Issue
Faith and Mental Illness
Vol. 23, No. 4 • Jul/Aug 2014
Watching other people suffer is one of the most difficult realities of the human experience. We can feel helpless when it comes to others’ internal struggles, especially when they come with daunting labels like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia, bulimia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (just to name a few). Some assert that these types of “problems” […]
All Articles (15)
Caring for Those in Distress
Watching other people suffer is one of the most difficult realities of the human experience. We can feel helpless when it comes to others’ internal struggles, especially when they come with daunting labels like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia, bulimia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (just to name a few). Some assert that these types of “problems” […]
William Cowper: Depression and the Art of Hymn Writing
Sometimes God’s grace is not a pretty sight. We love to romanticize the gospel, but at times, when God lays hold of people who are caught in the grip of the saddest vignettes of human experience, the end product is something we would hardly want to sing about, let alone live through ourselves. So it […]
Faith and Mental Illness
According to a 2013 survey by LifeWay Research, one-third of Americans agree that “prayer and Bible study alone can overcome serious mental illness.” Nearly half (48 percent) of evangelicals agree. (1) Why on earth would Modern Reformation imagine that it had something important to say, from a distinctly Reformation perspective, on mental illness? That was […]
Recommended Books and Resources
Jonathan Carr 1993-2014
“Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and their Families” Edited by Robert H. Albers, William H. Meller, and Steven D. Thurber
In this scholarly textbook, eighteen authors collaborate in an effort “to develop an integrated and interrelated approach that honors the work of the specialists in psychiatry, psychology, and theology” (5). Even though the overall tone leans toward the clinical (with no shortage of medical, scientific, and public health terminology), most of the authors are to […]
Christian Living
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Help! Saved but Still Sinning
Sanctification isn’t effortless. The act of dying to sin implies spiritual battle and life-long war against sin. Living unto righteousness implies costly, intensive labor that daily says “no” to sin and “yes” to Christlikeness. So what do we do when we fail yet again? How can we overcome feelings of failure, defeat, and self-loathing when we sin?
Fearing Death Isn’t a Sin. Here’s Why.
“To the one who is afraid of death, dear brother or sister, Don’t let your fear turn into faithlessness, but instead offer it to God.” Jesus’s death and resurrection have transformed what death means for the Christian. Pastor Adriel shares that feeling fear at the approach of death is not automatically sinful, however, the real […]
The Weight of Steadfastness
What if the discomfort we’ve avoided—the very trial we’ve begged God to remove—is the instrument our loving Father is using to bring us to completion, the place where lasting joy is found?
Assurance in the Shadow of Doubt
The coexistence of assurance and doubt is not a contradiction, but a reflection of the Christian life lived between justification and glorification. True assurance rests not in the strength of one’s faith, but in the object of that faith—Jesus Christ—and the presence of doubt, while unsettling, does not nullify genuine belief.
