Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fundamentalist Pastoral Care

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion

Overview and Context

Fundamentalist pastoral care refers to sets of helping professions and ministries that derive methods and techniques from biblical exegesis or application within the context of church and pastoral interventions. Adherents to fundamentalist pastoral care practices are often within the spectrum of conservative and evangelical Christian communities which provide care based upon theories such as biblical or nouthetic counseling, and by utilizing practices such as reparative therapy.

History, Introduction, and Definitions of Terms

Christian fundamentalism subscribes to a belief system and is bound to a worldview which describes the Holy Bible as infallible, free from all errors, and true “in all it affirms” (Mohler 2013, p. 36), in part as a response to perceived theological and ethical liberalism (Antoun 2010). This fairly recent viewpoint, known as Biblicism (Smith 2012), also includes the doctrine of perspicuity, which states that Christian Scripture must be able to...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Adams, J. E. (1984). The use of the scriptures in counseling. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antoun, R. T. (2010). Fundamentalism. In B. Turner (Ed.), The new Blackwell companion to the sociology of religion (pp. 519–543). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444320787.ch23.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Augsburger, D. W., & Malony, H. N. (2007). Christian counseling: An introduction. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, G. (2007). Christian counseling: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flentje, A., Heck, N. C., & Cochran, B. N. (2013). Sexual reorientation therapy interventions: Perspectives of ex-ex-gay individuals. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 17(3), 256–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2013.773268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fouque, P., & Glachan, M. (2000). The impact of Christian counselling on survivors of sexual abuse. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 13(2), 201–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/095150700411737.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haque, A. (2001). Interface of psychology and religion: Trends and developments. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 14(3), 241–253. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070110091317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, D. L. (2014). Change in orientation: 1st amendment at issue in ban on gay-conversion therapy for minors. ABA Journal, 100(1), 17–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGeorge, C. R., Carlson, T. S., & Toomey, R. B. (2015). An exploration of family therapists’ beliefs about the ethics of conversion therapy: The influence of negative beliefs and clinical competence with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 41(1), 42–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12040.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McMinn, M. R., & Campbell, C. D. (2009). Integrative psychotherapy: Toward a comprehensive Christian approach. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mohler, R. A. (2013). When the bible speaks, god speaks: The classic doctrine of biblical inerrancy. In J. Merrick, S. M. Garrett, & S. N. Gundry (Eds.), Five views on biblical inerrancy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powlison, D. (2010). A biblical counseling view. In E. Johnson (Ed.), Psychology & Christianity: Five views (2nd ed.). Downers Grove: IVP Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powlison, D., & Coe, J. H. (1999). Biblical counseling. In D. G. Benner & P. C. Hill (Eds.), Baker encyclopedia of psychology & counseling. Grand Rapids: Baker Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, E. R., & O’Brien, B. J. (2012). Misreading scripture with Western eyes: Removing cultural blinders to better understand the bible. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. (2012). The bible made impossible: Why Biblicism is not a truly evangelical Reading of scripture. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, M. D. (2016). A clear and present word: The clarity of scripture. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worthington, E. L., Johnson, E. L., Hook, J. N., & Aten, J. D. (2013). Evidence-based practices for Christian counseling and psychotherapy. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Catholic Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, University of St. Thomas (MN), St. Paul, MN, USA

    William Sipling

Authors
  1. William Sipling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William Sipling .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rhinebeck, NY, USA

    David A. Leeming

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Sipling, W. (2019). Fundamentalist Pastoral Care. In: Leeming, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200057-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200057-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation