Reclaiming Your Story: Family History and Spiritual Growth

History

Jordan, Merle R.

Middle East

Westminster/John Knox Press

Merle Jordan argues that many people spend their adult lives struggling to distinguish between the imperatives of divine authority and the deeply rooted psychological authority of family structures. Employing the wisdom of his experience as a pastoral psychologist as well as the insights of clinical researchers and therapists, Jordan offers ways to demythologize false absolutes and to refocus distorted maps of reality.

Research in Pastoral Care and Counseling: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

Research in Pastoral Care and Counseling: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

VandeCreek, Larry

Bender, Hilary E.

Religion & Spirituality

Journal of Pastoral Care Pubns

Taking on the Gods explores a clinical theological approach to the treatment of individuals, couples, and families suffering from neurotic styles of life. Merle Jordan exposes the origins of neuroses in idolatry: the substitution of false psychological gods for the true God as the center of ultimate reality. In attempting to earn the approval of these false gods and to escape their harsh judgment, one enters into a second idolatry: becoming one's own Messiah, parts of the self are sacrificed to placate the false gods. The resulting personality distortions are the source of many emotional difficulties. Jordan discusses not only the role of pastoral counselors in helping clients confront their idols, but also the counselors responsibility to recognize their own false gods. Topics covered include: Pastoral Counseling as the Encounter Between Gods, The Implicit Religious Drama in Marital and Family Counseling, The Operational Theology of the “Common Cold” - Depression, and Self-justification Versus Justification by Faith Through Grace. According to Jordan, helping people to 'take on their gods,” to free themselves to experience the loving God, is the heart of the pastoral counselor's task.

Taking on the Gods: The Task of the Pastoral Counselor

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Books by Jordan, Merle R.