Jared S. Poulton

PhD Biblical Counseling (@SBTS), Executive Director of IRBC (@ReformedBC), Visiting Faculty at CBTS & PRTS, Pastor at Cornerstone URC, cohost of @ChristnCounsel

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

My first book,Van Til's Counseling Movement, drops in a month.

You can purchase it at Hanover Press or at Amazon in the comments below. 👇👇

Here are several endorsements:

“In the Biblical Counseling movement, Jay Adams is certainly a key figure and often associated with the work of Cornelius Van Til. However, as Jared Poulton helpfully demonstrates, there are some major differences between the two men–differences that are not often recognized. This work will not only help the reader know more about these two important Christian thinkers, but also offer some critical evaluation of Adams’ work, thus providing some necessary critical engagement with the Biblical Counseling movement as a whole. I highly recommend this work for anyone who wants to think carefully about Biblical Counseling and to provide a richer biblical and theological grounding to the movement.” – Stephen J. Wellum

“Anyone familiar with biblical counseling knows the significance of Jay Adams and his writings. Jared Poulton addresses the question of how and to what extent Cornelius Van Til shaped Jay Adams’s approach to counseling. More than that, Dr. Poulton carefully and skillfully examines how well Jay Adams applied Van Til’s presuppositional approach to the field of counseling. The biblical counseling movement currently finds itself in the midst of titanic discussions about what makes biblical counseling truly biblical. Poulton’s thorough research equips all of us to answer that question more accurately.” – @BobKellemen

@HanoverPressLL @LondonLyceum

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

Revelational epistemology in action!

👇👇👇👇

[Christ the Center @christthecenter]

Nature and Scripture come from the same God, while Scripture remains our authoritative lens. Jared Poulton explains why this Reformed two-book approach matters for counseling. #BiblicalCounseling
https://t.co/FlqcWS43VN

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

If you heard Lambert refer to clinically-informed biblical counseling as a "mistress-informed marriage" and are confused about what is happening in the biblical counseling movement, I have the article for you.

👇👇👇👇👇

https://t.co/xDWc3QHxww

[Carl A. Hargrove @CarlHargrove]

@HeathLambert at @acbc annual conference. “The clinically informed biblical counselor is like a mistress informed marriage.” The husband is saying his wife is not enough; so, the clinically informed biblical counselor is dissatisfied with God’s revelation.

[Trevin Wax @TrevinWax]

.@jared_poulton with an overview of current debates and controversies within the biblical counseling movement and what is likely to take place next https://t.co/Bl3gDZjYsW

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

Amen!

[Tim Allchin @timallchin]

@NoutheticC One of the best things about CCEF is that you find ACBC, ABC, IABC, and IRBC, and virtually every BC group worshipping together and treating each other with kindness, respecting our differences and pursuing unity where possible. It is a beneficial conference with great sessions!

[challies @challies]

Greta Gerwig’s sincere subversion of Narnia / We cannot afford to weaken each other / Dads, you are the primary spiritual influence in your children / You can’t see your own sin / What conversion looks like in messy people (like me) / and more. https://t.co/NK6TYN7jas

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

Thankful that my article was picked up by @challies this morning.

I pray that it gives pastors discernment as they engage with the biblical counseling movement.

https://t.co/OM0kummepY

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

"What is Happening in the Biblical Counseling Movement?" is now out.

https://t.co/54JTscJtRz

Personally, I think it is important to know that I took little pleasure in writing this article.

This article is dedicated to all those whose lives have been overturned, ministries that have been crippled, and the families that have had to start over because of the madness that has defined the biblical counseling movement over the past several years.

If that is you, I am sorry.

[Joseph Leavell @LowerLeavell]

I can't express adequately how good this article is. As someone who cut his teeth in church and counseling within the fundamentalism sphere, he represents the situation on the ground with stunning clarity!

[The London Lyceum @LondonLyceum]

"This central tension between the boundaries and identity of biblical counseling has reached the point where even institutions, such as the Biblical Counseling Coalition, that continue to tolerate clinically informed biblical counselors and promote their works are being identified as liberal and theologically compromised." ~ @jared_poulton

https://t.co/nQ25iZUgrf

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

@PhilCotnoir Thank you, Phil!

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

"What is Happening in the Biblical Counseling Movement?" is now out.

https://t.co/54JTscJtRz

Personally, I think it is important to know that I took little pleasure in writing this article.

This article is dedicated to all those whose lives have been overturned, ministries that have been crippled, and the families that have had to start over because of the madness that has defined the biblical counseling movement over the past several years.

If that is you, I am sorry.

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

Coming Soon. 👀

[The London Lyceum @LondonLyceum]

"Until these New Fundamentalists demonstrate the humility to rectify the quarrelsome environment they have cultivated, and good-faith dialogue is restored, the biblical counseling movement is destined to split into a “big tent,” cooperative-evangelical form of biblical counseling and fundamentalist biblical counseling." ~ @jared_poulton

https://t.co/nQ25iZUgrf

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

Van Til’s Counseling Movement is in the CCEF conference bookstore this weekend, and this is the lowest price that you will find.

[Luke Stamps @lukestamps]

"Many will likely agree with Clary’s 12 rules, even some whom Clary accuses of promoting Loser Theology." This confirms a suspicion of mine: Many of the divides we're seeing are more about personality and tone and maybe personal history than substance.

[Christ and Counseling @ChristnCounsel]

Our team had the privilege of sitting down with @HibbsPierce (@WestminsterTS) to discuss his latest project, Dissecting the Heart, edited lectures from David Powlison on Theology and Secular Psychology @wtsbooks.

Listen to our conversation below!

https://t.co/XFSsrxHDM2

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

@timallchin Not yet, should be releasing in several weeks.

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

Coming Soon. 👀

[Jared S. Poulton @jared_poulton]

I think it may be time to give this essay an update.

https://t.co/90evFH0ypx

[The Institute for Reformed Biblical Counseling @ReformedBC]

We have exciting news! A new round of our Basic Training Course will begin in January!

If you were too late to register for our class in the fall, now is a perfect opportunity to make plans to join us in the New Year. The class will run from January to November/December 2027, with a summer break in the middle.

We are looking for churches who would like to host the class in 2027! The Basic Training Course is a valuable addition to the local church's educational offerings and an effective way to grow your culture of care together.

Would your church be interested in hosting our class? Sign up today! https://t.co/kdKPMZBgCn

If your church is unable to host, stay tuned for an exciting update about the future of our online class--coming soon!

[Shane Becker @imshanebecker]

Briefly, there are two challenges facing the contemporary Biblical Counseling Movement (BCM).

First, the problem of retrieval (i.e., the past). This involves neglecting, misunderstanding, or failing to steward what has already been done. The temptations we face include unnecessary redundancy, selectivity, inaccurate representations, the Dunning–Kruger effect, and stunted doctrinal development.

There are many reasons BC has not gained greater influence in broader Protestant culture. What will not help attract new learners is ahistoricism or biased and unfaithful selectivity. We need to raise the baseline of shared knowledge to strengthen confessionalism—not to be confused with rigid doctrinalism, sacerdotalism, or professionalization. The question is how the movement can advance most faithfully and fruitfully.

Practically, without sufficient breadth and depth of knowledge of the field—for example, Powlison’s corpus as a whole and its Westminsterian roots, much of which remains behind a paywall—we risk attempting to reinvent what earlier figures such as the Cappadocian Fathers, Augustine, Calvin, Turretin, and Bavinck accomplished in their respective contexts. We have a foundation of affirmations and denials. We need to coalesce and build on this w/ care, patience, and rigor.

Second, we face the problem of corporate vision and leadership (i.e., the future). The fact that certain voices are currently the loudest (whether CIBC or ACBC or CCEF) does not automatically mean they are necessarily the right voices for this moment, or that the emphases and content of their message represent the best way forward. This is not a pejorative observation, or with any particular person or org in mind, but a general principle of movement advancement. We need the body to form a conscience to hold us accountable.

We need the corporate vision and will to restate, afresh, our priorities and what we are positively for. We need the vision and will to assess our threats and define our perimeter—not so that we might merely engage in polemics, but so that we might engage flesh-and-blood image-bearers more effectively. And we need a vision capable of forming us in both content and character, teaching us how to relate and preserve the mutually important and necessary characteristics of biblical counseling while not ignoring the incessant opportunities to learn. The aim is not merely to preserve the movement, but to cultivate an ever-reforming biblical counseling that blossoms into a sweet aroma pleasing to the Lord and wins our neighbors.

[Shane Becker @imshanebecker]

David Powlison was a gift. God gave him to help the church articulate our theological amen to God’s Word. But if you selectively mine his corpus for ammunition to defend your preferred emphasis, you risk missing what made him, and what can make you, a mature counselor and thought-leader.

[Shane Becker @imshanebecker]

Biblical counseling is an endeavor in wisdom, by design, which is why you’ll see a range of representation. For proponents, be very careful to faithfully represent the best form of what the BCM has already articulated. For onlookers, be very careful not to confuse its mature expressions with its worst.