Scenes and Stages Book

This is a hard book to rate. Historically, Adams's work is very important. He was responsible for reclaiming the Puritan ideal of the pastor as counselor or "soul-doctor". By the 1960s, pastors had largely relinquished this role to "the professionals", and Adams led the way in undoing this abdication. There are many biblical principles in this book that are solid gold. Unfortunately, it also seems like Adams is very narrow in his application, seeing his method as the one right way to do things. In the right hands, and used by someone with wisdom, I think these principles would be helpful, but I've also heard stories about how dangerous these principles can be in the wrong hands. That's not necessarily a criticism of Adams himself, but he may have swung the pendulum too far in the opposite direction in reaction to the problems of his day. Those carrying on his work today, folks like Ed Welch, David Powlison, and Alasdair Groves, are applying biblical counseling principles with much more nuance.