Pastoral Counseling: The Basics

by James E. Dittes

Book Overview

In this invaluable resource for pastors and seminarians, James Dittes offers answers to some of a minister's basic counseling questions: how do I guide counseling conversations yet empower those who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0664257380
• ISBN13: 9780664257385
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Expands the horizons of soul-ful living.

Dittes speaks, and writes, on many levels simultaneously, and in this deceptively short book, he enables ministers, counselors, even well-meaning friends to develop greater sensitivity to the simultaneous practical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those who seek counsel. And in looking closely at the context for counseling, he offers not a how-to book but more of a broader glimpse of what counseling offers, almost a `why-to.' He invites the reader to let go of the anxieties of fix-it perspectives, instead to explore with curiosity the realms of the sacred unknown to which the journey of counseling takes both counselor and counselee. And he affirms the central loving mystery of the Spirit which grounds the counselor and guides the counselee. A joy to receive, in shorthand, some accumulated wisdom of a masterful teacher and mentor.