Abstract
This essay, based on David Powlison’s The Biblical Counseling Movement and other works by Powlison and Jay Adams, reflects on the history of biblical counseling, in particular the relationship between Adams and Powlison. It also deals with the connection between biblical counseling and psychology. Concluding with John Calvin’s famous statement about the interconnection between knowledge of God and knowledge of self, it advocates with Adams a clear Christian view of the counseling task and with the later biblical counseling movement a sensitivity to complexity of human issues.