a foundation to support Christian counseling. Several on-line sources that include Strong's Concordance and Biblios Concordance were utilized for the word study. The words counsel, comfort, and wisdom are researched employing the Old and New Testament of the Bible.

The Biblical view of counseling is compared and contrasted with the secular view. Pertinent ethical considerations concerning secular and Christian counseling are examined. The paper wraps up with the author's personal insight regarding educational plans and future undertakings in professional counseling that will include how to best integrate Christian and secular practices.

Biblical Words Related to CounselingA word study was conducted to aid in the understanding of a Biblical worldview of counseling. The words counsel, wisdom, and comfort were researched by using the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Strong, 1990) and Biblious (…). The range of situations in which these concepts were used in the Old and New Testaments of various versions of the...