Jay Adams believed that at the core of every counseling problem was a theological problem. He wrote extensively about the theological issues that undergirded good counseling and warned about the devastating effects of bad theology. This collection of essays focuses on the counselor as a theologian.

The title article, Counseling and the Sovereignty of God, deals with the single most important theological issue for the counselor. Counselors who do not have a firm understanding of this key doctrine will founder in the counselor room and will leave their counselees confused and without hope. In the concluding article, Influence, Dr. Adams warned the founding fathers of the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) to be on guard about many of the issues we continue to face over half a century later. Other essays include Counseling the Unbeliever, Counseling and the Five Points of Calvinism, A Certain Inheritance, The Influence of Westminster, and Issues of the Heart.