Create a counseling theory that is compatible with a Christian Essay

Create a counseling theory that is compatible with a Christian Worldview - Essay Example The human quest for knowledge has at times placed reason and science at odds with theology and faith. Of course, this conflict is ultimately illusory, as all truth is God’s truth. But that hasn’t prevented champions from both side from sparring with each other. The most cited instance of this phenomenon was the dispute between Galileo and the medieval Catholic church. The Italian scientist was right, as even the Roman pontiff has admitted in recent years. That was hardly the last round in the centuries-long controversy, however. The nineteenth century was a time of both great discovery and tremendous turmoil. Charles Darwin turned the world upside down with the publication of his volumes The Origin of Species and Descent of Man. The higher critics in Germany questioned the veracity of Scripture. Across Christendom, the fundamentals of the faith seemed to be crumbling under the ferocity of an all-out intellectual assault. The new discipline known as psychology wasn’t exempt from this battle. Sigmund Freud pioneered the study of human personality and the causes of mental illness. While much of his writings reveal keen insights into human nature, their overall theme was stridently materialistic. As the century developed other theorists such as Jung constructed their own theories. In his case his views were far from atheistic. However, they display an openness to eastern thoughts forms similar to those common in Buddhist and Hindu thought. In these ways it foreshadowed so-called New Age counseling methods. For every action there is an opposite reaction. The emphasis on reason and objectivity that emerged from the Enlightenment found a formidable challenge in the writings of Soren Kierkegaard in the 1800s. Widely regarded as the father of existentialism, the Dutch thinker emphasized the roles of subjective answers and of human freedom in discovering one’s meaning in life. His views were later given a nihilistic