Good reflections, Derek. I’ve been thinking about this lately from the perspective of counseling/psychology. As a Covenant Sem grad, there was a lot of remedial education for a stronger, more robustly reformed doctrine of creation, as well as new creation / consummation. This provides a better framework, imho, for contextualization in counseling, as opposed to the nouthetic tradition which could be categorized as confrontational. Do you think the confrontational approach operates from more of a fall / redemption paradigm rather than a more full-orbed creation/fall/redemption/new creation paradigm? If we prioritize sin and grace without the grounding of creation it’s natural that confrontation would be the preferred mode.
Yes. I think you are correct. A Reformed understanding of sin that begins with our fallenness (rather than the goodness of God's creation which is subsequently distorted) ends up producing a much more confrontational posture.
We need the full Christian story (creation, fall, and redemption) in order to properly appreciate common grace, antithesis, and redemption in Christ.
Glad to read your writing, dear brother! Keep it up. Well reasoned and helpful.
Good reflections, Derek. I’ve been thinking about this lately from the perspective of counseling/psychology. As a Covenant Sem grad, there was a lot of remedial education for a stronger, more robustly reformed doctrine of creation, as well as new creation / consummation. This provides a better framework, imho, for contextualization in counseling, as opposed to the nouthetic tradition which could be categorized as confrontational. Do you think the confrontational approach operates from more of a fall / redemption paradigm rather than a more full-orbed creation/fall/redemption/new creation paradigm? If we prioritize sin and grace without the grounding of creation it’s natural that confrontation would be the preferred mode.
Yes. I think you are correct. A Reformed understanding of sin that begins with our fallenness (rather than the goodness of God's creation which is subsequently distorted) ends up producing a much more confrontational posture.
We need the full Christian story (creation, fall, and redemption) in order to properly appreciate common grace, antithesis, and redemption in Christ.