I am giving a seminar on mental health in universities at the IFES World Assembly in Johannesburg.
My co-presenter is Ibukun Adekoya, a Ph.D. student in Counseling Psychology at McGill University.
Later I will post our slides.
Here are some of the recommended resources
1. God is creator of an ordered world that is accessible to human reason;
2. human imperfection; this impelled intellectual criticism and collegial cooperation.
3. humanity is made in the image of God; this laid the foundation for academic freedom.
4. the appropriateness of public argument and discussion to the absoluteness of scientific truth;
5. scientific and scholarly knowledge as a public good transcending any economic advantage it might bring;
6. the cumulative and self-correcting process of the growth of knowledge
7. the equality and solidarity of those committed to the pursuit of knowledge
Three things I find striking. First, how these values are deeply rooted in Christian theology. Second, that these values are the basis for good universities today, even if they are completely secular.
Finally, these values are being steadily eroded in universities today, particularly 5.
I really enjoyed the novel, The Day of the Lie, by William Brodrick. The central character is Father Anselm, who is a monk and lawyer. He becomes involved in a case in post-communist Poland, which struggles to find justice and healing after forty years of a police state which was riddled with informers, surveillance, torture, and murder of political prisoners. There are many unexpected twists and turns in the story. Who informed on who? Why? Who was a double agent? But it is really much more than a crime/political thriller. Brodrick is particularly gifted at capturing the nuance of dialogues, inner thoughts, conflicted feelings, and the complexity of relationships. Moreover, the novel wrestles with significant issues of justice, mercy, and redemption, particularly in the context of a society that needs to recover from decades of injustice. These issues are germane to many countries today set in post-conflict, whether Rwanda, South Africa, or Iraq.
The Garden of Eden in Genesis 1-2 represents God's ideal. There is harmony between God and humanity, between male and female, and between humans and nature. There is no struggle for survival. There is no shame. Everything in the creation is good.
Yet this is not the world we live in.
People are alienated from God: they lose identity, purpose, and hope.
Men and women are in conflict.
Work is hard and stressful. It is usually a struggle for survival.
Humanity is alienated from nature.
People are ashamed.
Violence (physical, sexual, and verbal) is prevalent. Violence easily escalates and is passed on to the next generation.
The mind is corrupted. People believe lies, including about themselves.
Disease and death are present.
This is the world introduced in Genesis 3: the fallen creation. Adam and Eve believe a lie: they can be like God: be rulers and know everything. They rebel and experience the consequences: the world described above, a world of alienation.
Mental illness is part of the fallen creation. Depression is characterised by a lack of hope.
The Bible does not present a simplistic or reductionist view of what a human is. The description in terms of ``mind, body, heart, and soul'' is not dualist or even quadralist! Rather the Bible presents a holistic Hebrew perspective that being human and being whole is multi-faceted. Hence, mental health requires an integrated approach. The causes are complex. The solutions are complex. There are spiritual, biochemical, social, and psychological dimensions to be addressed. These dimensions often interact with one another, either constructively or destructively. Healing and prevention may require a blend of prayer, counseling, drugs, exercise, diet, supportive relationships, community building, and lifestyle changes.
The mandate for Christians is to bind up the broken hearted, heal the sick, and set the prisoners free.
On Saturday I am giving a talk in Sydney on this question at the annual Write conference organised by the Simeon Network of Christian academics. The talk is based on a paper that will appear in June in the journal IFES Word and World.
Two papers that are helpful were written by Professor David Ford of Cambridge.
They are here and here.
Tonight at the theology reading group we are discussing ``The Nature and Basis of Salvation,'' chapter 11 of Christian Theology: An Introduction, by Alister McGrath.
The chapter explores different perspectives through history on what the death of Jesus on the cross achieved and what is the meaning and nature of the salvation that is linked to his death and resurrection.
McGrath helpfully points out that it is hard to separate the question of ``What did Jesus achieve?" from the questions of ``Who is Jesus?" and ``What is the nature of humans and what do they need?''
Some view the cross of Christ as only exemplary and subjective, i.e. it provides an example and inspiration for humans to be willing to suffer, particularly for a greater good beyond themselves. In contrast, an objective ontological view is that the cross achieves something objective (makes salvation possible); it actually changes reality.
There are different models and metaphors for the cross and what it achieves including that it is a sacrifice for sin, a victory over sin and evil, a provider of forgiveness, and a demonstration of God's love. Most of the writers McGrath that engages with seem to exclusively favour just one of these over the others. I find this a little strange; why can't they all be true? There are many dimensions to what the cross achieves. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive. This seems to be similar to the view taken by John Stott in his classic book, The Cross of Christ. The challenge, as always in theology, is to find a balance in emphasis between the different dimensions. Furthermore, the cross represents a profound mystery and so any ``model'' will be limited by human language and concepts.
There is also a range of views about what is the nature of the salvation that Jesus offers: reconciliation with God, reconciliation with others, deification (being made divine, particularly favoured in Eastern Orthodox theology), imputed righteousness, personal holiness (Wesley), authentic human existence (Tillich), spiritual freedom, and political liberation (Boff, Gutierrez).
Finally, when it comes to the appropriation of salvation, what is the balance between an extremely Western individualistic conception of personal faith and a communal and institutional conception, as extremely embodied in the Roman Catholic church. Again, the challenge is to find a balance in emphasis between the different perspectives.
One thing in the chapter that was completely new and intriguing for me was the views of Rene Girard, an anthropologist, who claimed that desire, violence, and scapegoats were integral to humanity, to religion, and the sacred. Girard states "Mine is a search for the anthropology of the Cross, which turns out to rehabilitate orthodox theology". For the context and extensive bibliography see here.
It is arguable whether this chapter would be better after chapter 14, which concerns human nature and sin. Most of those who deny the saving power of the cross (particularly Enlightenment writers) do so because they don't think people need to be saved (i.e. they are basically good) and deny that human reason is not corrupted.
This leads to a broader issue that is discussed by McGrath: the influence of historical and cultural context on people's theology. Living in contexts as wide-ranging as Hellenistic philosophical debates, a military dictatorship in Latin America, upper middle-class North America today, or Catholic Germany at the time of Luther, do have an influence, for better or for worse, on the theological emphases and formulations that they produce.
Most importantly, the chapter would be more helpful if there was a deeper engagement with key Bible passages, particularly those that are hard to reconcile with some of the narrow views advocated by some of the writers reviewed. This is where Stott's book is helpful.
Grunewald, Isenheim Altarpiece. Karl Barth wrote most of his Church Dogmatics, with a reproduction of this in view.
The aim of this personal blog is to illustrate the intellectual engagement of Christian theology with science and with culture. The name Soli Deo Gloria is inspired by J.S. Bach's writing SDG on all his compositions. Handel also did this on some compositions (see above).
I am now happily retired. I used to be paid to have fun at work trying to use quantum many-body theory to understand electronic properties of complex materials.I am married to the lovely Robin and have two adult children and a dog, Priya (in the photo). I also write an even more personal blog Soli Deo Gloria [thoughts on theology, science, and culture]
