Neil Andersons Discipleship Counseling - Essay Example

?Neil Anderson’s Discipleship Counseling Neil Anderson is a prominent and theologian. He is recognized as the founder and president of Freedomin Christ Ministries, and before was the chairman of the Practical Theology Department at Talbot School of Theology. Anderson’s insights have perhaps best been espoused in his numerous texts. One of the most prominent of Anderson’s books is ‘Discipleship Counseling’. In this text Anderson outlines a number of approaches to encouragement and counseling practices within the contemporary religious ministry. This essay examines background information and major themes within the text. One of the most prominent elements taken from the text was the nature of a balanced existence in God. In these regards, Anderson establishes an approach to counseling that is not simply important in terms of consultation, but also extends to the nature of psychology and meaning. These are extremely important elements in the text and come to constitute a major underlining structure. From the opening chapter, Anderson establishes his approach as antithetical to mainstream notions of psychiatry and psychology. For instance, Anderson informs an elderly parishioner that it is possible that her hospital program is unnecessary. In many regards one considers the New Testament scriptures when examining Anderson’s approach, as he promotes a healing process highly contingent on God’s will. Similarly, in the New Testament Jesus uses natural power to heal disease and various maladies. Consider Mark 2: 10-12 when Jesus heals the paralytic, “So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (‘Mark 2:10-12’). While Anderson is not suggesting individuals are miraculously healed by Jesus he is advancing a more natural approach to health that is influenced by the Christian path. Anderson points out what Christian theologians refer to as natural law Natural law is the understanding of there being a natural order to existence. This is a powerful theme throughout the text as it supplies the philosophical and theological theory behind much of Anderson’s approach. Essentially natural law is a belief that God placed natural ways of being and existence in the world; in not following natural law humans are subject to a number of malfunctions. While the government and society have put forth laws, Anderson notes that in many instances these laws are not in accord with natural law. Anderson believes that society must move back towards accepting natural law as a way of remedying many of the psychological maladies. He promotes psychological practice that advance other means of dealing with life challenges. Another major theme that is prevalent throughout Anderson’s text is the hybridization of secular psychological practices with religious wellness. One of the major notions in these regards is that Anderson does not necessarily reject all forms of medicine or psychology, but notes that many aspects of it do not mesh with proper Christian practice. Throughout the book Anderson presents a hybrid approach to wellness, incorporating both Christian theology and modern empirical research. Within this hybridization, Anderson considers the nature of scripture that indicates that after the fall of Adam “God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women [and men] exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural” (Anderson, pg. 22). For Anderson, this ancient scripture can be combined with an understanding of modern society as a means of diagnosing a sort of nation-wide mental illness. These understandings of existence are opposed to many elements of mainstream society. In addition to natural law, Anderson presents the Biblical understandings of general and special revelation. These are notions of existence that God has established as a means of resisting Satan and following the righteous path. While these are well known Biblical concepts, they are thematically notable in Anderson’s text as they represent an alternative to mainstream forms of practice. Specifically, Anderson indicates that general revelation is the understanding of existence based on psychological research and empirical evidence. In these regards, this is the type of knowledge that is based on science and is generally advanced in mainstream academic institutions. Parallel to this mode of knowledge is special revelation. Special revelation is knowledge that is entirely contingent on Biblical scripture and God’s revelation. While these are mutually exclusive forms of knowledge, for Anderson they can be hybridized through a process he refers to as Christian Counseling. It is this hybridization that constitutes perhaps the central theme of the text. Anderson privileges special revelation as a more authoritative form of knowledge. This is a complex notion and one which one can take issue with as it negates notions of scientific research and the scientific method for a faith in God. One of the main objections that one can take to Anderson’s approach is that it seems to promote an understanding that indicates in following modern medicine or psychological and psychiatric research humans are in-part giving primacy to elements of existence that should in-reality be secondary to God. Rather than adopting this understanding, philosophers such as Kierkegaard (2000) indicate, it is so far from being the case that you should help God to learn anew that it is rather he who will help you to learn anew, so that you are weaned from the worldly point of view that insists on visible evidence. (...) A decision in the external sphere is what Christianity does not want; (...) rather it wants to test the individual’s faith (Kierkegaard, pg. 47). Here Kierkegaard is indicating that while God exists, he does not control the actions of humanity. For Kierkegaard and similar thinkers the human is placed into the world by God, but is given complete freedom as a means of testing their faith. While Anderson does not abandon a notion of faith is interpretation of special revelation and emphasis on natural law promotes a means of existence that is greatly mediated by God’s hand. It follows that rather than helping the individual with psychological issues through an enlightened form of counseling based on scripture, in-part Anderson’s discipleship counseling seems a means of imbuing his own religious and political perspective into peoples’ lives under the auspices of mental health counseling. In addition to Anderson’s alternative and hybrid understandings of psychology, another prominent theme in the text is Anderson’s own interpretation of individual mental health. Similar to Anderson’s notion of the primacy of special revelation, his understanding of mental health is contingent on notions of scripture being primary to scientific understanding. One such example given is that while an individual will reject scientific explanations of evolution, they will nevertheless accept scientific notions of mental illness. For Anderson, the scientific understanding of mental health is just as off-based as the scientific understanding of evolution. Anderson implements scripture in his understanding of mental health. For instance, it’s indicated, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (‘Eph. 6:12’). The underlining theme is that mental health issues are not chemical imbalances or physiological mechanisms (‘flesh and blood’), but spiritual dilemmas. Anderson even goes as far as indicating that the voices some people hear are not directly attributable to schizophrenia, but aspects of these spiritual dilemmas, the means of which can overcome through Christian Counseling. One of the main problems with this theme of Anderson’s thought is that while he rejects contemporary scientific practices, to some extent he uses them to advance his theory of counseling. For instance, he discusses notions of neurotransmitters and neurology and questions elements of chemical imbalance. In many regards, it appears that in avoiding scientific understandings Anderson has merely promoted a sort of psychological mysticism. In terms of Anderson’s perspective on schizophrenia, one might not simply argue that it is off-base, but can be harmful to individuals suffering from this disorder. Science has mounds of psychiatric research that attests to the nature of schizophrenia as rooted in neurological imbalances. For instance, a recent study by Kapur (2009) demonstrated that elements of schizophrenia are attributable to the mind’s faulty interpretation of misfiring dopaminergic neurons. In large part, Anderson almost entirely ignores such modes of psychiatric research for the primacy of special revelation. Ultimately, it appears that while Anderson’s approach to counseling has a number of positive elements, it is too far reaching in its foray into psychiatry. It seems that Anderson would ultimately be better served in adopting a stronger hybrid notion of general and special revelation, without giving one primacy in terms of his overarching understanding of mental health. In conclusion, this essay has examined thematic elements in Neil Anderson’s ‘Discipleship Counseling’. The essay has considered three prominent themes within Anderson’s text, namely alternative and hybrid understandings of psychology, and mental health. In terms of alternative psychology, the essay demonstrates that Anderson presents a vision of existence that is in part opposed to many mainstream institutions; most prominently, Anderson opposes institutional laws that are not based in God’s natural law. The second theme is Anderson’s combination of secular and religious revelation; most notably, Anderson indicates that religious understanding is the more authoritative. Finally, the essay considers Anderson’s thematic presentation of mental health, arguing that is largely based a sort of psychological mysticism. References Anderson, Neil (2003). Discipleship Counseling. Regal. ‘Eph. 6:12’ Bible Gateway http://www.biblegateway.com/ Kapur S. (2009) Schizophrenia. Lancet. 2009;374(9690):635–45. Kierkegaard, Soren. (2000). The Essential Kierkegaard. Princeton University Press. ‘Mark 2:1-12’ Bible Gateway http://www.biblegateway.com/ Read More