Evangelical Anxiety
A Memoir
-
-
2.0 • 3 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
In this riveting spiritual memoir, the writer, scholar, and commentator tells the story of his struggles with mental illness, explores the void between the Christian faith and scientific treatment, and forges a path toward reconciling these divergent worlds.
For years, Charles Marsh suffered panic attacks and debilitating anxiety. As an Evangelical Christian, he was taught to trust in the power of God and His will. While his Christian community resisted therapy and personal introspection, Marsh eventually knew he needed help. To alleviate his suffering, he made the bold decision to seek medical treatment and underwent years of psychoanalysis.
In this riveting spiritual memoir, Marsh tells the story of his struggle to find peace and the dramatic, inspiring transformation that redefined his life and his faith. He examines the tensions between faith and science and reflects on how his own experiences offer hope for bridging the gap between the two. Honest and revealing, Marsh traces the roots of shame, examines Christian notions of sex, faith, and mental illness and their genesis, and chronicles how he redefined his beliefs and rebuilt his relationship with his community.
A poignant and vital story of deep soul work, Evangelical Anxiety helps us look beyond the stigma that leaves too many people in pain and offers people of faith a way forward to find the help they need while remaining true to their beliefs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this spirited memoir, Marsh (God's Long Summer), a religious studies professor at the University of Virginia, shares his lifelong struggle to reconcile his mental illness with his evangelical faith. He shares how he developed "trust in God and terror of myself" starting with puberty, when the conflict between his carnal urges and evangelicalism's strict ban on premarital sex racked him with guilt. During Marsh's first semester at Harvard Divinity School, he suffered a nervous breakdown that marked the beginning of years of acute panic. As a young professor, he began seeing a psychotherapist, though "an evangelical in psychoanalysis seemed a contradiction in terms" because the prevailing evangelical position was that mental illness arose from sin and should be treated with prayer and Bible study. Years later, anti-depressants transformed Marsh's condition and he realized that "trusting in the Lord" meant accepting the advice of medical professionals even if it clashed with the church's teachings: "There's no reason to think God wants you wasted and bare ." Dark and sometimes bawdy humor enlivens the proceedings ("The Word made flesh is messy business," he quips after wondering if Jesus ever masturbated), making for an endearing and rewardingly unusual account of mental illness and faith. This candid and funny volume hits the mark.
