Guilt and Growth: Jay Adams and John Owen on Motivating Christians with Guilt

In this article, Michael Bobick examines the development of Jay Adams’ and John Owen’s views on guilt. Bobick describes Adams’ method as one that seeks to increase the feeling of guilt to motivate counselees. He shows how this is a close parallel to Owen’s view on guilt and then provides a basic analysis of Owen’s position. Bobick concludes his article with a theological evaluation and an illustration of how this approach may look in a counseling context.