BOOK COMMENTARY
October 1, 1981
Marital Counseling by H. Norman Wright Christian Marriage Enrichment, $16.95 Reviewed by C. E. Cerling, Jr. Pastor, First Baptist Church Tawas City, Mich. Ministers do more marriage counseling than all the marriage counselors put together. Even today, most major marriage counseling organizations have more members with ministerial training or background than from any other profession. H. Norman Wright has written a book for the minister/counselor who wants to operate from a Christian perspective, but who has found helpful instruction scarce. He focuses not so much on the past as on what people want to see happen in the present and future. The past does not determine what we will be; rather, our choices in the present set our course for the future. The principle "As we think, so shall we be" dominates his thinking. The first chapter of the book briefly summarizes current studies on the family life cycle, but the remainder of the book is extremely practical. His commitment to a biblically based approach to counseling leads him first to examine Jesus' style of counseling, and then to follow with an apologetic for what Wright calls behavioral-cognitive counseling. He says much about feelings- that they are controlled by our thinking but can be overcome by a decision to behave properly. In all of this, he integrates the Bible with the best of contemporary psychology to give an outlook very helpful both for its insight and its practicality. This emphasis on thinking and immediate behavioral change leads to an excellent chapter on emphasizing the positive. Usually when couples come for counseling, the counselor often can expect to be their emotional garbage can during the first session or two. Instead, Wright stresses the importance of ...
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