Struggling with God: Mental Health and Christian Spirituality: Foreword by Justin Welby

by Christopher C.H. Cook, Isabelle Hamley, Professor John Swinton

'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.

192 pages, Paperback

Published June 22, 2023

About the author

Christopher C. H. Cook is Professor of Spirituality, Theology and Health in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, an Honorary Minor Canon at Durham Cathedral, and an Honorary Chaplain with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV). He trained in medicine, at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, and then undertook postgraduate training in psychiatry at Guys Hospital, London. He was an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist with TEWV until 2017. Christopher was ordained as an Anglican priest in 2001. He has research doctorates in psychiatry and in theology and is Director of the Project for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Durham University. He is the author of The Philokalia and the Inner Life (James Clarke, 2011) and co-editor of Spirituality and Narrative in Psychiatric Practice (with Andrew Powell and Andrew Sims, RCPsych Press, 2016) and Spirituality, Theology and Mental Health (SCM, 2013). He is a member of the core research team for the Hearing the Voice project at Durham University.

Reviews

[John Dunn]

This remarkably refreshing and inspiring book, co-authored by Cook, Hamley, and Swinton, offers an excellent yet concise overview of the broad subjects of spirituality and mental illness. For example, the authors present a correlation between mental illness and the sufferings of the biblical character of Job, which is clearly NOT the subject of this book. However, the material presented somewhat inspired me to pursue this and other material presented in greater detail. As a Christian who struggles with a serious mental illness, I would like to offer the fact that Christian spirituality cannot help individuals such as myself lead a successful life in and of itself. From personal experience, I now understand more about how spirituality aids me in my recovery journey.

[Thomas Creedy]

Behind this lovely cover is a complex, enigmatic and well written book. Some really helpful stuff, some slightly ambiguous or unclear fudging. Will be a useful tool for leaders, and the more theologically minded strugglers amongst us. Helpful on prayer and honest.