2009 - 2010 Academic Catalog - Westminster Theological Seminary

{Course Descriptions}
Practical Theology – D.Min. Modules
Module PC 2 Methods of Biblical Change and
Interacting with Psychology
This module is divided into the following segments:
Methods of Biblical Change
Purpose:
• To equip students to teach counseling methods in their church
• To help students develop a functional
biblical counseling worldview
• To help students understand the importance of
heart change as a methodological goal
• To develop an understanding of the role
of Scripture in biblical counseling
• To highlight and practice the critical skills of
effectiveness in biblical counseling
Topics covered include how to build a counseling relationship, how
to gather and interpret data, how to function as an agent of repentance,
and how to guide and assist others as they seek to apply
change to daily life.
Theology and Secular Psychology
Purpose:
• To teach students how to understand psychologists’
observations, theories, and practices, and how to
engage them critically, humbly, and lovingly
• To reinterpret through a redemptive gaze the things that
psychologists see most clearly and care about most deeply
• To understand where biblical counseling fits in our
cultural context, both within the evangelical church
and within the surrounding mental health system
Topics covered include the skills of reinterpretation and redemptive
interaction; historical overview of the biblical counseling and
the evangelical psychotherapy movements; the lay of the land
in contemporary counseling; assessment of motivation theories
and self-esteem theory; and primary source readings from a half
dozen representative psychologists, ranging from high culture to
self-help.
Module PC 3 Family Counseling, Public Ministry
of the Word, and Lay Ministry
This module is divided into the following segments:
Marriage Counseling
Purpose:
• To help students develop a rich, biblical theological
view of marriage and relationships that challenges
popular goals for marriage/relationship counseling
and provides powerful hope and direction
• To provide students with conceptual and methodological
tools for marriage counseling that are rooted in a
biblical worldview of marriage and that recognize
the unique challenges of marriage counseling
• To interact with prevailing secular models of
marriage counseling within a biblical worldview
• To begin to develop the ability to offer relational
skills within a larger context of heart change
• To consider current marriage problem
areas impacting the church
Topics covered include a biblical theological review of marriage
and relationships; and an introduction to systems theory, gender
differences, communication, conflict, divorce counseling, spouse
abuse, and step-families. Counseling videos will be used to help
the student gain a sense of the counseling process.
Counseling in the Local Church
Purpose:
• To broaden students’ understanding of
counseling to include all relationships
• To build a thoroughly biblical understanding of the local church
as a ministering community where everyone plays a part
• To help students find their place of ministry within the
context of the local church and to help others do the same
• To see the importance of both public and private
ministry of the Word and how they interrelate
• To examine present ministry opportunities
2009–2010
137