God and Soul Care

The Therapeutic Resources of the Christian Faith

Christianity, at its heart, is a therapeutic faith—a religion of soul care. The story of Christianity is a story of divine therapy. God's therapeutic agenda begins in the perfect triune communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The triune God created human beings to flourish by participating in his glory, but human beings rebelled against this agenda and fell into the psychopathology of sin. God therapeutically intervened in Jesus Christ to bring about healing in body and soul. Through his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and exaltation, Christ put to death the soul-disordering consequences of sin and brought about a new creation through union with and conformity to him. The church as the body of Christ is where God's therapy is put into action—where people can flourish in communion the way God originally intended. Told in this way, the deep connection between Christian faith and psychology becomes evident. While many Christians are wary of therapy, the Christian tradition is thoroughly therapeutic and contains ample resources for engaging in dialogue with modern psychology. In God and Soul Care—a companion to Foundations for Soul Care—Eric L. Johnson explores the riches of Christian theology, from the heights of the Trinity to the mysteries of eschatology. Each chapter not only serves as an overview of a key doctrine, but also highlights the therapeutic implications of this doctrine for Christian counseling and psychology. A groundbreaking achievement in the integration of theology and psychology, God and Soul Care is an indispensable resource for students, scholars, pastors, and clinicians.