Kicking this feature off is an interview with Jessica Coblentz, Dust in the Blood: A Theology of Life With Depression. 2022, Liturgical Press. Jessica is an Associate Professor of Theology at St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana. Her research and teaching focus on Catholic systematic theologies, feminist theologies, and theological perspectives on mental health. Dust in the Blood received honors from College Theology Society, Catholic Media Association, and Association of Catholic publishers.
The conversation gives a good sense of the framework she has built for considering mental health through a theological lens, and what the most prevalent Christian responses to mental illness leave out from a pastoral perspective, however comforting some individuals might find those typical responses. After hearing Jessica, you’ll want to read more, and her prose, while meticulously researched, is quite accessible to non-theologians.