I received the Augsburg Fortress fall catalog in the mail a few days ago. On the cover is a book I am quite interested in reading. It is entitled Defeating Depression. It is written by Howard Stone, a pastoral counselor and professor emeritus at Texas Christian University.

One of the things that intrigues me about the book is the fact that Stone himself suffers from depression. I am hoping that as a pastoral counselor he will deal with not only the psychological issues but also the theological ones.

I have struggled with chronic depression for the past ten years. Unlike high blood pressure or cholesterol, which you may have but not notice, depression is something of which you are constantly aware. It is something that I have to fight against on a moment-by-moment basis.

The reason I hope Stone will address it theologically is because my battle with depression has had an impact on my theological anthropology. It has been a struggle not to allow such an all-encompassing condition to define who I am. In addition, I have had to deal with questions concerning how depression affects my self-understanding and how I relate to others. What does it mean to be a Christian whose mind is constantly malfunctioning? What does constant irritability intersect with the command to love others? Having wrestled with these questions myself, I would love to see how someone else with theological training has dealt with depression.

In some ways, I feel like the Gerasene demoniac:

No one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones (Mark 5:3-5).

I long for the day when I can get to v.15, so people can come and find me sitting in my right mind.1


  1. Please note I am not saying that I am always howling and bruising myself. It is merely metaphorical. But certainly no medication has been able to shackle this disease. [back]
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