http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/05/28/misreading-family-systems-theory/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:03:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/05/28/misreading-family-systems-theory/#comment-1942 Leander+ Fri, 30 May 2008 01:04:25 +0000 http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/05/28/misreading-family-systems-theory/#comment-1942 See my answer over on Standfirm. See my answer over on Standfirm.

]]> http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/05/28/misreading-family-systems-theory/#comment-1938 tdunbar Thu, 29 May 2008 19:45:07 +0000 http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/05/28/misreading-family-systems-theory/#comment-1938 Dr Harding, does anyone connect Bowen theory with Zizioulas' "Communion and Otherness"? Dr Harding,
does anyone connect Bowen theory with Zizioulas’ “Communion and Otherness”?

]]> http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/05/28/misreading-family-systems-theory/#comment-1935 leander Thu, 29 May 2008 12:39:35 +0000 http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/05/28/misreading-family-systems-theory/#comment-1935 Thanks to Greg for all the blogging magic over on Standfirm including the original video that I commented on. For many years the book which has introduced Bowen Family Systems in church circles has been Ed Friedman’s “From Generation to Generation”. It is a fine book but it is not the first book that I now use because I think it is too easily misinterpreted. I like Ronald Richarson “Becoming A Healthier Pastor” and by the same author “Creating A Healthier Church” I think these volumes are less prone to the kind of self-serving misreading that I have outlined and critiqued in my article. I also recommend the books by Roberta Gilbert including “Extraordinary Relationships” and “Extraordinary Leadership” and “Connecting With Our Children”. All of these books present Bowen Family Systems Theory as a challenge to become “present and accounted for” in the relationship systems to which we belong in a way which requires what in the Christian religion is called repentance. I hear in church circles a lot of palaver about “non-anxious presence” etc. but it seems to me like they say in Texas all hat and no cattle. Thanks to Greg for all the blogging magic over on Standfirm including the original video that I commented on. For many years the book which has introduced Bowen Family Systems in church circles has been Ed Friedman’s “From Generation to Generation”. It is a fine book but it is not the first book that I now use because I think it is too easily misinterpreted. I like Ronald Richarson “Becoming A Healthier Pastor” and by the same author “Creating A Healthier Church” I think these volumes are less prone to the kind of self-serving misreading that I have outlined and critiqued in my article. I also recommend the books by Roberta Gilbert including “Extraordinary Relationships” and “Extraordinary Leadership” and “Connecting With Our Children”. All of these books present Bowen Family Systems Theory as a challenge to become “present and accounted for” in the relationship systems to which we belong in a way which requires what in the Christian religion is called repentance. I hear in church circles a lot of palaver about “non-anxious presence” etc. but it seems to me like they say in Texas all hat and no cattle.

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