Pastoral Ministry, Theology

Moral Theology for Counseling

Taught by Jim Pocta
Difficulty: Introductory
Crosslist: Theology
Runs 4/8 – 6/15/24
$225.00 – $399.00

Scripture, with all its storied beauty, reveals how wickedness and woundedness intersect, creating a trajectory of life which results in problems, pathologies, and personality disorders. Sin gets its tentacles into all areas of life. In this course, we will look at Bavinck’s Ethics and Foundations of Psychology as well as other contemporary texts exploring how the theology of counseling leads to freedom through the life-giving redemptive purposes of God.

Deadline to register: Friday, March 29th

The syllabus for this class is available now. You can access it here.

 

 

ENROLLMENT OPTIONS

Auditing ($225):

participate in readings and live class sessions, but no graded assignments and no course credit

Full course (Full-Time Discount) ($275):

for-credit courses (at least four per term) toward our Certificate or M.Litt in Classical Protestantism

Full course ($399):

individual classes on a for-credit basis; you can later apply them toward a Certificate or Degree

 

ENROLL NOW

Description

This Pastoral Ministry/Theology course will be taught by Jim Pocta, and will run from April 8th through June 15th. The syllabus will be posted when available.

Scripture, with all its storied beauty, reveals how wickedness and woundedness intersect, giving a self-protective and self-exaltive energy creating a trajectory of life which results in problems, pathologies, and personality disorders. This sin gets its tentacles into every area of life elevating our heart, our will, and our way over His. In this course, we will look at Bavinck’s Ethics and Foundations of Psychology, as well as other theologians and therapists, exploring how a doxological redemptive therapy seen through a theology of counseling leads to freedom through the life-giving purposes of God. God takes a story of shame, sin, and struggle and through sanctifying and redeeming it gives gifts from it. That enables and equips the believer to be conformed to the image of Christ and then give to others using those gifts. Good Biblical counseling seeks the glory of God and goodness for the counseled, in that order, offering deliverance from the bondage of sin and its tentacles.

Jim Pocta is a psychotherapist and biblical counselor in Dallas. He’s a follower of Jesus, husband to Linda, father to three wonderful sons, father-in-law to three incredible daughters-in-law, grandfather to three amazing grandchildren, and an elder at New St. Peter’s Presbyterian Church (PCA).

The syllabus for this class is available now. You can access it here.

Details

Online only, runs 10 weeks, meeting 2 hr./wk. via Zoom. Students will also have the option to participate in class discussion on the Davenant Common Room Discord server. Register to reserve your spot and schedule will be set after a poll of participating students; if the class time does not fit your schedule, you will be eligible for a full refund.

This is a graduate-level course. Although a BA is not a necessary pre-requisite for this course, students should come prepared to do graduate-level work.