Jesus as Counselor

The focus in these studies will center on the basic principles underlying the specific accounts rather than on the minute details of the event. That is, we will be less interested in the details of the incident in its first century setting than in the relationships between people which are timeless and hence directly relevant. The biblical incidents selected are accepted pretty much at face value, even though modern scholarship makes it clear that the records have suffered in transmission and that authenticity is sometime questionable. Any study of interpersonal relationships necessarily implies both a technique of counseling and a doctrine of man. This study will draw heavily on the approach in psychotherapy evolved by psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., in Vienna, under the name "logotherapy," the "therapy of meaning." Tested in the rigors of concentration camp living, logotherapy offers a philosophy of life and method of counseling which is more consistent with a basically Christian view of life than any other existing system in the current therapeutic world. Although the main purpose of this book is to come to a better understanding of how Jesus characteristically worked with people, the work of Frankl has been introduced in a logical order which sets forth the outline of his therapeutic approach. Thus while each chapter stands as a unit in itself and demonstrates a specific feature of the ministry of Jesus, the unfolding of Frankl's logotherapy provides a unifying strand.