New Books by Monmouth Priests:
Bishop Dominic recommends
Disturbed by Mind and Spirit
by Gavin and Joanna Knight
Mowbrays (a Continuum imprint)
£12.99 ISBN 978-0-8264-2775-5
I did my MA in pastoral theology and explored the interface between religion and mental health, so I read this book with considerable interest. Gavin Knight is chaplain at Monmouth School and his wife, Joanna, is a clinical psychologist. They have written this book together – writing alternate chapters – to reflect on their time in parish ministry when Gavin became vicar of a London parish following the murder of his predecessor in the vicarage by a man suffering from mental ill health.
This is a brave and honest account about bringing healing to a parish bereaved in the face of such a tragedy. It explores the fact that we all have mental health needs and that clergy have to minister to many people with mental health problems in the course of daily parish ministry. Clergy also have to recognise their own, and their families’, mental health needs.
I read this book just after I had read Timothy Radcliffe’s book Why go to church? which explores the depths of the Eucharist as profoundly touching our lives. Disturbed by Mind and Spirit does the same and shows what healing can be brought about by celebrating the Eucharist and living eucharistically so that our brokenness, despair and sickness can be transformed by the healing Christ.
Gavin and Joanna Knight (left) explore the interaction between pastoral theology and mental health and I am sure that every priest and pastor will relate to the issues they describe. This book explores them in depth and provides insights from the authors’ different disciplines to see how to deal with the kind of practical situations which face every parish. I hope this book will be widely read by clergy and laity.
+ Dominic