Crabb's First Integration Summary
Discuss Crabb’s summary of the way Christian counselors approach integration. Among the views he develops, which do you hold to and why? Be sure to defend your approach.
Crabb (1977) proposes four distinct integration approaches that seek to uniquely implement various degrees of knowledge from the two most prominent bodies of literature relevant to biblical counseling: The World of God and secular psychology (p.32). The first integration approach, “Separate But Equal”, emphasizes a strong dichotomy between the Word of God and secular psychology (Crabb, 1977, p. 34). In this approach, the Word of God is used primarily for spiritual and theological issues within biblical counseling while secular psychology would be ideal for issues aligning
with a medical, psychological, or other non-spiritual nature. The second integration approach, “Tossed Salad”, places a high emphasis of simply combining elements from both the Word of God and secular psychology together in the therapeutic process of counseling (Crabb, 1977, p. 36).
A third integration approach, “Nothing Buttery”, advocates that the Word of God alone has a vast superiority over secular psychology and that it alone should be administered during the therapeutic process of counseling (Crabb, 1977, p. 40). A final approach entitled “ Spoiling the Egyptians” incorporates extensive knowledge deriving from the field of secular psychology and places it under the final authority of the Word of God (Crabb, 1977, p. 47). It is this final approach that considers the potential healing values of secular psychology while making sure that those values do not contradict the revelations and teaching from the Word of God.
Among Crabb’s (1977) four integration approaches, I strongly embrace the “Spoiling the Egyptians” framework as the ideal stance of harmonizing the extensive amount of knowledge God has given to us through both scripture as well as secular psychology (p.47). As Christians, we need to thoroughly understand that “..All scripture is breathed out by God..” (2 Timothy 3:16, English Standard Version). We can trust the validity of scripture because of the fact that
Crabb (1977) proposes four distinct integration approaches that seek to uniquely implement various degrees of knowledge from the two most prominent bodies of literature relevant to biblical counseling: The World of God and secular psychology (p.32). The first integration approach, “Separate But Equal”, emphasizes a strong dichotomy between the Word of God and secular psychology (Crabb, 1977, p. 34). In this approach, the Word of God is used primarily for spiritual and theological issues within biblical counseling while secular psychology would be ideal for issues aligning
with a medical, psychological, or other non-spiritual nature. The second integration approach, “Tossed Salad”, places a high emphasis of simply combining elements from both the Word of God and secular psychology together in the therapeutic process of counseling (Crabb, 1977, p. 36).
A third integration approach, “Nothing Buttery”, advocates that the Word of God alone has a vast superiority over secular psychology and that it alone should be administered during the therapeutic process of counseling (Crabb, 1977, p. 40). A final approach entitled “ Spoiling the Egyptians” incorporates extensive knowledge deriving from the field of secular psychology and places it under the final authority of the Word of God (Crabb, 1977, p. 47). It is this final approach that considers the potential healing values of secular psychology while making sure that those values do not contradict the revelations and teaching from the Word of God.
Among Crabb’s (1977) four integration approaches, I strongly embrace the “Spoiling the Egyptians” framework as the ideal stance of harmonizing the extensive amount of knowledge God has given to us through both scripture as well as secular psychology (p.47). As Christians, we need to thoroughly understand that “..All scripture is breathed out by God..” (2 Timothy 3:16, English Standard Version). We can trust the validity of scripture because of the fact that