Troubled By Faith

By exploring the beliefs of asylum patients, we see the nineteenth century in a new light, with science, faith, and the supernatural deeply entangled in a fast-changing world. The birth of psychiatry in the early nineteenth-century fundamentally changed how madness was categorised and understood. A century on, their conceptions of mental illness continue to influence our views today. Beliefs and behaviour were divided up into the pathological and the healthy. The influence of religion and the supernatural became significant measures of insanity in individuals, countries, and cultures. Psychiatrists not only thought they could transform society in the industrial age but also explain the many strange beliefs expressed in the distant past. 'Troubled by Faith' explores these ideas about the supernatural across society through the prism of medical history.

Reflecting on the confusion, shame and grief brought on by her mother's schizophrenia, Amy Simpson provides a bracing look at the social and physical realities of mental illness. Reminding us that people with mental illness are our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ, she explores new possibilities for the church to minister to this stigmatized group.

Faith Cook shares her first-hand story of the trials faced by a child of missionary parents living in China during the turbulent period of the Second World War and the asubsequent Communist takeover. While much has been written about the heroic achievements and sacrifices of many Christian missionaries to China, Troubled Journey introduces us to a side of the story that has rarely, if ever, been told. Many young people today have known much emotional deprivation early in life. This story of childhood in a war-torn country may well help them to reconcile their painful experiences with God's loving kindness and his purposes of grace for them. It may indeed enourage all who read it to appreciate in a new way the care and mercy of God, overruling even the tragedies of life and turning them to good for his people.

The 19th century was a time of extraordinary scientific innovation, but with the rise of psychiatry, faiths and popular beliefs were often seen as signs of a diseased mind. By exploring the beliefs of asylum patients, we see the 19th century in a new light, with science, faith, and the supernatural deeply entangled in a fast-changing world.

“A triumph. This novel’s haunting strength will hold the reader until the very end and make Faith and her story impossible to forget.” —Richmond Times Dispatch “Extraordinary.” —Orlando Sentinel From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult (Nineteen Minutes, Change of Heart, Handle with Care) comes Keeping Faith: an “addictively readable” (Entertainment Weekly) novel that “makes you wonder about God. And that is a rare moment, indeed, in modern fiction” (USA Today).

Alan grew up in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and received his B.A. from Acadia University. He did his theological training at Pine Hill Divinity School in Nova Scotia and graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He received his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California. Now a retired minister of the United Church living in Richmond, B.C., he is also the author of Reading the Bible for the Love of God, published by Brazos in 2003. Alan is married to Brenda, and has four children and five grandchildren. In addition to a passion for reading, he enjoys fishing, hiking, walking the Richmond dyke with Brenda, and playing the trombone in several old-guys bands, including the River City Gospel Jazz group.

Missio Alliance Essential Reading List Hearts Minds Bookstore's Best Books RELEVANT's Top 10 Books Englewood Review of Books Best Books When Soong-Chan Rah planted an urban church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his first full sermon series was a six-week exposition of the book of Lamentations. Preaching on an obscure, depressing Old Testament book was probably not the most seeker-sensitive way to launch a church. But it shaped their community with a radically countercultural perspective. The American church avoids lament. But lament is a missing, essential component of Christian faith. Lament recognizes struggles and suffering, that the world is not as it ought to be. Lament challenges the status quo and cries out for justice against existing injustices. Soong-Chan Rah's prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church's relationship with a suffering world. It critiques our success-centered triumphalism and calls us to repent of our hubris. And it opens up new ways to encounter the other. Hear the prophet's lament as the necessary corrective for Christianity's future. A Resonate exposition of the book of Lamentations.