The Congregational Setting of Pastoral Counseling: A Study of Pastoral Counseling Theorists from 1949–1999

Examines, through content analysis, the major authors in the field of pastoral counseling since 1949 with the goal to determine the degree to which pastoral counseling theory in the second half of the twentieth century attended to the context of parish ministry. Reports on trends in the field's orientation and notes that a particular viewpoint, or range of viewpoints, has driven the core of pastoral counseling theory and methodology. Attempts to answer the question, Does the literature of pastoral counseling address the counseling situations typically encountered by congregational pastors and provide an adequate methodology suited to the context of parish ministry?