Model of Health
Such an emphasis alone has, as Volf puts it, ‘served to divert attention from the economics of dirty deals and politics of ruthless power’.140 Such structural sin which the Marxist tradition described must also be addressed. Biblical wisdom has been defined as: ‘the ability to make Godly choices in life.’141 Or in a fuller statement: ‘prudent, considered, experienced and competent action to subjugate the world and to master the various problems in life.’142 Honest self-appraisal is an aspect of God’s wisdom found in the ethics of counselling. As McFarlane expresses, commenting on Proverbs 3:15f plus chapter eight, ‘lady wisdom’ brings benefits to all who seek her, for she shows how the world was made and promotes human agency (dominion) through its immanent goodness in creation. Human wisdom in society (mediated in cultural expressions, for instance elements of contemporary counselling) is judged by how it corresponds to the order of creation. Wisdom theology thus helps avoid an ‘all or nothing’ approach in counselling, ie ‘unless clients accept Christ via repentance we can offer them nothing of value pertaining to health’. It is a lack of wisdom theology which compels Adams to adopt a simple biblical–satanic stance. Whereas Niebuhr’s categories are helpful in highlighting the fact that Adam’s position correlates with a ‘Christ against culture’ perspective, this is but one of several positions taken throughout Church history. Alternatively, a ‘Christ in Culture’ perspective gives rise to the expectation that God’s truth and helpfulness may be encountered more broadly, thus for example, amidst elements of secular counselling.
Repentance and counselling Within the context of counselling the means by which healthy living may be obtained is, in principle varied and creative. This expectation mirrors the various forms of scriptural wisdom and includes close observations of life, which support scientifically based methods such as CBT; or alternatively, storytelling and dialogue, which aligns with narrative and person-centred therapeutic approaches. Wisdom’s manifold forms are well summed up by Deane-Drummond who, when citing the Apocrypha states: ‘Wisdom is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, beneficent friendly to human beings’ 99
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