David Field Online Workshop

Taught by David Field.

This workshop is intended for pastors and laity alike and will meet via Zoom for 6 Saturdays from Sept. 19 - Oct. 24, 2026.

Time: 9 - 11 am CST (= 1500-1700 UK) 

This online course will expound and illustrate the ways in which faithful Christian psychodynamic counseling / psychotherapy is inescapably Gospel-shaped and is wholly formed by and aligned with the economy of God.

By doing this, it will provide an introduction to Christian psychodynamic counseling and an enriching perspective on Christian discipleship.

Connecting with a well-known published work each week (deliberately selected from a variety of genres and by authors including C. S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, and John Climacus), we will give attention to themes such as ‘Prayer and the psyche’, ‘Defenses against God’, ‘Simplicity and attention’, and ‘Becoming as infants and human flourishing’.

In these ways the course will celebrate and explore the ways that faithful depth therapy sheds light on discipleship and the ways that the Gospel can – and must – frame, form, and animate effective counseling.

Week One: Orientation to Discipleship and Depth Therapy

·       Malan’s Triangle of Conflict in the light of Scripture

Week Two: Simplicity and attention

·       Twenty-Three Tales – Leo Tolstoy 

Week Three: Defenses against God

·       Till We Have Faces and The Great Divorce – C.S. Lewis 

Week Four: Prayer and the psyche

·       The Ladder of Divine Ascent – John of Sinai 

Week Five: Becoming as infants and human flourishing

·       Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, chapter 3: “Profile of Mental Functioning in Childhood” – Malberg, Speranza, & Fortunato

Week Six: The way of the cross

·       The Gospel of Mark – God the Holy Spirit 

The Forces of the Soul and the Healing of the Soul is aimed at 

·      pastors and others with responsibility for discipling and pastoral care who wish to learn about and learn from Christian psychodynamic counseling 

·      Christian counselors and psychotherapists practising in any modality who seek to see and practise their vocation in the full light of Scripture 

·      any Christians interested, for whatever reason, in the Gospel relationship between counseling and discipleship 

If you would like to know more about the course before signing up, feel free to contact David Field by emailing him at David-Field-Theopolis@pm.me . 

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Zoom link will be emailed to participants. Participants will also receive invite to Populi, our course management software, with information such as syllabus, recordings, class roster, etc.

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David Field, who has long been a friend of Theopolis, is a Christian counsellor / psychotherapist who lives and practises in Oxford, England. In the decades before establishing his practice in 2020, he served as a local church pastor, taught in seminaries in Nigeria and in London, UK, and worked in international executive search in global higher education. He has Masters degrees from Oxford (Theology) and Keele (Counselling and Psychotherapy) and a PhD from Cambridge in Puritan Theology.