Sin In Counseling Book Review

. In chapter five, McMinn’s main emphasis is on the concept of sin within the counseling session. The author discusses prayer by explaining the psychological perspective of sin, theology perspective of prayer, and spirituality perspective of sin. McMinn (2007) acknowledges that there is a lack of empirical research regarding sin in counseling instead there have only been a few authors who have written about the role of sin in relation to mental illness (158). According to McMinn (2007) there are two themes of sin in relation to the psychological perspective. The first theme is that sin is a cause of psychopathology (McMinn, 2007, p 158). According to McMinn (2007) there are some psychologists that claim that sin should be regarded as an significant

The second theme deals with the concept of sin and Psychopathology (McMinn, 2007, p 158). According to the author (2007) the concept of sin and Psychopathology is related to the question of whether problems are due to sin or sickness (p 159). McMinn (2007) addresses this concept of sin by discussing attributional styles (p159). According to the author (2007), psychologists view our attributional styles as the way people describe good and bad events in their lives and the lives of others (p 159). McMinn (2007) explains how attributions can lead to different emotional consequences by providing a scenario of when people are viewed as sinners then it is assumed that they had a choice therefore making them responsible for the consequences of their choices; he gives two examples of an internal attribution and an external attribution (p

According to the author (2007), the psychological worldview on sin is related to the discrepancy between sin and sickness is presented as a relatively simplistic dichotomy, but the Christian theology worldview on sin relates sin and sickness has inextricably associated which makes the dichotomy disappear (p 161). McMinn (2007) point out that by considering Erickson’s description of sin; “sin is any lack of conformity, active or passive, to the moral will of God. This may be a matter of act, of thought, or of inner disposition or state,” that sin and sickness can be viewed as being intertwined and inseparable (p 162). It has generally been assumed that sin and sickness can be a matter of act or thought, but placing sin as having an inner deposition which makes it a part of one’s character that resembles a chronic sickness makes it both intertwined and inseparable, meaning that Christian theology embraces both a personal and an original concept of sin (McMinn, 2007, p