Sexual Ethics in Counseling

Course overview

Sexuality is often an important factor in counseling; so is the client's religious viewpoint. In the US population, Christian views shape the current milieu. This class will explore the relationship between the two. There will be an overview of biblical ethics with an emphasis on current scholarship and insights into the variety of ethical standards, biblical and historical, present in Christian sexual ethics. Particularly, attention will be focused on homosexuality and gender dysphoria. The inherently interpersonal nature of aspects of sexuality, particularly how one's self-identity interacts with responsibility to family and friends will be included. Finally, there will be an overview of therapeutic ethics: how to meet a client's needs when, what the client views as an ethical aspiration contradicts the therapist's clinical judgment. Presenter: Patricia Beattie Jung, PhD, President, Society of Christian Ethics, Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics, Saint Paul School of Theology Learning inputs: Lecture discussion, and exercises covering the nature of spirituality, ethics, and the integration of the two in counseling.