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Loading... Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges (edition 2020)by John Swinton (Author)
Work InformationFinding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges by John Swinton
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  IanGrantham | Mar 23, 2023 |  no reviews | add a review
People living with mental health challenges are not excluded from God's love or even the fullness of life promised by Jesus. Unfortunately, this hope is often lost amid the well-meaning labels and medical treatments that dominate the world of mental health today. In Finding Jesus in the Storm, John Swinton makes the case for reclaiming that hope by changing the way we talk about mental health and remembering that, above all, people are people, regardless of how unconventionally they experience life. This means accepting the reality and ramifications of suffering while also affirming that there is more to humanity than cells and synapses. Finding Jesus in the Storm is a call for the church to be an epicenter of compassion for those experiencing depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and related difficulties. Part of this compassion means breaking free of the assumptions that often accompany these diagnoses, allowing for the possibility that people living within unconventional states of mental health might experience God in unique ways that are real and perhaps even revelatory. In each chapter, Swinton gives voice to those experiencing the mental health challenges in question, so readers can see firsthand what God's healing looks like in a variety of circumstances. The result is a book about people instead of symptoms, description instead of diagnosis, and lifegiving hope for everyone in the midst of the storm. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)261.8322Religions Christian church and church work Church and the world; Social theology and interreligious relations and attitudes Christianity and socioeconomic problems Social Teaching Poverty & Social JusticeLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.75)
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Wikipedia in English
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I read this book as someone with lived experience of mental illness, as well as experience in general hospital chaplaincy and as a Christian.
I'd say that this book is a valuable resource for those ministering to people living with mental illness. However, whilst it contains valuable insights about the way those with mental illnesses are understood and related to, it is of lesser value to those living with these conditions. There are other books which do this far better.
Firstly, Swinton discusses how we describe mental illness, in particular major depression. He notes that descriptions of depression have been 'thinned' due to overuse, to the extent that the illness of major depression is now understated. This he concludes contributes to a thinning of spirituality itself. He suggest that we need to recover a phenomenological attitude towards mental illness which will help us to develop a 'thick' description of severe and enduring mental illness (SEMI). In the book, he suggests that this can best be done using four horizons - the horizon of the author; the horizon of Christians living with a SEMI; the horizon of mental health care; and finally the horizon of Scripture, Christian tradition, and reflection on the life of the church.
In Part II, the author looks at redescribing diagnosis, and the impact that the diagnostic process has on the individual. He uses and example of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder to show how diagnosis can lead to alienation then resignation.
He then goes on to help us redescribe depression, psychosis, and bipolar disorder, finally concluding the book by redescrbing what is meant by healing.
In Part III, Redescribing Depression, Swinton looks at the Christian categories of lament and joy, and how these relate to the experience of depression. He then lays out a three step process of finding God in the darkness - orientation, disorientation, and reorientation - and discusses how we can find God in God's absence.
The next part of the book focusses on psychosis, and in particular auditory hallucinations.
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