Download Theology and Counseling by Don Hart MRE Often we pay too little

Theology and Counseling
by Don Hart MRE
Often we pay too little attention to theology when we counsel, yet if we fail to bring basic
Christian theology into our counsel, can we truly guide the counselee to
what he needs?
What is theology? The Greek word theologia is derived from theos
meaning God and logia or logos meaning word, discourse, or
reasoning. Augustine of Hippo defined theology as rational reasoning
or discussion concerning Deity. Richard Hooker, 17thcentury
theologian said, “Theology the science of things divine.” Thomas
Aquinas called theology the “queen of sciences."
Theology was science in that it was the pursuit of understanding of what God had created;
and out of that came most of the basic fields of scientific study we have today. For example,
Isaac Newton - dynamics, Robert Boyle - chemistry, John Ray - biology, Joseph Lister antiseptic surgery, and one of the most famous, Louis Pasteur - bacteriology. What did all
these men have in common? They were all Christians.
Aselm, the 11thcentury Archbishop of Canterbury, said, “Faith seeks understanding.”
Simply put, first comes faith, then comes understanding. My definition - Theology is the
study of God’s revealed Word.
How does this relate to counseling?
We study theology in order to know the meaning of God’s revealed Word, and the only
place to do this is in the Bible. Theology gives us the foundation stones of reason upon which
God’s plan of redemption for humanity rests. It is very difficult to pick up a Bible and start
reading with understanding if we don’t have the fundamentals of Christian thought and
reason. Theology organizes the basic principles of Christian thought upon which our belief
system rests. That is the connection between theology and counseling.
Looking Biblically for Answers
Logos also carries the meaning of “answer,” and is identified in the Bible as the Lord Jesus
Christ, the living Word of God, the Creator of all things (John 1:1-3). We can make a
connection to biology as the study of life and Jesus himself is LIFE (Jn 14:6). Regardless of
the subject of scientific study you ultimately wind up with Him (Col 1:16; 2:3; Heb. 1:3b).
Doesn’t it follow then that any and all true knowledge of His creation finally rests on the
knowledge of Christ and His Word? Theology is the conduit to biblical truth.
Why do we point counselees to the Word, both written and living in the person of Christ
Jesus? This is the real answer to people’s problems!
In an article from New life Publishing Group is this statement: Therefore, the most
important of all sciences, or objects of study, is theology, the study of God. In a special
sense, this discipline becomes also Christology, since God was in Christ, and since the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh (John 1:14).