Working as a board certified Licensed Professional Counselor, I am required to use written treatment plans with my patients. That raises the question of which orientation to use. I chose to break with the current ones taught in graduate schools and use one that has a known history of success. Having observed a trend in our culture to blur the distinction between manhood and womanhood, to the demise of many couples, I chose to use the biblical orientation. That immediately raised the issue of finding a reputable source upon which I could formulate my treatment plans. Enter Wayne Gruden and his book.
I was drawn to his book by yet another book "What's The Difference" by John Piper. His writings led me to more serious in depth works on the subject during which I came across the name Gruden. It seems that Piper's book is the light weight of three publications, and Gruden's is right in the middle. After reading Gruden's work, I think I will pass on the heaviest weighted volume for now.
I found Gruden's work to be just about right, not too light, and not too heavy. It is, nevertheless, a rather thorough work. In it he not only lays out the created gender role differences, he also addresses the more prominent arguments raised against the biblical stance. I found that to be very helpful in providing me with some peace of mind while writing my treatment plans - a sort of apologetic primer on the subject. The book had enough surprises in it (things I did not know) to easily hold my interest to the very end, and thorough enough to require that I frequently laid it down, pondered what was written, checked out his citations, and re-read some passages. That puts it in the category, in my experience, of a text book, or reference volume, which is exactly how I have treated it.
