277 - Growth Counseling

Growth Counseling
By Howard Clinebell
Nashville, Abingdon, 1979. 204 pp. $7.95.

The first generation of leaders in the pastoral care movement is being followed by a new group of thinkers, and Howard Clinebell is, I believe, a key figure for this new generation. In his work there are real differences that distinguish him from the earlier leaders in pastoral care. For example, he freely offers illustrations from his personal pilgrimage that are warm but not overly self - indulgent, and he invites his readers to participate in his experience.

A second difference, which is evident in Growth Counseling, is Clinebell's insistence on "a more action - oriented, relational approach," "a growth health - system model" (p. 12). Although this book is written principally for clergy and professional counselors, the language and Clinebell's suggested "exercises" are readily understandable and usable by volunteer workers in a variety of settings. He defines his key terms in the following way. Growth: "Any change in a direction of greater wholeness and fulfillment of one's potentialities." Counseling: "The process of enabling persons to liberate themselves from whatever is diminishing the fullest use of their potentialities." Growth Work/Potentializing: "The process by which persons actively further their own growth" (p. 13).

A third characteristic of Clinebell's approach, which is indicative of the concerns of the second generation of pastoral care theorists, is his genuine commitment to correcting social problems of the day, including sexism, racism, and ageism.

Finally, Clinebell argues, both theoretically and practically, for a

278 - Growth Counseling

more activist role in counseling per se. For example, he describes growth as the product of both caring and confrontation and formulates what he calls the "Pygmalian effect" in counseling: "Expectations of significant people are powerful influences on our behavior" (p. 53)

I became impatient with Clinebell in some - of the earlier chapters where the point of all the "growth counseling" rhetoric was obscure, but I found the last chapter on the stages of life most satisfying and substantial. Furthermore, I found his section on the four interdependent ways of "Using Theology in Growth Work" particularly helpful (p. 151).

Because so much of the literature in pastoral counseling ignores spirituality (chapter 4), I could hardly wait for a new word, but when I arrived I could hardly wade through the spirituality syrup. In speaking of one's relationship with God, Clinebell offers this parcel of opacity: "The heart of spiritual growth - work is opening oneself more fully to the vital energy which is the creative Spirit of the universe" (p. 120). Nothing is defined here. What is the vital energy that is the Spirit? We have to assume it, whatever "it" is. This equivocation is disappointing. We are told "it" is "the key to all growth." But this sounds more like a "growth" pep rally. At crucial definitional places, Clinebell seems mesmerized by his zeal to induce a Pygmalian effect among his readers, and he slips occasionally into a growth counseling gnosticism. For example, in "biblical and theological resources" (chapter 5), he ventures to mention "resistance to growth" (p. 137) and acknowledges "growth as struggle, death, and rebirth" (p. 139). But nowhere does he mention sin or repentance. His growth counseling glasses are just too rosy here, and it seems he avoids negatives at all costs. For the Christian, repentance is not a pathology, and one need not be so defensive about repentance as a growth need.

I believe that Clinebell's presentation of the growth process would be constructively modified if he studied process thought more rigorously, but Clinebell's leadership and writings have a secure place in pastoral care. However, Clinebell's own growth process should include a balance between his player - coach commitment to the Pygmalian effect in Growth Counseling and a faith commitment to the living Lord who is actively present with the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

Paul A. Mickey
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina