Overview

'Remarkably beautiful and pastoral' JUSTIN WELBY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 'Brimming with wisdom and humanity' DAME SARAH MULLALLY, DBE, BISHOP OF LONDON Struggling with God gets right to the heart of a great predicament for many Christians. When it feels as if our struggles are overwhelming - and our capacity for faith and hope and love is diminished - how is it possible to maintain, never mind nourish, our relationship with God? The truth, as this deeply compassionate volume reminds us, is that Jesus came alongside people wrestling with mental health problems. Many familiar conditions, such as anxiety and depression, and more severe ones, including bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia, are addressed by the authors here. Dispelling common myths and misconceptions, they explore the impact such mental health disorders can have on individual Christians, Church and society.. Each chapter includes biblical reflections relevant to its theme, prayers, questions to facilitate individual/group study, and pointers to further reading. In short, the book presents a Christian vision of spiritual and mental wellbeing through prayerful struggling with God.

Full Product Details

9780281086412

Table of Contents

Reviews

In a world where justice is too often about power, Isabelle Hamley shows that God's justice brings transformation, healing and hope for us all. -- Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, on EMBRACING JUSTICE John Swinton has clearly become the premier pastoral theologian of our time. -- Stanley Hauerwas Here is pastoral theology at its best - careful, sensitive, clear, searching, insight and with an integrated theology that supports good care. I warmly commend it to the widest possible readership. -- James Woodward on DEMINTIA: LIVING IN THE MEMORIES OF GOD by John Swinton With expertise in both theology and psychiatry, Professor Christopher Cook is ideally placed to examine the complexities around the hearing of voices in spiritual and religious contexts. His book is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the scientific and theological research in the area. It is also a delightfully engaging read. -- Charles Fernyhough, Director and Principle Investigator, Hearing the Voice, Durham University on HEARING VOICES, DEMONIC AND DIVINE

'This remarkably beautiful and pastoral study by three knowledgeable and outstanding scholars challenges clearly but gently almost every way in which, until the very recent past, we first made mental illness a category that separates and then tried to hide it away . . . There is a great need for the courage to love those who are ill, support their supporters, and form communities of all kinds which are welcoming and safe places . . . I finished the book with new attitudes and a sense of having once again seen potential beauty in the church which we have yet to realise but which is within our grasp.' -- Justin Welby, Archbishop of York on STRUGGLING WITH GOD 'Most people struggle at some point with their mental health. This book offers a fresh, hopeful and scripturally-rooted response, brimming with wisdom and humanity. The stigma which isolates individuals and denies their God-given image is rightly given short shrift. The church is encouraged to embrace the reality of people's experience as a gift, with a vulnerable openness to learning new things. Struggling with God beautifully draws out the resources of the Christian faith to address mental health challenges - our own and other people's - with intelligence, compassion and hope.' -- Dame Sarah Mullally, DBE, Bishop of London on STRUGGLING WITH GOD 'An essential read and resource . . . The theology has a strong true foundation, based both on lived experience of mental health challenges, as well as years of clinical experience and academic research. Particularly helpful are the bible reflections and prayers which are written with sensitivity and empathy.' -- The Revd Dr Alison J Gray, FRCPsych, Priest Associate Church of the Ascension, Munich on STRUGGLING WITH GOD 'John Swinton has clearly become the premier pastoral theologian of our time.' -- Stanley Hauerwas

Here is pastoral theology at its best - careful, sensitive, clear, searching, insight and with an integrated theology that supports good care. I warmly commend it to the widest possible readership.--James Woodward on DEMINTIA: LIVING IN THE MEMORIES OF GOD by John Swinton In a world where justice is too often about power, Isabelle Hamley shows that God's justice brings transformation, healing and hope for us all.--Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, on EMBRACING JUSTICE John Swinton has clearly become the premier pastoral theologian of our time.--Stanley Hauerwas With expertise in both theology and psychiatry, Professor Christopher Cook is ideally placed to examine the complexities around the hearing of voices in spiritual and religious contexts. His book is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the scientific and theological research in the area. It is also a delightfully engaging read.--Charles Fernyhough, Director and Principle Investigator, Hearing the Voice, Durham University on HEARING VOICES, DEMONIC AND DIVINE

This remarkably beautiful and pastoral study by three knowledgeable and outstanding scholars challenges clearly but gently almost every way in which, until the very recent past, we first made mental illness a category that separates and then tried to hide it away . . . There is a great need for the courage to love those who are ill, support their supporters, and form communities of all kinds which are welcoming and safe places . . . I finished the book with new attitudes and a sense of having once again seen potential beauty in the church which we have yet to realise but which is within our grasp. -- Justin Welby, Archbishop of York on STRUGGLING WITH GOD Most people struggle at some point with their mental health. This book offers a fresh, hopeful and scripturally-rooted response, brimming with wisdom and humanity. The stigma which isolates individuals and denies their God-given image is rightly given short shrift. The church is encouraged to embrace the reality of people's experience as a gift, with a vulnerable openness to learning new things. Struggling with God beautifully draws out the resources of the Christian faith to address mental health challenges - our own and other people's - with intelligence, compassion and hope. -- Dame Sarah Mullally, DBE, Bishop of London on STRUGGLING WITH GOD John Swinton has clearly become the premier pastoral theologian of our time. -- Stanley Hauerwas Here is pastoral theology at its best - careful, sensitive, clear, searching, insight and with an integrated theology that supports good care. I warmly commend it to the widest possible readership. -- James Woodward on DEMINTIA: LIVING IN THE MEMORIES OF GOD by John Swinton In a world where justice is too often about power, Isabelle Hamley shows that God's justice brings transformation, healing and hope for us all. -- Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, on EMBRACING JUSTICE With expertise in both theology and psychiatry, Professor Christopher Cook is ideally placed to examine the complexities around the hearing of voices in spiritual and religious contexts. His book is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the scientific and theological research in the area. It is also a delightfully engaging read. -- Charles Fernyhough, Director and Principle Investigator, Hearing the Voice, Durham University on HEARING VOICES, DEMONIC AND DIVINE

This remarkably beautiful and pastoral study by three knowledgeable and outstanding scholars challenges clearly but gently almost every way in which, until the very recent past, we first made mental illness a category that separates and then tried to hide it away . . . There is a great need for the courage to love those who are ill, support their supporters, and form communities of all kinds which are welcoming and safe places . . . I finished the book with new attitudes and a sense of having once again seen potential beauty in the church which we have yet to realise but which is within our grasp. -- Justin Welby, Archbishop of York on STRUGGLING WITH GOD Most people struggle at some point with their mental health. This book offers a fresh, hopeful and scripturally-rooted response, brimming with wisdom and humanity. The stigma which isolates individuals and denies their God-given image is rightly given short shrift. The church is encouraged to embrace the reality of people's experience as a gift, with a vulnerable openness to learning new things. Struggling with God beautifully draws out the resources of the Christian faith to address mental health challenges - our own and other people's - with intelligence, compassion and hope. -- Dame Sarah Mullally, DBE, Bishop of London on STRUGGLING WITH GOD An essential read and resource . . . The theology has a strong true foundation, based both on lived experience of mental health challenges, as well as years of clinical experience and academic research. Particularly helpful are the bible reflections and prayers which are written with sensitivity and empathy. -- The Revd Dr Alison J Gray, FRCPsych, Priest Associate Church of the Ascension, Munich on STRUGGLING WITH GOD John Swinton has clearly become the premier pastoral theologian of our time. -- Stanley Hauerwas

Author Information

Christopher C. H. Cook (Author) Christopher C. H. Cook is Professor of Spirituality, Theology & Health at Durham University. He worked as a psychiatrist in the NHS for over 25 years before retiring from clinical practice, and was ordained as an Anglican priest in 2001. He ministers in a small rural parish in the Yorkshire Dales and is the author of several books. Isabelle Hamley (Author) Isabelle Hamley is Theological Adviser to the House of Bishops and was formerly Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Isabelle has written a number of recognised books on questions of justice, mercy and restoration, having been a probation officer before ordination and ministering subsequently amidst the diversity of parish life. John Swinton (Author) John Swinton is a Scottish theologian, academic, and Presbyterian minister. He is the Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies (University of Aberdeen) and the founder of the university's Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability. John is a major figure in the development of disability theology and was awarded in 2016 the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing for his book Dementia: Living in the Memories of God.

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