What Does the Bible Teach About the Body, the Embodied-Soul, Traumatic-Suffering, Science, Neuroscience, and Research? 

In 2022, I started collating a list of resources I had produced on Counseling the Whole Person. It started with 15 resources. It keeps growing.

Now in 2024, I’ve crafted this new list, which as of today has 90 resources. I suspect that it will keep growing…

This resource list focuses on:

• The Bible/The Sufficiency of Scripture
• Biblical Counseling
• The Body/The Embodied-Soul
• Suffering, Trauma, and Traumatic-Suffering
• Science, Neuroscience, and Research

In summary, these resources highlight the biblical truths that:

• The Bible is sufficient to teach us how to assess and use extra-biblical information.
• There’s no need to fear research. God’s Word provides the new eyes and new lens through which we evaluate all information.

4 Premises 

Premise #1: God designed us as complex, interrelated body/soul beings—embodied-souls—a body-soul unity, a psycho-somatic unity.  

• Genesis 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

• Biblical Theology: 560 Biblical Passages on Embodied-Souls.

Premise #2: God fearfully and wonderfully uniquely designed each of us.

• Psalm 139:13-16: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Premise #3: In the Creation/Cultural Mandate, God calls His image bearers to be “under-shepherds” (God is the Great Shepherd) and “under-scientists” stewarding His creation. 

• Genesis 1:26-28: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”

• Psalm 8:4-8: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”

Premise #4: The Bible is sufficient to teach us how to use extra-biblical information.  

• Colossians 2:2-10; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; and the Biblical Counseling Coalition Confessional Statement: “Scripture alone teaches a perspective and way of looking at life by which we can think biblically about and critically evaluate information and actions from any source (Colossians 2:2-10; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). When we say that Scripture is comprehensive in wisdom, we mean that the Bible makes sense of all things, not that it contains all the information people could ever know about all topics. God’s common grace brings many good things to human life. We affirm that numerous sources (such as scientific research, organized observations about human behavior, those we counsel, reflection on our own life experience, literature, film, and history) can con­tribute to our knowledge of people, and many sources can contribute some relief for the troubles of life.”  

• Proverbs 6:6, John Piper, and Desiring God: “In fact, the Bible itself explicitly commands us to learn from other sources besides the Bible. And the book of Proverbs is probably the best known for this, like this simple statement in Proverbs 6:6; ‘Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.’ In other words, get out there, find an anthill, and watch those critters. Learn something about diligence in the summer so you don’t starve in the winter. This is just a simple illustration of how the ant is an aspect of God’s general revelation, not special or supernatural revelation. By natural or general revelation, God shows us things we need to know to use the world the way he intended for it to be used. We believe that God’s intentions, revealed in the Bible, are the supreme and final authority in testing all claims about what is true and what is right. In matters not addressed by the Bible, what is true and right is assessed by criteria consistent with the teachings of Scripture.’”

2 “Therefores”  

Therefore #1: Biblical counselors—as under-shepherds—will develop and follow a “theological anthropology”—a rich and robust biblical understanding of embodied-souls that leads to relevant and practical counseling that ministers to people comprehensively—as relational (spiritual, social, self-aware), rational, volitional, emotional, and physical beings—embodied-souls. 

Therefore #2: Biblical counselors—as under-scientists—will use the lens of God’s sufficient Scriptures to carefully assess and evaluate research regarding the brain/body connection and then will potentially discerningly implement interventions that specifically address our embodied nature.

Be Like the Bereans in Acts 17 

I suspect that most biblical counselors would agree with my 4 premises, and with my first “therefore.”

I imagine that some biblical counselors might get nervous about my second “therefore.” As a “movement,” we’ve been cautious—perhaps overly-cautious—when it comes to even considering research findings.

I get it. I understand the cautions.

Because of that, I’ve crafted dozens of resources to help us to be “good Bereans” (see Acts 17)—thinking Christians who search the Scriptures and then use God’s Word to evaluate any extra-biblical teaching—using “the new eyes” of Scripture as our theological lens to assess all information.

Building a Theology of the Sufficiency of Scripture for Biblical Counseling and Extra-Biblical Resources: Free Resources #1-8 

All of the topics outlined in this post relate back to the sufficiency of the Bible for biblical counseling. What does that mean? What does it look like? What are the implications of scriptural sufficiency for how we engage with science and research? The following resources provide foundational teachings on the sufficiency of Scripture for biblical counseling.

1. Scripture and Soul: How to Study the Bible for Biblical Counseling: I could simply “give you a fish” by giving you results of my biblical studies. Or, I could “teach you to fish” by equipping you to do your own first-hand exegesis of Scripture. That’s what this free 24-page PDF provides: a step-by-step process for developing a biblical theology for biblical counseling.
2. 6 Biblical Counseling Convictions: What makes biblical counseling truly biblical? I describe my approach to biblical counseling as seeking to be a gospel-centered/Christ-centered, theologically-saturated, relationship-focused, church history-informed, research-aware soul physician of embodied-souls.
3. 6 Biblical Counseling Convictions: Shortened Version: What does it look like to be theologically-saturated, research-aware soul physicians of embodied-souls?
4. Hebrew Anthropological Terms as a Foundation for a Biblical Counseling Model of Man: This is my Th.M. Thesis (1985)—available at the link above for free. As the title suggests, it explores Old Testament Hebrew terms and develops a four-fold understanding of the overlapping capacities of the soul as relational, rational, volitional, and emotional beings. This thesis focused purposefully on our inner, immaterial nature—the capacities of the soul, and did not focus per se on our physicality. This thesis seeks to make a contribution to the process of developing a robust “theological anthropology”—a biblical understanding of people.
5. What Makes Biblical Counseling Truly Biblical, Part 1: Where do we find wisdom for life in a broken world?
6. What Makes Biblical Counseling Truly Biblical, Part 2: Looking for answers in all the wrong places.
7. What Makes Biblical Counseling Truly Biblical, Part 3: The gospel for real life.
8. What Makes Biblical Counseling Truly Biblical, Part 4: The Bible’s grand narrative.

Outlining the Issues Related to Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls: Free Resources #9-12 

As this header indicates, the following four resources provide an introduction to comprehensive biblical counseling that counsels the whole person. 

9. 10 Questions About Biblical Counseling and Neuroscience: Becoming Soul-Physicians of Embodied-Souls: This post collates my thinking about embodied-souls into a preliminary proposal for what an in-depth book on this topic might look like.
10. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Becoming Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls: This post is a shortened and updated post from 10 Questions About Biblical Counseling and Neuroscience. It provides a book proposal and table of contents for a biblical counseling book on the body and on biological interventions that biblical counselors could engage in as we serve as soul physicians for embodied souls.
11. Comprehensive Biblical Counseling and the Body: Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls: Since the Scriptures provide a robust, comprehensive, sufficient, authoritative biblical theology (theological anthropology) of the Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation of the embodied-soul, therefore biblical counselors must be soul physicians of embodied-souls.
12. More Than Just Willpower: The Bible clearly describes us as much more complex than simply volitional/choosing beings. We are complex, interactive beings. We are embodied-souls embedded-socially in a fallen world system under the prince of the power of the air (Satan).

Collating Biblical Passages and Extra-Biblical Resources: Free Resources #13-20 

The following resources provide collations of biblical passages and of extra-biblical resources.

13. 560 Biblical Passages on Embodied-Souls: Blog Post: I started with 112 passages (see below). After over a year of studying the Bible cover-to-cover, Genesis-to-Revelation, I collated five times as many passages on embodied-souls. This resource is the blog post that introduces this collation.
14. 560 Biblical Passages on Embodied-Souls: Free 87-Page PDF: In this document, you will find seven sections—seven collations of biblical passages. Combined, they contain 560 biblical passages about embodied-souls, covering 87 pages of passages. These passages provide the biblical foundation for developing a biblical theology of being soul physicians of embodied-souls.
15. 112 Biblical Passages on Being Embodied-Souls, Part 1: As the titles suggests, in two posts, I collate over 100 biblical passages that can be used as a foundation for developing a biblical theology of embodied-souls.
16. 112 Biblical Passages on Being Embodied-Souls, Part 2: As the titles suggests, in two posts, I collate over 100 biblical passages that can be used as a foundation for developing a biblical theology of embodied-souls.
17. The Bible and the Embodied-Soul: Free Eighteen-Page PDF of all 112 passages.
18. 60 Christian Books on the Body and Soul (Embodied-Soul): This collation of resources focuses not on articles or blog posts, and not on secular resources, but on Christian books about how God designed us body and soul (embodied-soul).
19. 400+ Resources on Biblical Counseling and Psychology-Related Research: In this resource collation, I am providing 100s of first-hand, primary sources—examples of scientific research, descriptive psychological research, evidenced-based counseling intervention research, and neurological research findings—so you can define them accurately and assess them fairly.
20. 36 Resources on Christianity, Mental Health, and Mental Illness: These resources help us to think through a Christian worldview of what the world describes as mental health and mental illness. 

Building a Biblical Worldview of Biblical Counseling and Extra-Biblical Information: Free Resources #21-31                         

These resources highlight scriptural sufficiency while appreciating the catalytic role of scientific research.

21. A Biblical Counseling Perspective on Neuroscience and the Soul: This link provides you with free access to download a 20-page manuscript of my 2006 ETS (Evangelical Theological Society) paper/presentation. This paper suggests that the history of soul care, historical Christian theology, scriptural exegesis, modern neuroscience, and biblical psychology/biblical counseling all uniteto teach holistic functionalism. That is, a human being is one whole being with a variety of complex functioning capacities—relational (spiritual, social, self-aware), rational, volitional, emotional, and physical—with an intricate, intimate psychophysical interactionism. Additionally, this paper considers what scriptural interpretation and scientific interpretation combine to say about the nature of human nature.
22. Biblical Counseling and Scientific Research: In this post, I use recent research on the serotonin-theory of depression to explore how biblical counselors typically use (or misuse) research (the “co-belligerent” use of research). Then I examine and suggest perhaps a more biblical way for us as biblical counselors to assess, evaluate, and potentially use neuroscience-related research.
23. Biblical Counseling and the “Co-Belligerent” Use of Research: This post is something of a follow-up or further development upon Biblical Counseling and Scientific Research. It further explains and illustrates the dangers of only using secular research that seems to agree with the researcher’s perspective (“co-belligerent” research).
24. 10 Biblical Counseling Concerns About “Bad Therapy”: This is another post that addresses the pitfalls and problems of biblical counselors using “co-belligerent” research—only quoting those who agree with you. Some biblical counselors have applauded Abigail Shrier’s book Bad Therapy because it criticizes some approaches to secular therapy and parenting. I outline ten biblical concerns about Shrier’s book, and describe the dangers of commending this book without also clearly highlighting the secular worldview of the book.
25. Theological Inconsistency in the Biblical Counseling Use of Research?: As biblical counselors, do we sometimes use common grace and the noetic effect of sin inconsistentlywhen it comes to the acceptance or rejection of neuroscience research, descriptive research, and scientific research?
26. Biblical Counseling, Neuroscience, and Descriptive Research Psychology: I derived this post from chapter 2 of Gospel-Centered Counseling: How Christ Changes Lives. It addresses where biblical counselors stand on issues like neuroscience, descriptive research, and psychotropic medications.
27. What Does Biblical Counseling Believe About Extra-Biblical Literature?: Again, I derived this post from chapter 2 of Gospel-Centered Counseling: How Christ Changes Lives. This post highlights the vital question of world-view behind any approach to counseling.
28. Can Biblical Counselors Be Committed to the Sufficiency of Scripture and Use Neuroscience Findings?: This resource provides theological support for biblical counselors using neuroscience findings—under the lens of Scripture.
29. 10 Common Mistakes in Our Biblical Counseling, #6: We Tend To View People One-Dimensionally: This post eventually became a chapter in my book Consider Your Counsel: Addressing Ten Mistakes in Our Biblical Counseling.
30. 10 Common Mistakes in Our Biblical Counseling, #8: We Minimize the Complexity of the Soul-Body Interconnection: This post eventually became a chapter in my book Consider Your Counsel: Addressing Ten Mistakes in Our Biblical Counseling.
31. 4 Reasons Why I Write About Embodied-Souls: Recently, someone thanked me for my posts on embodied-souls, and then asked if I would share what motivates my interest in this topic. In this post, I share 4 Reasons Why I Write About Embodied-Souls.

Building a Biblical Theology of Biblical Counseling: Wisdom Literature, Traumatic-Suffering, and the Embodied-Soul: Free Resources #32-39 

I’ve been examining the Bible cover-to-cover, Genesis-to-Revelation, studying what God’s sufficient Scriptures say about traumatic-suffering and embodied-souls. Here are eight resources distilled from Old Testament wisdom literature in this study. 

32. When Your Counselor Makes Your Life Worse!: This post collates over four dozen examples of poor counseling from Job’s miserable counselors.
33. 3 Major Problems with Elihu’s Counseling of Job: Since God condemns Job’s three miserable counselors, everyone agrees that they are nota model to follow. However, people debate whether Job’s fourth counselor—Elihu—was a good or poor counselor. As my title suggests, I believe Elihu is also a miserable counselor.
34. How Not to Empathize: Job’s Miserable Counselors: Here I outline more unbiblical counsel from Job’s miserable counselors.
35. Psalm 88: “The Dark Night of the Soul.” If Heman Saw a Miserable Counselor…: Reflecting on Job’s experience, I started wondering what it might sound like, and be like, if Heman—the human author of Psalm 88—visited a miserable counselor.
36. If Heman Saw a Comforting Counselor: Here we imagine what it might be like for a human counselor to offer Heman (Psalm 88) a taste of the Father’s divine counsel—our Father of compassion and god of all comfort?
37. Proverbs & Biblical Counseling: Wisdom for Life & Wisdom from Life: Proverbs teaches us not only wisdom for living, but also wisdom from Proverbs illustrates that we gain wisdom for living fromreflecting on our life experiences and from observing life.
38. What Does Ecclesiastes Teach Us About How We View Traumatic Suffering?: When we experience the unrelenting pain of unjust suffering, we either despair as we view life under the sun, or we find hope as we view life in the Son.
39. The Body Keeps the Score; The Embodied-Soul Calculates the Cost: When we experience traumatic-suffering, we either despair when we view life under the sun, or we find hope as we view life in the Son. 

Building a Biblical Theology of Biblical Counseling: The Gospels, Traumatic-Suffering, and Embodied-Souls: Free Resources #40-44 

I’ve been examining the Bible cover-to-cover, Genesis-to-Revelation, studying what God’s sufficient Scriptures say about traumatic-suffering and embodied-souls. Here are five resources distilled from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in this study. 

40. The Gospels and Traumatic-Suffering: This is a free 50-page PDF collation of all my blog posts on the Gospels, traumatic-suffering, and embodied-souls.
41. Jesus: Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls: This post collates and summarizes 102 Gospel passages and 618 Gospel verses where Jesus focused on ministering to, caring for, and healing the body—the embodied-soul.
42. The Chronic Suffering of Jesus: Our Sympathetic High Priest: Here we explore 256 Gospel passages that highlight the life-long suffering of Jesus—our empathetic High Priest.
43. Jesus Empathizes with Your Traumatic-Suffering: This resource applies Gospel passages to our suffering by showing how Jesus sympathizes with our suffering, sorrow, sadness, temptations, trials, troubles, wants, weaknesses, and wailings—physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, and spiritually.
44. 48 Gospel Passages About Jesus and Solitude: Jesus, the God-man, models for us what it means to live a God-dependent life of solitude, rest, renewal, withdrawal for reflection, and dependent prayer to the Father.

Developing a Theology of Common Grace and Biblical Counseling: Free Resources #45-53

In our biblical counseling world, we often tend to ignore, minimize, misunderstand, or misapply the doctrine of common grace. We also tend to provide very limited definitions of common grace. This set of resources quotes leading Reformed theologians on common grace, and it provides resources for thinking through common grace in the biblical counseling world.

45. 7 Reformed Theologians on “Common Grace”: Direct quotes from leading Reformed thinkers about common grace.
46. Herman Bavinck on “Common Grace,” Part 1: Direct quotes from Herman Bavinck about common grace.
47. Herman Bavinck on “Common Grace,” Part 2: Direct quotes from Herman Bavinck about common grace.
48. John Calvin on “Common Grace”: Direct quotes from John Calvin about common grace.
49. 10 Reformed Theologians on Common Grace: Direct Collating direct quotes from Reformed theologians about common grace.
50. Cherry-Picking David Powlison on Secular Psychology and Biblical Counseling: Two very different ways of using (or misusing) David Powlison’s views.
51. David Powlison on Common Grace, Biblical Counseling, and Secular Psychology: Direct quotes from David Powlison on common grace.
52. Biblical Counseling and Common Grace: A Review by Dr. Nate Brooks: The London Lyceum published Dr. Nate Brooks’s review of Heath Lambert’s book Biblical Counseling and Common Grace. You can read Dr. Brooks’s full review here: Biblical Counseling and Common Grace: A Review by Nate Brooks. You can learn about Heath’s book here.
53. 2 (Very Different) Reviews of Heath Lambert’s Book, Biblical Counseling and Common Grace: In this brief post, I share a link to Dr. Nate Brooks’s review of Heath’s book, and I share a link to Francine’s Tan’s review of Heath’s book. I then share 26 Prompting Discussion Questions to extend the conversation about Heath’s book. 

Engaging in Healthy Biblical Discussions about ______-Informed Biblical Counseling: Free Resources #54-59 

There have been many discussions in the past few years among biblical counselors about “informed-biblical counseling.” In the following posts, I engage with this concept as it relates to the sufficiency of Scripture and what Scripture says about the use (or non-use) of extra-biblical resources. 

54. Ponderings About Being a _____-Informed Biblical Counselor: This post started as an 18-tweet thread on Twitter, that I then crafted into a blog post that develops biblical parameters for biblical counselors using extra-biblical research.
55. Clinically-Informed Biblical Counseling: 3 Reflections and 2 Recommendations: In this resource, I encourage all clinically-informed biblical counselors to be theologically-saturated biblical counselors.
56. Non-Clinically-Informed Biblical Counseling: 2 Reflections and 4 Recommendations: In this resource I encourage non-clinically-informed biblical counselors to consider four important biblical truths about their counseling.
57. INC: Informed Nouthetic Counseling: In this resource, I show, historically, that the modern nouthetic counseling movement has always been “informed” by at least five extra-biblical sources.
58. 10 Commitments of Redemptive Counselors/Clinically-Informed Biblical Counselors: While I do not describe myself as “clinically-informed,” I do think it is vital to biblical integrity that we accurate represent what clinically-informed biblical counselors actually believe. In this post I summarize and then link to a statement from clinically-informed biblical counselors where they encapsulate their position.
59. “Buzz Words” (“Holistic,” “Clinically-Informed”) and Humble, Gracious Discernment in Biblical Counseling: Let’s give people a gracious benefit of the doubt by reading what they actually say, without assuming that their use of what we consider a “buzz word” means they are “so-called-biblical counselor” (another buzz word). 

Reflecting on How Nouthetic Counseling Has Addressed The Issues of the Bible, the Body, Research, and Secular Psychology: Free Resources #60-62 

How did Jay Adams and other early pioneers of the modern nouthetic counseling movement address issues such as neuroscience, secular psychology, science, and research? 

60. Jay Adams, Nouthetic Counseling, and Neuroscience: Did you know that in Jay Adams’s first book, Competent to Counsel, he discussed neuroscience and nouthetic counseling? Adams said that “The Nervous System Corresponds to the Nouthetic Approach.” This resource quotes Adams and ponders implications of his views on neuroscience and nouthetic counseling for our views of neuroscience and biblical counseling.
61. Meet the Man Who Influenced the Early Nouthetic Counseling Movement: O. Hobart Mowrer: If the modern biblical counseling movement is to think through if and how we might use extra-biblical resources, then it makes sense to ponder how Jay Adams engaged with secular psychology. In this resource, I introduce you to O. Hobart Mowrer, a secular psychologist who Adams read, quoted, and spent six weeks studying under.
62. 6 Words Describing What Jay Adams and Nouthetic Counseling Do with Secular Psychology: If we are going to discuss how biblical counselors engage with topics like the body, the embodied-soul, descriptive research, etc., then it will help to see how Jay Adams, John Bettler, and David Powlison engaged with these topics at the 25^thanniversary of the launch of the modern nouthetic counseling movement. 

Learning from the Great Cloud of Witnesses: Church History, Soul Care, and Embodied-Souls: Free Resources #63-68 

Biblical counseling did not start in the 1960s/1970s with Jay Adams and the modern nouthetic counseling movement. Learn from the ancient paths of church history how the church has always been about the business of providing hope and help to the hurting and hardened. And learn how the church has always addressed people comprehensively—as embodied-souls. 

63. 17 Resources on the History of Pastoral Counseling, Soul Care, and Biblical Counseling: As the title suggests, this post links to over a dozen resources for learning the two-thousand-year history of Christian soul care.
64. When Did Biblical Counseling Begin?: The answer to this question depends on how we define “biblical counseling” and who is defining “biblical counseling.”
65. Star Wars, Star Trek, and Biblical Counseling: People often talk about three generations of modern biblical counselors. This resource goes back to the generations before the modern nouthetic counseling movement to trace the DNA of historic soul care.
66. 2 Ways of Thinking About Our Biblical Counseling Identity: In this post, we learn 3 central questions we need to address in order to richly answer the question, “Who am I as a biblical counselor?”
67. 6 Lessons from a Depressed Puritan Pastor: I love church history. I believe there is much that we can learn about modern soul care from the great cloud of Christian witnesses who have gone before us. In this post, we learn biblical counseling lessons from Puritan pastor, Timothy Rogers—who endured two long bouts of severe depression, and then ministered to others with similar suffering.
68. Spurgeon’s Depression…And His Body/Brain/Embodied-Soul: Some today falsely proclaim an emotional health and wealth gospel, suggesting that “spiritual people” don’t get overwhelmed by emotions, depression, and anxiety. Spurgeon would like to have a word with those folks. This post gives voice to Spurgeon’s own thinking and teaching about his struggles with depression and anxiety—highlighting his belief that these emotional issues are often tied to biological issues.

Applying Biblical Principles for Engaging with Fellow Biblical Counselors and Non-Biblical Counselors: Free Resources #69-77

The topics I address throughout this resource list are controversial areas of discussion within the modern biblical counseling world. When we disagree with other self-described biblical counselors, how could we handle those differences biblically? Here are nine related resources on this important topic.

69. 5 Biblical Counseling Principles for Addressing Disagreements Among Biblical Counselors: What biblical principles could guide us as biblical counselors as we interact with other biblical counselors—especially with those with whom we disagree?
70. 6 Types of Biblical Self-Examination Questions to Ask Before Criticizing Fellow Biblical Counselors: How should biblical counselors relate to one another when they perceive differences in their biblical counseling views and practices?
71. Are We Reasonable or Unreasonable in Our Interactions in the Biblical Counseling Movement?: Reasonableness is the ability to see the point of view of another and is a command in Scripture (Philippians 4:5). It is a crucial characteristic when good people debate complex matters. It is absolutely necessary in charting a discerning truth-in-love path forward in the modern biblical counseling world as we discuss vital issues of counseling theory (theology) and practice (methodology).
72. 2 Very Different Ways of Reading People We Disagree With: Which approach do we take when we read someone who differs with us, or is from outside our “camp” or “group”? Reading to Learn:Do we humbly read to learn from them? Reading to Debunk: Do we read only to spot perceived errors and weaknesses that we will expose in them?
73. How Biblical Counselors Could Engage Matthew LaPine’s the Logic of the Body: Matthew LaPine takes an exegetical, lexical, and church history view of the teaching of the Bible on the body and emotions. His approach differs from some traditional biblical counseling perspectives on the relationship between the body and our feelings. This post exams how biblical counselors could engage in a fair and balanced assessment with his book—and with other books not written by self-described biblical counselors.
74. 10 Conversation Stoppers in the New “Conversation” Playbook: Many people on social media, blogs, and podcasts claim to want to start a conversation. In reality, they want to start a monologue. They use a number of conversations stoppers to shame others into shutting up.

Of course, I’m not the first, nor the only, or even the primary person asking biblical counselors to consider how we engage with other counseling systems.

75. 3 Nouthetic Cautions about Nouthetic Critiques of Others: From John Bettler: In reading Bettler’s 1987 article, we overhear one nouthetic counselor (John Bettler) offering nouthetic confrontation, not just to Jay Adams, but to the entire nouthetic counseling movement—to “the next generation.” That’s good. Those who give nouthetic confrontation ought to humbly receive and learn from such nouthetic confrontation and caution.
76. 16 Self-Assessment Questions to Ask Ourselves as We Evaluate Other Counseling Models: In our desire to biblically assess counseling models, have we been unfair to the views of others, inaccurate with the text of Scripture, and insensitive to the pain of our counselees?
77. Humility and Charity in Biblical Counseling: A Guest Post by Nate Brooks on David Powlison and Eric Johnson: “One thing I’ve always appreciated about David Powlison was the way he held his convictions. He had strong beliefs, but those beliefs were tempered with the humility to know that he could learn much from others who may disagree.” 

Applying Comprehensive Biblical Counseling to Real-Life Issues: Free Resources #78-84 

The following resources moves from theological foundations to biblical counseling practice. What might it look like to apply a comprehensive biblical theology of embodied-souls in our methodology of biblical counseling?

78. I’m Never More Christ-Dependent Than When I’m Doing Deep Breathing Exercises: This is my most personal post in this collation. As the title suggests, I share about the comprehensive, whole-person, embodied-soul approach I personally take in addressing issues with anxiety, fear, and phobias. The post also provides scriptural support for physical interventions as a part of a comprehensive biblical counseling model.
79. Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes: A Psalm and a Palm: This is a shortened version of my very personal post, I’m Never More Christ-Dependent Than When I’m Doing Deep Breathing Exercises.
80. Anxiety and Our Physical Bodies: God’s Care for Embodied-Souls: I derived this post from my book, Anxiety. It is important to recognize that every emotion involves a complex interactionbetween body/brain and soul/mind. It is dangerous to assume that all emotional struggles can be directly changed by strictly “spiritual means.” We must remain sensitive to physical factors and organic issues that affect people’s lives. It is wrong to place extra burdens on those who suffer emotionally by suggesting that all they need to do is surrender to God to make all their struggles go away.
81. Your Body, Your Suffering, and Your Pain Matter to God: Biblical Counseling and Your Body: This post unites themes from all the resources collated in this document. It especially highlights the practical implications for counselors and counselees related to a biblical understanding of the body for biblical counseling.
82. Deep Breathing and Biblical Counseling: In this article, biblical counselor Todd Stryd develops a practical theological foundation for how biblical counselors use “biological interventions” such as deep breathing exercises as one part of a comprehensive, whole-person approach to being soul physicians of embodied-souls.
83. 10 Resources Addressing the Question: “Are Anxiety and Fear Sin?”: This is a vital question, and one that relates very clearly to the issue of God’s design for us as embodied-souls. This post shares a spectrum of biblical answers to this important question.
84. Neurodiversity and Our Embodied-Souls: Ministry Insights and Applications: “Neurodivergent” is a modern label used to describe individuals whose brains function differently from the majority of people. The label includes a variety of diagnoses, such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Down syndrome, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and more (Cleveland Clinic, 2022). “Neurotypical” describes those with conventional brain development whose behavior follows societal “norms” in relation to social interaction, learning, and perception. This post explores the relationship of neurodiversity to the biblical teaching on our being embodied-souls.

Introducing Six Books Addressing Neuroscience, Embodied-Souls, and Biblical Counseling: Free Resources #85-90

These final six resources are books and booklets. The links below take you to multiple free resources related to each book/booklet. I indicate below what specific chapters or sections of each book/booklet address a biblical anatomy of the embodied-soul.

85. Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care: Especially see chapters 1, 8-13, 15-17, 21-24, and 28-29 for teaching on biblical counseling for embodied-souls. Here’s a link to a free PDF of chapter 1.
86. Gospel-Centered Counseling: How Christ Changes Lives: Especially see chapters 6-7, 9-10, 12, and 14 for teaching on biblical counseling for embodied souls. Here’s a link to a free PDF Discussion Guide for the entire book.
87. Consider Your Counsel: Addressing Ten Mistakes in Our Biblical Counseling: Especially see chapters 6, 7, and 8 for teaching on biblical counseling for embodied-souls. Here’s a link to A Biblical Counselor’s Self-Assessment Tool.
88. Anxiety: Anatomy and Cure: The entire booklet explores how to provide biblical counseling for those struggling with anxiety—using a comprehensive understanding of people as embodied souls. Here’s a link to a free PowerPoint presentation that overviews the entire booklet: The Anatomy of Anxiety.
89. Scripture and Counseling: God’s Word for Life in a Broken World (Co-Editor): Especially see chapters 2-5, 8, and 9-11 for exploring how the sufficiency of Scripture relates to our being embodied souls. Here’s a link to a free PDF version of chapters 10-11, Scripture and Soul: Implementing the Hermeneutical Spiral in Biblical Counseling.
90. Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God’s Changeless Truth (Co-Editor): 6, 7, 8, 27, and 28 for exploring how the sufficiency of Scripture relates to our being embodied souls. Here’s a link to a free PDF of the Foreword by David Powlison, and of a chapter by John Piper: The Glory of God: The Goal of Biblical Counseling.