Van Til's Counseling Movement: A Critical Analysis of Jay Adams and Biblical Counseling

In Van Til's Counseling Movement: A Critical Analysis of Jay Adams and Biblical Counseling, Jared S. Poulton uncovers the often-overlooked intellectual roots of the modern biblical counseling movement. When Jay Adams launched his reformation of pastoral care with Competent to Counsel in 1970, he did so at a Westminster Theological Seminary shaped by the presuppositional apologetics of Cornelius Van Til. Poulton argues that three central Van Tilian concepts-the covenantal nature of knowledge, presuppositional analysis, and the antithesis-sit at the foundation of biblical counseling. Yet Adams adapted and modified each of these ideas, diverging from Van Til on general revelation, the transcendental character of presuppositions, and the role of common grace. The result is a pair of related but distinct systems. Essential reading for pastors, counselors, and students of Reformed theology, this volume sheds fresh light on biblical counseling's identity and trajectory today.