Struggling with God

Christopher C. H. Cook is Professor of Spirituality, Theology & Health at Durham University. He worked as a psychiatrist in the NHS for over 25 years before retiring from clinical practice, and was ordained as an Anglican priest in 2001. He ministers in a small rural parish in the Yorkshire Dales and is the author of several books. Isabelle Hamley is Theological Adviser to the House of Bishops and was formerly Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Isabelle has written a number of recognised books on questions of justice, mercy and restoration, having been a probation officer before ordination and ministering subsequently amidst the diversity of parish life. John Swinton is a Scottish theologian, academic, and Presbyterian minister. He is the Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies (University of Aberdeen) and the founder of the university's Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability. John is a major figure in the development of disability theology and was awarded in 2016 the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing for his book Dementia: Living in the Memories of God.

'This remarkably beautiful and pastoral study by three knowledgeable and outstanding scholars challenges clearly but gently almost every way in which, until the very recent past, we first made mental illness a category that separates and then tried to hide it away . . . There is a great need for the courage to love those who are ill, support their supporters, and form communities of all kinds which are welcoming and safe places . . . I finished the book with new attitudes and a sense of having once again seen potential beauty in the church which we have yet to realise but which is within our grasp.'