Van Til’s Counseling Movement

In Van Til’s Counseling Movement: A Critical Analysis of Jay Adams and Biblical Counseling, Jared S. Poulton uncovers the often-overlooked intellectual roots of the modern biblical counseling movement. When Jay Adams launched his reformation of pastoral care with Competent to Counsel in 1970, he did so at a Westminster Theological Seminary shaped by the presuppositional apologetics of Cornelius Van Til. Poulton argues that three central Van Tilian concepts—the covenantal nature of knowledge, presuppositional analysis, and the antithesis—sit at the foundation of biblical counseling. Yet Adams adapted and modified each of these ideas, diverging from Van Til on general revelation, the transcendental character of presuppositions, and the role of common grace. The result is a pair of related but distinct systems. Essential reading for pastors, counselors, and students of Reformed theology, this volume sheds fresh light on biblical counseling’s identity and trajectory today.

PAPERBACK| 6 X 9 | PUBLISHED September 1, 2026 | ISBN 979-8-9958395-0-7 | Library of Congress Control Number:

Jared S. Poulton (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Executive Director of the Institute for Reformed Biblical Counseling. He also serves as pastor of counseling and teaching at Cornerstone URC (Hudsonville, MI) and adjunct professor at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in Hudsonville, Michigan with his wife and four children.

“In the Biblical Counseling movement, Jay Adams is certainly a key figure and often associated with the work of Cornelius Van Til. However, as Jared Poulton helpfully demonstrates, there are some major differences between the two men–differences that are not often recognized. This work will not only help the reader know more about these two important Christian thinkers, but also offer some critical evaluation of Adams’ work, thus providing some necessary critical engagement with the Biblical Counseling movement as a whole. I highly recommend this work for anyone who wants to think carefully about Biblical Counseling and to provide a richer biblical and theological grounding to the movement.”

–Stephen J. Wellum, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“The connection between Jay Adams, founder of the Christian Counseling Center in Pennsylvania, and Cornelius Van Til, the pioneer of Covenantal Apologetics, has been awaiting a scholarly connection. It has now been made, and will encourage readers of all stripes to delve into it. Jared Poulton has rendered us a great service by identifying the links. Do read this study and be edified.”

–William Edgar, Professor Emeritus of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary

“Did Cornelius Van Til’s approach to apologetics influence Jay Adams and the early biblical counseling movement? If so, what has been the long-term impact of this early influence? Jared Poulton has filled a significant gap in previous histories. No matter what you think about biblical counseling or presuppositional apologetics, this book is an essential resource for understanding the backgrounds of biblical counseling.”

–Timothy Paul Jones, C. Edwin Gheens Chair of Christian Family Ministry, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“In writing this well-researched and thought-provoking monograph, Jared Poulton has rendered a great service to the biblical counseling movement. His work fruitfully contributes to the growing corpus of literature exploring the historical and intellectual foundations of biblical counseling. Whether you agree or disagree with his analysis and conclusions at all points, future study and conversation must reckon with Poulton’s critical contribution.”

–Michael R. Emlet, Faculty and Counselor, Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF)

“Jared Poulton writes with the confidence of a scholar who has done the primary source work and the humility of someone who understands what is at stake for real people in real counseling rooms. His answer to the book’s central question — Is biblical counseling Van Til’s counseling movement? — is neither a simple yes nor a dismissive no, but a carefully earned “yes and no” that illuminates both the movement’s strengths and its untapped potential. This book deserves a wide and thoughtful readership among biblical counselors, Reformed theologians, and anyone interested in the intersection of apologetics, epistemology, and pastoral care.”

–Adriaan C. Neele, President and Professor of Historical Theology and Homiletics, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

“Jared Poulton helps us see that Jay Adams, as the father of “nouthetic” counseling, is a Reformed Biblicist who requires proof-texting for everything and misreads the nature of Scripture’s sufficiency, as if nothing but the Bible were ever useful in Christian counseling and as if general revelation were irrelevant. Though influenced by Cornelius Van Til in general ways, Adams departs from him, adopting a more fundamentalist approach, and thus garnering a following ultimately more among Baptists and Independents than Presbyterians and Reformed. Adams particularly emphasizes antithesis, ignoring common grace and thus rejecting all insights from psychology (rather than critically analyzing them Scripturally). Poulton ably and accurately diagnoses Adam’s shortcomings here and his departures from Van Til’s more robust presuppositional approach. Poulton offers us a full and well-articulated corrective to the notion that Adams’s counseling method is a proper interpretation and incarnation of Van Til’s apologetic system.”

–Alan D. Strange, President and Professor of Apologetics, Mid-America Reformed Seminary

“Anyone familiar with biblical counseling knows the significance of Jay Adams and his writings. Jared Poulton addresses the question of how and to what extent Cornelius Van Til shaped Jay Adams’s approach to counseling. More than that, Dr. Poulton carefully and skillfully examines how well Jay Adams applied Van Til’s presuppositional approach to the field of counseling. The biblical counseling movement currently finds itself in the midst of titanic discussions about what makes biblical counseling truly biblical. Poulton’s thorough research equips all of us to answer that question more accurately.”

–Bob Kellemen, Founding Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition, Former VP, Academic Dean, and Professor of Biblical Counseling, Faith Bible Seminary

“Good books offer a clear argument for their reader to digest. Great books offer a clear argument by showing readers the evidence and underlying structures of the argument. Jared Poulton’s Van Til’s Counseling Movement is a great book. Scholars of Van Til and Jay Adams have assumed a connection between these two great Reformed thinkers. But Poulton is the first to demonstrate, with careful analysis, the connection between Adams and Van Til. Poulton’s work is particularly insightful in showing both the continuity and discontinuity between Adams and Van Til. Van Til’s Counseling Movement should be read by anyone interested in the theological foundation of Adams’ counseling system. Poulton provides enough detail for scholars while also giving enough background material so that any interested layman, seminary student, or pastor could read with much benefit.”

–Scott Cook, Pastor, Oconee PCA (Seneca, SC), Visiting Professor of Apologetics, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

“As the biblical counseling movement is engaged in passionate debate over its identity and methods, sometimes with more heat than light, surely what is called for is careful, Christlike, sober-minded thinking about the pertinent issues. And as the great Dutch Theologian Herman Bavinck once wrote in a letter, ‘nothing sobers one up as much’ as ‘a deep immersion in history.’ Jared S. Poulton’s book is exactly the sobering deep immersion into the history of biblical counseling that is desperately needed at this time. His immersive history begins not only by detailing the biographical, theological, and intellectual influences upon the pioneer of the biblical counseling movement, Jay Adams, but also by giving the same careful analysis for one of the most influential thinkers upon Adams, Pastor-Theologian Cornelius Van Til. The immersion goes even deeper in the heart of the book, as Poulton expertly reveals how Adams both incorporates Van Til’s theological concepts of the covenant, presuppositions, and the antithesis into the very foundation of the biblical counseling movement and also deviates from the deeper conception of them as taught by Van Til. By his analysis and application, Poulton points the way forward towards biblical counseling that is truly aligned with sola Scriptura. This work is historical theology with practical purpose at its best! Immerse yourself in this book and grow in the grace of being biblically sober-minded!”

–John A. Miller, Vice-President and Professor of Practical Theology, Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary