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SKILLFUL AND SPIRITUALLY SENSITIVE PASTORAL COUNSELING IS NEEDED TODAY MORE, PERHAPS, THAN EVER BEFORE, and informed and enlightened training resources for new as well as experienced counselors are always in demand. Practitioners of the Soul: Confronting the Challenges to Human Wellbeing is just such a resource. With a clinician's clear understanding and a warm pastor's heart, Alan Scotland draws from his decades in pastoral ministry to provide a balanced and knowledgeable guide to aid pastoral and spiritual counselors at any level to fulfill their calling with confidence, compassion, and integrity. The book is in two sections. Section One, "Initial Considerations," begins where all counseling should begin, with the spiritual foundations of defining the normal Christian life, the nature and importance of a sound mind, holding forth Jesus Christ, the Master Counselor, as the supreme model for all counselors to exemplify, the ethics of counseling, and the discernment of spirits, which so often is neglected. Section Two deals with specific issues that most frequently are identified during counseling: fearfulness, rejection, depression, and the reality of the demonic. The particular strength of the book is its unapologetic presentation of the spiritual realities that underlie all issues of human wellbeing and why no counseling is complete or adequate without taking those realities into account. Practitioners of the Soul is a much-needed resource for our day.
