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This book fills a unique niche in the emerging field of Christian discipleship counseling. Woodward takes on a challenging theological debate concerning the makeup of human beings and, in the process, builds a persuasive argument for the significant implications of a trichotomous view of human beings for the enterprise of Christian counseling. His fresh light on the subject is a thoughtful and invigorating invitation to pastors and professional and lay counselors alike, to rethink their assumptions about how we're made and how hurting people can be helped." - Cary Lantz, Ph. D. ~~~~~~~~~~ "The Christian faith has long suffered from an inadequate understanding of how God made mankind – at least sinceAugustine and his advocacy of a bipartite (body and soul) constitution of humanity. The early councils of the Church developed a settled explanation of the Trinity and of Christology, but never developed an orthodox explanation of Christian anthropology or psychology. When the Augustinian dualism was conjoined with the secularized psychology of the nineteenth century, those who advocate the trifold function of mankind as a spiritual, psychological and physiological being have been forced to swim upstream in the theological and psychological river of thought. John Woodward is to be commended for tackling a much-needed subject that directly relates to Christian behavior." - Jim Fowler ~~~~~~~~~~ Christian counselors today comprise three groups: those schooled in secular theories of anthropology and psychology, those who adhere to Biblical anthropology and psychology, and those who attempt to integrate the two. Today, the vast majority of Bible-based counselors embrace trichotomy, which sees man as spirit, soul, and body. Though much has been written on the subject over the past century, John B. Woodward‚s second edition of Man as Spirit, Soul, and Body: A Study of Biblical Psychology, is the most concise yet comprehensive book on the subject I have read. I found it brimming with scripture˜and devoid of secular and other non-Biblical theories. In teaching God’s Word, we must teach God’s words, and one of the most conspicuous of those words that relates to Biblical anthropology and psychology is “heart.” Jesus himself gave the heart prominence in His parable of the sower. Some of us follow His example. John Woodward included. In the second edition of his book, he takes an expanded look at the Biblical model of the heart. Here is a book that I expect will be the preferred reference of trichotomists for a long time to come. Frank Allnutt author of The Christian’s New Heart, and The Ways of the Heart ~~~~~~~~~~ The book on Spirit, Soul and Body is one of the best that I have read on the subject. Your excellent research along with your clear presentation of the material is must read for all who sincerely want to understand the trichotomous and dichotomous views from a historical and biblical perspective. Thank you for your faithful commitment in the ministry of the gospel. - Wallace Francis - AFCI-USA National Director - Missionary/Evangelist ~~~~~~~~~~
I pray that this book will influence many who are still of the belief that tripart man is either irrelevant or wrong. You have done an absolutely superb job of researching, documenting, and persuading through your fine book! Greg Burts, author of Strategic Biblical Counseling ~~~~~~~~~~
Though most Christians take for granted that we are bipartite creatures--made up of body and soul--many Christian theologians, both ancient and modern, have argued that we are, in fact, tripartite creature--made up of body, soul, and spirit. Through our body we relate to the natural world around us, through our soul (the seat of our emotions, intellect, and volition) we relate to others, but it is through our spirit (the seat not of our self-consciousness but our “God-consciousness”) that we relate directly to God. In Man as Spirit, Soul, and Body, John Woodward has done both his secular and Christian readers a great service by condensing into a tight, accessible, well-organized book the theological, philosophical, anthropological, and psychological foundations of the tripartite view of man. He argues forcefully but irenically for the tripartite paradigm, and explains, in layman terms, the ramifications of such a paradigm for both spiritual and psychological growth. - Louis Markos, Professor of English, Houston Baptist University; author of Lewis Agonistes: How C. S. Lewis Can Train us to Wrestle with the Modern and Postmodern World
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