Dr Paul Allen

I’ve worked in the field of psychology for over a decade now. I’ve done private practice and taught in a graduate psychology program. I loved my work, my clients, my students, and my colleagues. I was respected in my community as a professor and psychologist. But I left my job in psychology to start and lead a biblical counselling ministry at a church across the country. Why? When I talk to people about biblical counselling, it brings up varied thoughts and emotions. Some people are unfamiliar with it. But to others, biblical counselling connotes misquoted Bible verses, uncompassionate calls for repentance, and an overly reductionist view of mental health struggles. They’ve experienced (or know people who’ve experienced) counselling from well-meaning pastors and ministry leaders that made them feel utterly misunderstood, with their suffering and pain reduced only to a trial that must be embraced with joy. My heart grieves when I hear those stories. And yet, here I am—a psychologist tur...

In his magisterial history of New England, Magnalia Christi Americana, Cotton Mather notes that, after finishing his time with Mrs Drake, Thomas Hooker “in a little time . . . grew famous for his ministerial abilities, but especially for his notable faculty at the wise and fit management of wounded spirits.”1 The Puritan divine who would grow in stature both in England and America started out as a young college graduate called to a seemingly hopeless situation. As would soon become evident, his love for others and his skill in handling the Scriptures aided him in ministering to a woman teetering on the verge of heaven and hell. THE TROUBLED MRS. DRAKE About fifteen miles from London, the small parish of St. George’s in Esher, Surrey, called young Thomas Hooker (1586–1647) to serve as rector. Due to the congregation’s size, the wealthy Francis Drake, a relative of the renowned English explorer Sir Francis Drake, served as Hooker’s patron and invited him to live in his home. However, Hoo...