I mentioned this book and review I had written to my students today and promised I would put it here. It is destined for 'The Pastoral Review' at the end of the month but there is no harm in singing Prof Thorne's praises here. I had the pleasure of hosting him at dinner at Salisbury some years ago and his gentle humanity has stayed with me. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did:
It was a great joy once again
to make the acquaintance of the wise and eminently readable Professor Brian
Thorne in this generous compendium of his ‘greatest hits’ from the past few
decades. Prof. Thorne, until recently Professor of Counselling at the
University of East Anglia, has made it his lifelong task to integrate
Person-Centred (Rogerian or Humanistic) Counselling with his own humane corner
of Christianity. Carl Rogers, the founder of the school and a person whom
Thorne met on several occasions, is a key motivating figure behind the thoughts
and attitudes of Thorne and it is no surprise to learn that Rogers himself had
originally wanted to train as a minister before ‘defecting’ to psychology.
Thorne, from his High Church Anglicanism, is able to recover the lost soul of
Rogers and present work that is highly integrative and instructive to the
Christian pastor. Having used his work for several years with my students I
have noticed how he always elicits surprise, joy and familiarity (not bred with
contempt) when students encounter his writings. This collected volume will do
nothing to lessen that effect. You will find all the ‘essential Thorne’ in this
volume as well as a few recent essays and sermons never published before…
perhaps most provocatively the recent ‘Collision of Worlds’ which argues
against professionalization and state-regulation of therapy in the UK. A
somewhat surprising position that is so well argued one finds it hard to resist
Thorne’s conclusions. His earlier classic, ‘ Person-Centred Counselling and
Christian Spirituality’ (1998) is well represented as are his other classic
texts on this intersection of two worlds, too often, sadly, estranged from each
other. Thorne’s is not just an optimistic thesis about psychology and its
necessary relationship to religious practice, but an optimistic view of human
nature. Lovers of the doctrine of Original Sin will find little to amuse
themselves here as Thorne’s bright Anglicanism extols the beauty of the human
form in relationships, sexuality, love, charity and faith. In a dark world his
writing has always been a tonic and this volume does not in this respect
disappoint. In his long career he has tackled numerous areas on the interface between
psychology and religion: professional ethics, the interaction of faith and
personality type, personality disorder and clinical intervention. In doing so
he has, in his own words, often been seen as a ‘maverick heretic who threatened
the model of the Christian family and the fabric of Christian morality’. Yet
despite ‘throwing caution to the winds’ on several occasions Thorne has, I
believe, managed to reconcile much that is seemingly irreconcilable and has
formulated a world-view that integrates contemporary psychology and traditional
Christian doctrine and spirituality in an attractive and important fashion.
‘Humanistic’ he may be by label, but ‘humane’ is the word that occurred to me
time and again as I read these enlightened scripts. Not only Christians but
psychologists will be challenged anew by these writings. As mentioned, the 2009
essay ‘A Collision of Worlds’ presents a
forensic analysis of the ‘medical paradigm’ that many psychologists today
fetishize as the only available model for psychological intervention. Thorne
may be a heretic but the profession desperately needs such heretics today if it
is avoid making desperate mistakes in the future. So then, this is a collection
of essays to savour and enjoy – the clear fruits of a life spent in the service
of the Holy Spirit, the alleviation of suffering and first and foremost, the
Truth.
Thank you for your appraisal of this remarkable book. I have just recently accessed it through our university (Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia) library as an e-book. I am a Bachelor of Counselling student. This is definitely one book I am going to purchase. I have just written my an essay and chose Person-Centred Therapy (I am a die hard Carl Rogers devotee). To incorporate spirituality into counselling practice will be imperative for me. It is such a blessing to locate Professor Brian Thorne's writing. Best regards Judith Murray
ReplyDeleteThank you Judith. I think Prof Brian Thorne is a remarkable man. I had the pleasure of hosting him at Salisbury when I taught there some years ago. He was as charming as he was erudite and gave some interesting stories about Carl Rogers than I had not read anywhere and made the man even more impressive in my eyes. What was so alarming when I read this book (having not seen him for some years) was the account of his serious illness. I think he writes beautifully about this and it may help others in a similar situation or those working with them. It is good to know we have such a person in our midst.
ReplyDeleteI wish you all the best in your studies and the valuable work you shall no doubt go on to do.
best wishes
Peter