Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

Theological Perspectives 29the significance of this life in favor of a betterlife to come. Rather, from the perspective of thebiblical narrative, the significance of suffering isshifted, such that suffering becomes, in spite ofits potential horror, an opportunity for ministryand a means of faithful witness. According to theGerman theologian Gerhard Lohfink, the centraltheme in the biblical narrative is that God worksin the world through a particular people whomGod calls together for the purpose of bearingwitness. (35, 36) This suggests that one of the,if not the most prominent, places where God’shealing work may be seen is in and through thesocial ecology of God’s people. In and throughtheir common life, which proclaims God’s loveto the world, the people of God form a new societythat makes possible a distinct way of dealingwith suffering. They are given one another asfriends pledged to share all manner of burdens,including, and perhaps especially, illness.(37)Suffering thus paradoxically becomes an opportunityfor the people of God to care for eachother in a way analogous to God’s care for thecreation: by patiently and lovingly being presentto the brokenness and isolation suffering creates,by working to overcome the alienation endemicin a broken creation, and by proclaiming in sodoing the emerging reign of God.Thus, a mentally ill person who wants toknow why God is allowing him to suffer or whois frustrated that his prayers for healing seemineffectual may have his question redirected inthe same way that Jesus redirected the questionsof those who demanded to know whose sin wasresponsible for one man’s congenital blindness:“Neither this man nor his parents sinned; hewas born blind so that God’s works might berevealed in him” (38). God is infinite not simplyin mercy and compassion, but also in creativity.By bringing into existence a new communitywhose telos is to make God present to the worldthrough their common life, God gives to thosewhose work is healing a powerful resource. Bythe provision of various forms of caring hospitality,the religious community becomes a locusof healing. Without assuming that every clergypersonand every religious community mightbe legitimate therapeutic resources, the clinicianshould at least be free cautiously and judiciouslyto cultivate partnerships among the religiouscommunities of consenting patients.6. CONCLUSIONBy necessity this chapter is incomplete and fragmentary.I have tried here to account for some ofthe things at stake theologically in the incorporationof religious matters into the treatment ofthe mentally ill. In so doing, I hope that I haveachieved a medium somewhere between the tritesimplistic view that religious practice is a meansof getting what we want (whether God existsor not) and the hopelessly difficult perspectivethat because God (whether he exists or not) isbeyond our control, we are alone in the worldwith our medication and psychotherapy. Foralthough it is true that God is certainly wild anduncontrollable, it is also the case that God is atwork effecting our redemption. In the words ofthe morning prayer from the United MethodistHymnal , “New every morning is your love, greatGod of light, and all day long you are workingfor good in the world” (39).REFERENCES1. Fouc au lt M. Madness and Civilization: A History ofInsanity in the Age of Reason . New York , RandomHouse; 1965 (1988).2. Berry W. Discipline and hope . In: A ContinuousHarmony . San Diego : Harcourt Brace andCompany; 1970 : 95 .3. Wainw r ig ht G . Doxology: The Praise of God inWorship, Doctrine, and Life . New York , OxfordUniversity Press ; 1980 .4. MacInt y re A. After Virtue: A Study in MoralTheory, 2d ed. Notre Dame, Ind. , University ofNotre Dame Press; 1984 : 204 –225.5. MacInt y re A. Whose Justice? Which Rationality?Notre Dame, Ind., University of Notre DamePress ; 1988 :370 –388.6. Lash N. Reality, wisdom, and delight . In: TheBeginning and the End of “Religion.” Cambridge :Cambridge University Press; 1996 :49.7. Greene-McCreight K . Darkness Is My Only Companion:A Christian Response to Mental Illness . GrandRapids, Mich. , Brazos Press; 2006 :112 –127.8. Perc y W. Love in the Ruins . New York , BallantineBooks ; 1971 (1989).