Book Review: Understanding People

Larry Crabb is a figure I've always kept at some distance from myself, and I really don't know why. Somewhere in my Fundamentalist past I remember hearing something "bad" about "Christian counselors" and (sadly) decided to simply ignore men like Crabb. Having just finished Understanding People (and being in the midst of Connecting), I'm sorry I waited so long to give him a chance...

Understanding People is thoroughly Biblical in its worldview. It may not be thoroughly Biblical in an absolute sense (see my upcoming review of Connecting for more on this thought), but Crabb approaches everything in this book with a passionate conviction to stay within the boundaries of Scripture. I like that - so many "Christian" counselors would be better labelled counselors who happen to be Christian.

Basically, Crabb's book focuses on four dynamics of people: we are 1) personal, 2) rational, 3) volitional, and 4) emotional. As he expands upon these bullet points, Crabb tries to articulate how each of these facets of humanity can be used to point us (as counselors) toward a way of healing for a hurting person. If this sounds terribly "secular", fear not - Crabb is very careful in keeping the meaning he pours into these terms within the shadow of Scripture, if not within the pages themselves.

Crabb has little patience for either those that merely moralize everything - "Your problem is sin; repent and get on with things!" - or with those that lay blame on any other than the hurting person - "It's not your fault; you were scarred in your childhood!". But that's not to say that he devalues the moral principles or the source of pain.

He would remind the moralizer that simply saying "repent" is very often not helpful to people deep in the pains of, for example, suicidal depression. Ultimately, Crab would agree that the problem is sin. For Crabb, the particular sin always boils down to "independence from God". He argues (convincingly, to be honest) that our "psychological problems" stem from an innate desire to live independently of God. But merely pointing that out is often not helpful.

He would remind the analyzer that though our problems often result from years of misguided efforts and our victimization by others, the root problem is still sin - seeking independence from God. So while it may be helpful to uncover many of our past "issues" and "hurts", it is not the end.

In other words, Crabb wants to fuse the strengths of these two positions within the framework of Scripture and a model that defines sin as "seeking independence from God". It's compelling. It resonates so much more than the usual models of counseling. But yet it seems somehow incomplete.

And then I started reading Connecting...

Hatushili