Larry Crabb has been a major influence in the Biblical/Christian Counselling movement. Yet often misunderstood.
Many Christians have seen his use of non-Scriptural terminology and quoting secular authors as being suspect. However, Crabb was not an integrationist. Scripture always trumped secular insights.
Larry Crabb was someone whose thinking developed and responded to what he saw to be the needs of the Church. Before many other models of counselling he was stressing that sin lay not in our behaviours but in the motivations of our deepest parts. The book Inside Out marked his international fame as he showed that sin is relational – a failure to love.
Later he was to emphasise life in the Trinity. He turned towards spiritual direction as he saw not only the needs of laypeople but also that, rather than trying to fix the problem of life and manage sin (Dallas Willard), people were called to find God through their issues of life and to see their life in the context of the larger story God is telling.
Crabb touched upon other themes, including gender, the new heart of the redeemed person, seeking the Blesser rather than His blessings, etc.
For a number of years Crabb continued to travel and minister whilst receiving treatment, so that we were used to his being ill. However, after his recent YouTube talks this year he declined rapidly.
His legacy can be accessed via LargerStory. com. A good overview of his work can be in the Larger Story – The read in Living Christian Psychology of Larry Crabb, edited by Jason E. Kanz. (Gideon Institute of Christian Psychology and Counseling, 2019). There is also a response to each contributor by Larry.
