Theology for Better Counseling
Trinitarian Reflections for Healing and Formation
- Counseling, Grief & Mental Health
- Publisher: IVP Academic (InterVarsity Press)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Theologically Formed, Clinically Precise, and Ethically Integrated Counseling clients have big questions—about God, suffering, justice, and what makes a good life. The experiences they've had don't always line up with whatthey've been taught about who God is or where he is in their suffering. Are you prepared to answer them? As counselor and professor Virginia Todd Holeman discovered, being biblically literate did not always equip her to give clients the help they longed for. She needed a more robust and formative theological foundation. In Theology for Better Counseling, Holeman shows how deep theological reflection can make a difference in your counseling practice. Not only does it shape who you are as a counselor, but it can also bring your theological commitments, therapeutic practices, and professional ethics into greater alignment. Far from being irrelevant abstractions, theological reflection helps you respond toclient needs around issues such as loss, forgiveness, justice, and anxiety. What’s new in the second edition: a new chapter on meditative prayer practices and mindfulness new content on insights from neurobiology updated references and recommended resources This book guides counseling students, pastoral counselors, and mental health professionals into becoming as well-formed theologically as they are trained clinically. With Theology for Better Counseling, start getting equipped to address the hard questions. About the Series Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mentalhealth and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.
Endorsements (13)
“This book provides such great thoughts and considerations for current counselors, counselor educators, and counselors-in-training to examine the importance of one's own integration journey. It offers an extremely practical process for an individual in the counseling field who identifies as a Christian. I will adopt several points and incorporate them in my teaching when talking about integration with students.”
“I'm thrilled that Virginia Todd Holeman's Theology for Better Counseling is now available in a second edition. With theological and psychological depth, Holeman assists readers in becoming theologically reflective practitioners. This second edition offers significant new material, including engagement with recent scholarship in integration, new sections on neuroscience, and a thoughtful dialogue with mindfulness and Christian contemplative practices. Utilizing real case examples, this book is immediately practical for students and clinicians alike. It is an integrative tour de force.”
“If you've ever wondered why theology matters in counseling, this book answers the question! Virginia Todd Holeman's insightful theological reflections undergird her wisdom and experience in clinical practice to provide a rich, integrative framework for Christian counselors. As a professor of counseling in a seminary, I return often to her thoughtful ideas around forgiveness and the atonement, as well as her nuanced reflections on how the triune God demonstrates the therapeutic common factors necessary in counseling.”
“If you're training to be a counselor, therapist, or pastoral caregiver, or if you're a professor for these students, this book will stretch and strengthen you. Virginia Todd Holeman invites students to move beyond simple 'Bible plus technique' models into thoughtful, lived integration. With clear writing and concrete examples, this second edition of Theology for Better Counseling shows how theology actually shapes who you become as a helper. It's an ideal guide for students who want their faith and clinical skills to mature together.”
“Virginia Holeman has done a beautiful job in vividly illustrating practical and useful guides for everyday Christian counseling. She is able to translate difficult theological concepts into everyday language for her clients and students. Clearly a labor of love, her work should be made compulsory reading for all counseling students.”
“While I am an active professional counselor and not a theologian, I find Dr. Holeman's book challenges me to see the links between my counseling practice and my own personal Christian theology. She weaves the two together by both concept and case study, so when applied, I grow into a more competent, theologically reflective counselor. This can be beneficial to both myself and my client(s), plus it surely must please the heart of God.”
“In Theology for Better Counseling, Virginia Todd Holeman artfully weaves together theological depth and practical counseling wisdom in ways I can immediately use as a therapist. Her mature integrative model emerges from her own personal and professional journey of spiritual growth and disciplined reflection, which is exactly the kind of integration needed for Christian counseling practice.”
“Going well beyond the questions of when and how to make use of explicit spiritual resources in counseling, Holeman's model of theologically reflective counseling provides a practical, user-friendly, integration tool for use by Christian counselors with both Christian and non-Christian clients--that is, not dependent upon particular theological or theoretical persuasions.”
“In Theology for Better Counseling, Holeman provides a bridge linking the languages of theology and psychology, demonstrating a theologically reflective model to integrate faith and counseling. Through case examples, jargon-free explanations and clear applications, this book provides a valuable tool for all who consider themselves Christian counselors.”
“The great risk of twenty-first-century Christian counseling is becoming uprooted, neglecting the theological essence of our work. Dr. Holeman's book Theology for Better Counseling is an important corrective. She weaves theological insight and clinical wisdom together in this readable and practical book. I commend it to you.”
“Theology for Better Counseling provides a thoughtful integration of theological themes into counseling practice that is judiciously informed by the author's Wesleyan roots. Dr. Holeman effectively weaves together prominent theological themes with research that describes the common factors that account for success in counseling practice. Her book advances the discussion of what constitutes Christian counseling and should be read by practicing professionals and counselors in training as they grapple with the challenges of explicit faith integration into counseling practice. I wish this book had been available during my graduate training.”
“Many--both laypeople and those who consider themselves theologians--flaunt the word theology. Yet, as Dr. Holeman demonstrates in her work, that does not mean that these people can articulate their theology and how it affects (for good or bad) their work with people. Holeman challenges us to 'think deeply from theological wells' and to know how our theology drives our counseling. She calls it 'theologically reflective counseling'! Her Wesleyan voice profoundly enhances the ongoing discourse about the integration of theology and psychology in counseling practice. It speaks to the distinction between a Christian who counsels and one who intentionally perceives the client, defines the problem and strategizes a plan of intervention specifically from a reflective, theologically based worldview. If you have been searching for a book that clearly highlights God's therapeutic presence and work in the lives of people, hence making theology practical in the discipline of counseling, you have found it! I would be so bold as to say that Holeman's insights in this work are not limited to the counseling but all intervention professions and ministries with people.”
“For current or aspiring counselors who want a clear look into what it means to integrate theology into their counseling practice--this book is a must-read. Dr. Holeman does a masterful job unfolding her own journey of faith integration, allowing the reader to walk alongside her while asking and answering questions of what it means to be a counselor who is a Christian.”
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