Scholarship

Featured Publication

Perfecting Ourselves to Death: The Pursuit of Excellence and the Perils of Perfectionism (Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP, 2005; also published in Slovakia: Porta Libri, 2006)

Perfect body. Perfect clothes. Perfect family. Perfect house. Perfect job. We strive for excellence in all areas of our lives. And there's nothing wrong with a healthy, mature pursuit of excellence. But what begins as healthy and normal can sometimes become neurotic and abnormal, leading to debilitating thoughts and behaviors. In this book, Dr. Winter explores the positive and negative effects of perfectionism on our lives and provides practical strategies for how to change.

Books

Choose Life: a Christian perspective on abortion and embryo experiments with Marshall Pickering, 1988. Out of print.

Perfecting Ourselves to Death: The Pursuit of Excellence and the Perils of Perfectionism. Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP, 2005. Also published in Slovakia: Porta Libri, 2006 and was translated into Korean (2007 Korean IVP).

The Roots of Sorrow: Reflections on Depression and Hope. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1986. Republished Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2000.

Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment: Rediscovering Passion and Wonder. Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP, 2002. Also published in Slovakia: Porta Libri, 2006.

Articles

“Abortion—The Biblical and Medical Challenges,” essays with Gordon Wenham, Care Trust (July 1983); previously published in Third Way as separate articles.

“A Biblical and Theological Perspective on Grief and Bereavement,” Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 18, no. 4 (Winter 1999).

“Boredom,” in New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics, Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP (2006).

“Cross-Cultural comparison of British and American Psychiatric Emergencies,” with Robert Apsler and Ellen Bassuk, The American Journal of Psychiatry 140 no. 2 (February 1983).

“Cutting and Washing: Circumcision and Baptism: Appropriate Symbols in an Erotic Culture.” Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review 26, No. 3, Fall, 2000.

“General Practitioners, Counseling and Psychotherapy,” with Michael Whitfield. Update: The Journal of Postgraduate General Practice (March 15, 1980).

“The Glory and Ruin of Man,” in Francis Schaeffer: Portraits of the Man and His Work, ed. Lane Dennis, Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1986.

“Grace: Unlocking the Prison of Perfectionism,” Covenant (Fall 1995).

“Homosexuality” in Medicine and the Bible, Carlisle, England: Paternoster Press (1983).

“Jay Adams—Is He Really Biblical Enough?” Third Way (April 1982).

“Knowing the Invisible, Inaudible, and Untouchable God: Between the Garden, Galilee and Glory” Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review 25, no. 2, (Fall 1999); Also published in Critique, a publication of the Ransom Fellowship, no. 6, 1999.

“Lessons in the Art of Living and Loving,” Covenant (June 1999).

“Pictures in the Mind,” Spectrum: A Magazine for Christians in Education 13, no. 1 (Autumn 1980).

“Psychiatry and General Practice: Results of a Survey of Avon General Practitioners,” with Michael Whitfield. Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners (November 1980).

“The Pursuit of Excellence and the Perils of Perfectionism,” Christian Counseling Connection 1 (2005).

“The Roots of Sorrow” Covenant (1998).

“The Search for Truth in Psychology and Counseling,” Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review 31, no. 1 (Spring 2005); also published in All for Jesus: A Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Covenant Theological Seminary, ed. Robert A. Peterson and Sean Michal Lucas. Fearn, Tain, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2006.

“Therapeutic Holiday Programs for Maladjusted Children at Residential Schools,” with Martin Gay and Janet McQuitty. Journal of the Association for Therapeutic Education 3, no. 2 (Autumn 1975).

Reviews

What’s So Amazing about Grace? by Philip Yancey, in Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review 25, no. 2 (Fall 1999): 128.

Why Sin Matters: The Surprising Relationship between Our Sin and God’s Grace by Mark R. McMinn in Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review 32, no. 2 (Fall 2006).

Presentations

“The Glory and Ruin of Man: Depression, Anxiety and Perfectionism,” presented at The Francis Schaeffer Lectures, Covenant Theological Seminary, 1991.

Depression lecture presented at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Search my name in the Library at this site for many more of my lectures on a variety of topics delivered over the past 20 years.

European Leadership Forum Lectures, covering topics such as anxiety, depression, forgiveness, homosexuality, perfectionism, pornography, and more. 

“The Pursuit of Excellence and the Perils of Perfectionism,” presented at The Staley Lectures, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, 2002.

Many other lectures given in diverse places.