A classic in the field of Christian counseling, Competent to Counsel is one of the first works to fully articulate a vision of "nouthetic" counseling—a strictly biblical approach to behavioral counseling and therapy.


Dr. Jay Adams defends the idea that the Bible itself, as God's Word, provides all the principles needed for understanding and engaging in holistic counseling. Using biblically directed discussion, nouthetic counseling works by means of the Holy Spirit to bring about change—both immediate and long-term—in the personality and behavior of the counselee.

As he points out in his introduction, "I have been engrossed in the project of developing biblical counseling and have uncovered what I consider to be a number of important scriptural principles. . . There have been dramatic results. . . Not only have people's immediate problems been resolved, but there have also been solutions to all sorts of long-term problems as well."

Competent to Counsel has helped thousands of pastors, students, laypersons, and Christian counselors develop:



A general approach to (and theology of) Christian counseling.
Specific, practical responses to particular problems useful for teaching, study, and personal application.

Since its first publication in 1970, this book has gone through over thirty printings. It establishes the basis for and an introduction to a counseling approach that is being used in pastors' studies, in counseling centers, and across dining room tables throughout the country and around the world.