A Brief Theory Critique of Crabb’s Biblical Counseling Model
and Hawkins’ Concentric Circle Model
Liberty University
A Brief Theory Critique of Crabb’s Biblical Counseling Model
and Hawkin’s Concentric Circle Model
Summary
Crabb (1977) and Hawkins (2010) are among the many people concerned with helping
hurting people in the most effective way possible, by using God’s word the Bible. This is not to
say that they don’t appreciate the many contributions of the psychological disciplines, because
they do. They both believe that together, Christianity and psychology can be used to guide
hurting people to a positive and meaningful way of life. Because of the prevalence of Sin and
the imperfect nature of man’s thinking though, careful adherence to God’s word is always more
important than the man-made assumptions of any psychological disciplines. The goal of all true
counseling, according to Crabb (1977) is “to free people to better worship and serve God by
helping them become more like the Lord” or Jesus (p. 22). In other words, to Crabb (1977)
maturity is the aim. He felt this way because our inherent sinful nature leads us to place top
priority on being happy, and for most people, what makes us happy is the pursuit of some
fleshly or hurtful pursuit. This usually leads to a bad conscience and both mental and physical
problems, plus it makes us lose focus of the vital need for humans to make becoming Christ like
the priority (p. 20).
Hawkins (2010) likewise, believes that the goal of counseling is to bring hope to people,
in the form of a relationship with God that other practitioners can’t. The way to do this,
according to him, is to recognize that the Bible, God’s word, is the ultimate truth. Everyone has
value and dignity in God’s eyes. Thus, Christian counselors must help people to see the love
God has for them, and that he wants everyone to have hope and be happy. This is important,
for real and lasting help comes from the only true God (Hawkins, 2010).
Strengths and Weaknesses of Crabb’s Biblical Counseling Model
Crabb (1977) has a lot of strengths in his Biblical Counseling model. For example, he
places a lot of emphases on the importance of not letting what the world thinks replace what
God thinks. For one to be really happy, the priority must be to aim at becoming “Christ like”
instead of putting more emphasis on the pursuit of happiness (Crabb, 1977, p. 20). What seems
to drive the world today is the pursuit of money and happiness. While these things do have
their value, pursuing them at the expense of time for spiritual matters, to do God’s will, is
detrimental to real happiness. Matthew 5:3 pronounces, “Happy are those conscious of their
spiritual need…” Crabb’s strong stand on the need of people to imitate Jesus Christ, because
that leads to true happiness, is certainly refreshing. This is so true when so many today are
working so hard to accumulate material things, to find that quality time with family or for
spiritual things have been left out. The bold stand by Crabb (1977), as a Christian counselor,
advocating God and his Word the Bible as the means to not only help hurting people, but also
as the means to help train other effective Christian counselors too, is indeed commendable (p.
15).
On the other hand, one weakness in his counseling model is the lack of information on
how to successfully integrate the vital role of religion into the counseling process. I strongly
commend Crabb (1977) for his advocating a working model to train mature and loving
Christians “in counseling insights and skills” in order to “become capable counselors within
their local church bodies” (Crabb, 1977, p. 14-15). This may be an answer to the vital need of
successfully integrating religion into the counseling process. With time, further research, and
God’s guidance, the integration of trained Christian counselors will reflect Christ’s command to
make disciples through effective counseling right in the local community churches.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Hawkin’s Centric Circle Model
According to the theory of “Concentric Circles,” this model is useful for helping to
understand how a person functions (Hawkins, 2010). Hawkins noted how the prophet Ezekiel
talked about circles. These five circles help to gain knowledge of the forces affecting a person’s
personality. From the core outward, there are forces that shape the personality. Certain events
in a person’s life can have either positive or negative effects on a person’s demeanor. The
therapist can be helped to understand what the influences are that have shaped or contributed
to a person’s problem (Hawkins, 2010). A strength of this model, opposite of Crabb (1977), is
that the client must take ownership for the strategy and the change process before it can be
finalized, and this is phase 3. This is important because the client’s needs are foremost
important in the counseling process. The 1st phase of the “Grid for Thinking Process” is to listen
as the Client talks (Hawkins, 2010). Testing is done in the 2nd phase and the counselor takes
ownership of the plan of development after directing a plan of action. Stage 4 should be a love
filled environment where the counselor actively helps build support and a sense of
accountability into the change process of the client (Hawkins, 2010). This model is full of
strengths that consider the whole client, spiritual and physical, with a plus for acknowledging a
person’s need for redemption with God. I will say that a weakness could be a need for a model
that stresses the process of how to implement the spiritual aspects into the client’s life
effectively, especially since so many people are not religious.
Application
I really believe that society will not be able to function without the integration of
Christianity and psychology. Hawkins (2010), Crabb (1977), McMinn (1996), and a host of others
are being used by God to help those “in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that
belongs to God…” (Ephesians 4:18, NW). For instance, Crabb’s model stresses a “twofold
function: (1) train gifted Christians in the local church to counsel and (2) offer backup resources
where needed” (Crabb, 1977, p. 15). I think that Crabb’s model will fit primarily into the “core”
section of Hawkin’s model. This is because man is born a sinner in need of redemption with
God. The “core” includes the Holy Spirit, the image of God, and sin (Hawkins, 2010). Jesus gave
his life to make it possible for Holy Spirit to help imperfect humans. Because the individual’s
core nature affects the outer circles, Crabb’s model would fit here primarily because trained
Christian counselors would be equipped with God’s word to deal with this, unlike secular
counselors (Crabb, 1977). Secondly, Crabb’s model would fit the fifth circle of Hawkin’s model,
which includes the supernatural systems. Christian counselors will have God, his spirit, and
guidance, while He heals those that believe in him (Hawkins, 2010).
McMinn (1996) believes that the most effective pursuit toward psychological and
spiritual health requires, “an accurate awareness of self,” an accurate awareness of need,” and
“healing relationships” (p. 269-271). Both Hawkin’s and Crabb’s models stress the same
concepts as McMinn, because we were made in God’s image, these principles apply more so.
References
Crabb, L. J. (1977). Effective biblical counseling: A model for helping caring Christians become
become capable counselors.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Hawkins, R. (2010). Presentation 2: Hawkins’ model for guiding the counseling process.
Retrieved from Liberty University.
McMinn, M. R. (1996). Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian counseling.
Carol
Stream, ILL: Tyndale.
