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(More customer reviews)This book is an effort to bridge psychology of counseling with "moral-spiritual" issues (249). Powlison believes that "sinners sin instinctively," and though external factors such as having a dysfunctional family or experiencing childhood abuse can contribute to sinful desires or actions in adulthood, his contention is that "sin is its own final reason" (206). People have sinful thoughts or do sinful acts because they are focused on themselves rather than God (230).
Powlison points out that "secular psychology" views "human problems" simply as "things that are not working right," this is because the Bible was not utilized to understand the core issue of all humans, which is their "alienation from God" (192). He explains that if sin is seen as a "willed action" then "complex inner troubles" will be classified under "other categories" (194). In fact, psychiatrists will not explain that a paranoid schizophrenic is yielding to sin, but rather he or she is experiencing a psychosis. Powlison states that paranoid schizophrenia is a "defensive behavior" and actually refers to it as the personification of "powerful unconscious defensiveness" (193). Powlison explains that the underlying issues for schizophrenics are pride and "hiding" (195).
Powlison admits that biblical counselors are seen as "bizarre spiritualizers" because they rely on God, repentance, and faith as their main focus in counseling (251). He speculated that the premise of Jay Adams (the founder of Nouthetic counseling movement) was not fully understood when he said, "to be feeling-oriented is the central motivational problem in people" (215). Powlison believes that the problem with current counseling practices is that the counselor is seen as "primary" while God (if He is even considered at all in the process) is usually "secondary" (178).
This book has helped me to understand the stance of Nouthetic counselors, and to comprehend the reason why they say sin is the core issue of human disorders. However, I did not get a clear indication of Powlison's position regarding psychotropic medications. Powlison's perspective on counseling is a good start in the right direction, but his book does not outline the direction. There is something missing. To counter society's view of biblical counselors as "bizarre spiritualizers," Powlison suggests, "We have work to do to protect and build up the body of Christ" (251). This is not a solution-it is merely a generalized statement. In order for others to see biblical counselors as competent practitioners, they need to find a way to truly bridge the gap between traditional and biblical counseling.
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"When our gaze awakens to the gaze of God, we have started to see. Seeing clearly, we can love well."Seeing with New Eyes is collection of essays written over almost twenty years by a respected biblical counselor. David Powlison's articles are Bible exposition, topical essay, editorial, and sermon. All of them show God's gracious self-revelation in Jesus Christ and Scripture. "We learn to see how God sees," writes Powlison. "Learning the gaze of God, we come to weigh life aright. We discern good and evil, fair and foul, lovely and degraded. We become able to pry apart true from false, instead of living in a murk of half-truths and flat lies."This book explores two main topics. - Scripture: God's voice speaks into real life to reveal the gaze and intentions of the Christ who pursues us. How do we embrace, probe, and unravel Scripture?- Understanding people amid their real life struggles: How do we embrace, probe, and unravel the problems of daily life?We learn how to see many of life's struggles through the lens of Scripture, including- Worry- Victimization- Love languages- Biological PsychiatryPowlison encourages readers to "think Christianly" by thinking God's thoughts after him. He asks, "Does God have a take on counseling? Of course, yes, amen." This book seeks to listen, look, and think hard within the patterns of God's gaze.God has the real take on things. And God teaches us his gaze!
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