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'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.
— 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
'John Swinton has clearly become the premier pastoral theologian of our time.'
— Stanley Hauerwas
Introduction xiii
1 Christian spirituality and mental health 1
2 Stigma and prejudice: giving up negative attitudes 22
3 God in our struggles: finding resilience 42
4 Recovery from mental health challenges 64
5 Mental health and disability: recognizing limits 83
6 Mental health and the mission of the Church 103
Conclusion 131
Appendix A Some useful resources 135
Appendix B Intercessions for mental health 138