Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges

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SCM Press, Sep 30, 2020 - Religion - 320 pages

Drawing from theological reflection on the lives of 30 Christians with severe mental health challenges, (depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia), leading disability theologian John Swinton contends that mental health problems require theological understanding and not just medical intervention.


In fact, he argues, it is not necessary to care effectively for Christians experiencing severe mental illness to grasp the theological dimensions of such experiences. Therapy and pharmacology may be helpful, but on their own they are deeply inadequate.


By listening carefully to the lived experiences of people with severe mental health problems, FInding Jesus in the Storm will open up new understandings and perspectives that challenge current assumptions and draws out fresh perspectives for care, healing, recovery and community. It is a book about people instead of symptoms, description instead of diagnosis, and lifegiving hope for everyone in the midst of the storm.

 

Contents

Acknowledgments
Redescribing the World of Mental Illness
Resurrecting Phenomenology
Taking Our Meds Faithfully
Lament and
Finding God in the Darkness
Understanding Psychosis
Hearing Voices
A Strange Kind of Loneliness
Bipolar Faith
Bipolar Disorder and the Nature of Suffering
Redescribing Healing
Mental Health Resources

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About the author (2020)

John Swinton is the Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the School of Divinity, History, and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen. He is the author of numerous books, including Dementia: Living in the Memories of God, which won the 2016 Michael Ramsay Prize for Theological Writing

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