Book Review
Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling
Review Of Spirit In Session By Russell 2020, Vol. 74(4) 294–295
! The Author(s) 2020
Siler Jones
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1542305020959596
journals.sagepub.com/home/pcc
Jones, Russell Siler, Spirit in Session: Working
how it begins, and how and when to make spiritual inter-
With Your Client’s Spirituality (and Your Own) ventions, with special attention to interventions when
in Psychotherapy, Templeton: West harmful spirituality is taking place. He notes that
Conshohocken, PA, 2019. viii +275 pp; sometimes a client initiates a spiritual topic, and sometimes
ISBN 13: 978-1-59947-561-5; $19.95 (pbk) the therapist does. He notes the implicit and explicit
themes that might arise and offers many questions and
Reviewed by: Richard P. Olson , Central Baptist topics that may launch a spiritual investigation. He demon-
Theological Seminary, Shawnee, Kansas, USA. strates these with clinical conversations of which he has
Email:
[email protected] been a part.
The third part of the book guides the therapist in work-
When I explore a new book, I ask two questions: What ing on one’s own spirituality. He notes the therapist’s spir-
promise does the author make? And is this promise kept? ituality is “always in the room.” He suggests giving attention
Russell Siler Jones is clear about his promise. In his “to the unconscious material that bubbles up moment to
words, he sensed a call to write a book on psychotherapy moment in response to your clients—the steady stream of
and spirituality “in . . . plain, down-to-earth language . . . sensation, emotion, and memory, that we call counter-
practical, not theoretical . . . pack it with . . . much clinical transference.” (p. 171, italics his) He goes on to say that
dialogue . . . Make it adaptable for use with almost any psy- spiritual countertransference is often mentioned in a cau-
chotherapy model . . . write from your heart. Let it be a tionary warning. However, it has potential, if properly mon-
book that feels spiritual, so the tone of the book might be itored, to offer helpful therapy as the experiences of two
a match for the topic.” (p. 7) humans make contact. With openness to the spirituality of
While he has high regard for much of what has both self and client, it is possible that one’s therapy practice
been written about psychotherapy and religion and names can be/become a spiritual practice.
his five favorite books on this topic, none of them does At the outset Jones said he would offer a framework. At
what he offers—a book that demonstrates what these the conclusion he notes the framework he described
spiritual conversations sound like, and describes themes, “includes a bit of theory, lots of skills and strategies, and
structure, sequence, and flow of such conversations. Of ample portion of my own spiritual values and assumptions.”
all this, his “chief intention . . . [is] to teach you a frame- (p. 225)
work.” (p. 6) Of all the good things he offers, I somehow feel a bit
He does this in three parts. First, he gently leads readers of disappointment in his treatment of spiritually harmful
into the presumptions of spiritual counsel. He starts with a spiritualities. It is good he includes this topic. I wish there
chapter about God, which he says is a “poetic word” with had been wider variety in the harmful spiritualities
many variations and names, a mysterious reality that many he describes and attention to how serious and deadly
presume and experience even if God’s existence cannot these can be.
be logically proved or disproved. He introduces the Has this author kept his promise? Yes, especially for his
term “spirituality” with a collage of brief descriptions- stated primary audience, which are beginning or experi-
experiences, and then conceptually as “all the ways you enced therapists who want to learn how to engage the
and God relate to each other.” (p. 30) spiritual concerns of their clients. Jones has a gift for break-
In the second part, he describes the process of ing complex theories and processes into simpler steps or
including spiritual counsel in psychotherapy. He speaks of components. He writes collegially, crediting the scholars
Book Review 295
that inform him, and he communicates both sharing himself not speak of the pioneers who guided me in this quest early
and his experience and with deep openness to those of on—Clinebell, Weatherhead, and others.) Still, many may
other persuasions. find it an enjoyable read, offering a reaffirming, strengthen-
What is its value for those of us who are chaplains and ing, and enriching perspective, as this reviewer did.
pastoral counselors? Our professions’ mission statements
claim a spiritually integrated helping process. Therefore, this
book may be more familiar territory for many of us. (Jones ORCID iD
referenced some recent scholars I have not yet read but did Richard P. Olson https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5173-0148
