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May 14, 2005
Goodbye Howard Clinebell
Howard Clinebell Jr. was one of my teachers. He died April 13. Clinebell's impact on what was once called mainstream Christianity was very significant. He founded the pastoral counseling movement; was the author of over twenty books; and was a good guy in the best sense of the phrase.
Howard believed that therapy was essential to helping people with emotional problems and that religion was at best a supporting element in that therapy. Perhaps he was a little more enamored with "talk therapy" than some would like but he did believe that drug therapy had its place.
His most important contribution to this world was his insistence that clergypersons have enough training in clinical psychology to recognize when to make a referral to the appropriate professional. He knew well that the hard problems were not only spiritual.
I hadn't followed Howard's career since I left seminary some forty years ago. However, I was not surprised to read in the Los Angeles Times obituary that his interests expanded from dealing with personal problems to relationships to social systems to world ecology.
Clinebell's book Basic Types of Pastoral Counseling has been on my bookshelf since 1966. Perhaps its time get it down and look at it again.
Posted by Duane Smith at May 14, 2005 9:53 AM | Read more on Odds and Ends |
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