Navigating Mental Health, Trauma, and Faith

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, shining a spotlight on the importance of mental well-being. Pastors are increasingly called to engage with the intersection of mental health, trauma, and faith. These resources aim to provide insight and guidance on navigating the complex interplay between these issues, illuminating pathways toward healing and wholeness.

A Quiet Mind to Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, and the Death of Christ

2024 Christianity Today Book Award Winner – Christian Living/Spiritual Formation
2024 Illumination Book Awards Gold Medal Winner – Illness/Death/Dying
2023 Southwestern Journal of Theology Book Award Honorable Mention for Counseling

“This is a stunning book, so rare and so beautiful. I cannot recommend it highly enough. John Bryant does two things that are very hard to do at the same time. He represents the raw agony and disorientation of healing from OCD. And he puts this struggle within a hopeful theological frame. I cried a lot during this book. It will encourage those who suffer and help others to understand the struggle. The book is honest, vulnerable, gripping, and hopeful at the same time. Read this book.” —Matthew A. LaPine, director of Christian education at Citylight Church in Omaha, NE

In John Andrew Bryant’s words, “This is the story of Christ’s nearness to my own suffering—my mental breakdown, my journey to the psych ward, my long, slow, painful recovery—and how Christ will use even our agony and despair to turn us into servants and guests of the mercy offered in his gospel.”

“While the faithful will appreciate Bryant’s efforts to explore a nuanced relationship between mental illness and faith, what stands out the most are his painfully visceral descriptions of mental suffering … rendered with an unsparing honesty that jumps off the page.” —Publishers Weekly Starred Review

The Logic of the Body: Retrieving Theological Psychology

“Do not be anxious about anything.” When it comes to stress and worry, that’s all we really need to say, right? Just repent of your anxiety, and everything will be fine.

But emotional life is more complex than this.

In The Logic of the Body, Matthew LaPine argues that Protestants must retrieve theological psychology in order to properly understand the emotional life of the human person. With classical and modern resources in tow, LaPine argues that one must not choose between viewing emotions exclusively as either cognitive and volitional on the one hand, or simply a feeling of bodily change on the other. The two “stories” can be reconciled through a robustly theological analysis.

“This is not only first-rate, but desperately needed.” —JP Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

“This is a most welcome book from a young doctor of the soul.” —Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

Christ and Calamity: Grace and Gratitude in the Darkest Valley

2021 Christianity Today Book Award of Merit for the Beautiful Orthodoxy Book of the Year

Lord, do you not care if we perish?

That’s what the frightened disciples shouted to Jesus as he slept in the stern of a storm-tossed boat. In the midst of suffering and uncertainty, we’re all prone to think that God has forgotten us, he doesn’t care, or he’s powerless to do anything. In Christ and Calamity, Harold L. Senkbeil speaks pastorally to our suffering and uncertainty.

“In this excellent little book, Harold Senkbeil reminds us that in the midst of calamity, God is where he’s always been: near to us in the Christ given to us in the gospel.” —Derek Rishmawy, RUF Campus Minister at UC Irvine