Psychology Book Review: McMinn Assignment

HSCO 506

Book Review: McMinn Assignment Instructions

Overview

You will complete a book review of Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by McMinn that consists of 4 sections, each with a current APA heading. Use the provided APA template which has a correct title page, headings, and examples of in-text citations, and reference page (McMinn listed as the reference). You will not use any additional sources for this paper.

Instructions

Summary

The McMinn book can be divided into 2 broad “parts.” The first part comprises chapters 1–2 and in those chapters, McMinn lays down a foundation for the rest of the book. In your summary of the first 2 chapters, explain the essential elements in McMinn’s approach to the integration of psychology, theology, and spirituality into counseling. If you had to identify the most important concepts in McMinn’s foundation, what would they be? Present your points clearly, with ideas organized by paragraphs. The second part of the book comprises the application chapters (chapters 3–8). In your summary of these chapters, identify the most important elements of each chapter that best characterize McMinn’s approach to integration. Consider using a separate paragraph for the summary points from each of the chapters. For length, the first section of your paper should be the longest section (2+ total pages suggested for summary).

Personal Reflection

We often remember what speaks to us personally. Pick out a few concepts from McMinn that most resonated with you and tell us why they touched you personally. Make sure you provide a clear tie-in to a main point from McMinn. Do not just tell a personal story prompted by secondary points – stick to the main ideas. Make this section approximately 1 page.

Analysis

What did you find truly unique about McMinn’s approach? What was most helpful? What suggestions from McMinn will be most difficult to utilize in your own counseling? In this section, pick out 3–5 unique ideas (generally not found in every other book on Christian counseling) and explain why you found them unique, or difficult, absolutely essential, or impossible to apply, etc. Highlight the 3–5 unique points to make them obvious to the reader and make this section approximately 1 page. What you write in this section must exhibit that you read this book thoughtfully.

Application

Think of how you would apply concepts from this book to your work as a human services counselor. First, briefly describe the setting in which you will most likely work (or presently do work)—community services agency, hospital, adoption agency, church counseling center, probation office, etc. Then for your particular agency, list at least 5 important concepts from McMinn that you most likely will apply in your work on that setting. Briefly explain how you would apply McMinn’s concepts. Why did you choose those particular concepts? You could also explain the challenges you might face as you seek to integrate psychology/theology/spirituality into your human services counseling. In this section, provide a numbered list of concepts. This section should be a minimum of 1 page.

Keep in mind that while the APA template with correct and current APA formatting is provided, you must present your ideas using professional (graduate level) writing. Writing quality and APA will count for 30 points of your total. Note that page length is suggested; you will not be penalized for going over the suggested length unless the longer length reveals poor writing. Sections shorter than the suggested length may indicate inadequate content.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.

PLEASE READ EVERYTHING I WILL ATTACH BOTH PAPERS SO YOU CAN SEE THE NOTES AND REVEIEW THE ERRORS THAT WERE MADE.

You have all received my feedback on your second journal article papers, and if you have questions, please ask. Overall, I saw many solid journal article papers and some of you used the LUO writing center and obviously found help through that source. Good job on that! As you work on your McMinn paper, I would strongly encourage all of you to review what I have said in the past (both on your returned papers, but also in the summaries I posted) and make necessary corrections for the final paper. Some of you also will want to take my suggestion to use the writing center, as well. My specific suggestions for McMinn really follow the type of advice I’ve given in the past for both the book reviews and the journal article papers—lay a good foundation with a solid summary section. In McMinn, the first two chapters provide background information for what he says in the “application” chapters—the last six chapters of the book in which McMinn discusses how to use prayer and scripture in counseling, how to confront sin, etc. As you read the first two chapters, make sure you identify the foundational concepts that are necessary to understand why he says what he does in the last chapters. Make sure to adequately explain those concepts in your review. When you summarize the last six chapters, really try to pull out unique McMinn principles. For instance, why would he caution against freely using scripture and prayer in all your Christian counseling? Why the caution? Is that not what Christian counselors do—pray and quote scripture? Really look for unique concepts in McMinn’s discussion, ones which would not be mentioned in every other book on Christian counseling.

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