Jesus Wept: When Faith and Depression Meet [Hardcover]

Barbara C. Crafton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2009

In the first book to discuss depression from a faith perspective, Barbara Crafton expertly weaves personal stories and helpful resources to explore depression as it is affected (for both better and worse) by Christian faith. She contends that it is harder for people of faith to come to terms with depression since they may attribute its causes to something they have done, rather than to its true root in physiology and genetics. This is a book people will want to buy for themselves and give loved ones who are suffering from depression and wondering where God is during their pain and suffering.

Barbara C. Crafton (Metuchen, NJ) is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and author. She is the founder and head of the Geranium Farm (geraniumfarm.org), an online institute for the promotion of spiritual growth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Beyond all the vision quests, Scripture explanations, and spiritual exhortations, there are certain regions of human experience that are so painful, so difficult, that even religious writers touch on them rarely and with reluctance. This season, two brave books take a frank look at depression and forgiveness. Crafton, an Episcopal priest and founder of The Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org), approaches the subject of depression with astonishing candor and courage. Coming to terms with her own experience of this illness, she acknowledges depression's fundamental intractability—its meaninglessness and dullness. While she wisely dispels the Christian fear of suicide ("There's more than enough hell to go around, right here on earth"), she also rejects easy solutions. Love may not be the answer, but it minimizes the worst of the illness.
 –Library Journal (March 2009) Starred Review

From the Inside Flap

Drawing from her personal experiences and those of hundreds of others, Episcopal priest Barbara Cawthorne Crafton explores what it means for a person of faith to suffer from depression. Just as no two people are the same, the experience of depression is unique to every individual. Depression's mark on each soul can perplex or even annoy loved ones, friends, and family, while at the same time they want very much to help.

All too often religious people face unique challenges when depression sets in. Jesus Wept explains that faith can be enormously helpful and comforting or can seriously hinder the healing process. Communities of faith and ill-advised teachings can leave sufferers feeling abandoned. They wonder, "Where are the joys and comforts of faith and the power of prayer? How can I trust God? My depression is a sign that I have disappointed God!"

Offering hope to those who suffer, Crafton shows how a life of faith can bring together unique resources for dealing with the dark night of the soul. The ancient practice of prayer, which has taken sorrow seriously for thousands of years, can be a powerful elixir for the spirit. Supportive religious teachings can offer a powerful hope for resurrection and healing. Faith can build a community that, at its best, enshrines love and welcome to the poor in spirit.

Jesus Wept is a valuable resource for those who are finding their way through the darkness of soul and spirit—or for those who care for them.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470371951
• ISBN-13: 978-0470371954
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.8 x 7.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #685,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director and author of many books as well as of the celebrated "Almost Daily eMo from the Geranium Farm", read by thousands worldwide. She was rector of St. Clement's Church in Manhattan's Theatre district. She was also a chaplain on the waterfront of New York, and served both historic Trinity Church, Wall Street and St. John's Church in Greenwich Village. She was a chaplain at Ground Zero during the recovery effort after the WTC bombing. She recently spent a year in Italy at the American Church in Florence.

An actress, director and producer, she has worked for many years in combining the lively arts and the life of faith. Her books, articles, and radio scripts have won many awards, including numerous Polly Bond Awards from Episcopal Communicators and the coveted Gabriel Award for religious broadcasting. She is seen frequently on television both as a preacher and as a commentator on Hallmark's "New Morning" and "America at Worship," and has been profiled extensively in electronic and print media throughout the world. Her video discussions of forgiveness, prayer and many other topics are found at www.beliefnet.org and many other sites.

Barbara Crafton is married to Richard Quaintance, sometimes better known simply as "Q", a professor of English literature. She has two children and two grandchildren.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, Wise and Honest May 2, 2009

By Charles R. Colwell

Format:Hardcover

What a great title for this powerful, wise and courageously honest book. I couldn't put it down from its great opening line, "At first I didn't know I was depressed; I thought I was just religious." to its concluding line, "And we can acknowledge that this life is not all there is: we have a context, and it is not just historical and not just physical; it is eternal."

This book includes a variety of voices to speak for themselves and give testimony to the shades of depression as well as address its apparent meaninglessness.

Barbara speaks perceptively to the special pitfalls of clergy who go
through depression in her chapter titled "Charged with the Care of Souls". This should be required reading for all clergy; it is experienced and wise.

There is a wonderful chapter, "Words Fail Me" which explains the use of Centering Prayer as helpful when words are empty.

This special book sorts out pious religious drivel from a substantive understanding of medical intervention and how God can redeem the pain. "Jesus Wept" makes me feel understood, and helps me understand my own crippling bout with depression several years ago. It is a treasure trove of wisdom, honesty and helpful tools. It is a book sorely needed by millions as both educational as well as solid food for the soul.

Charles R. Colwell
"Collision of Worlds: A Priest's Life"

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars faith, candor, and wisdom July 16, 2009

By Daniel B. Clendenin

Format:Hardcover

The night that my first child was born, I remember calling my mother with the good news; she herself had news of her own. She had just been admitted to the hospital for clinical depression at the age of sixty-two. We couldn't have known it at the time, but that night was the start of a long, slow slide that didn't end until twenty years later when she died. My mother was a compliant patient with her doctors, and many people of faith and family prayed for her, but no treatments or medications ever freed her from her darkness.

Clinical depression is horrible for anyone, but as Barbara Crafton shows in her wise book, it presents extra conundrums for people of faith. Many try in vain to pray it away. Others search for some didactic purpose sent by God. Some attribute the plague to demons, whether real or figurative. The pious platitudes are endless. Well-meaning friends can suggest that taking medications constitutes a lack of faith. The victim experiences their own sense of shame and feelings that their faith is a fraud. And how to stop those harsh voices inside your head?

Crafton combines the personal and the professional to good effect in this short book. She's served as an Episcopal priest for thirty years, and she's suffered as a victim of depression. She takes a nuanced and careful position toward her subject. We know the constellation of factors that can surround depression, like overwork, lack of exercise, brain chemistry, family history, and traumas; but we also know that for many sufferers, depression remains uninvited and inexplicable, no matter what they try. Symptoms are deeply personal and vary widely, and so do the "ideological molds into which individual experiences of depression are poured" (83)....

Crafton writes at length and with candor about her own experiences of depression as a person of faith and a counselor to parishioners; she also includes extensive descriptions by other victims of depression. She explores the dark night of the soul, family history, suicide, electro-convulsive therapy, Mother Teresa's profound darkness in the book Come Be My Light (2007), and centering prayer. In her view, there is no reason to separate or place in conflict divine aid and human therapy. What people of depression need, she says, are both compassionate truth-tellers and competent care givers. Avoid quacks of faith and medicine. This is a wise book that I highly recommend, along with several others: Against Depression (2005) by Peter Kramer, Acedia and Me (2008) by Kathleen Norris, and Kathryn Greene-McCreight's Darkness Is My Only Companion; A Christian Response to Mental Illness (2006). Read more ›

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jesus Wept August 26, 2009

By Ann Rose

Format:Hardcover

Barbara Crafton's writing is always spiritually and psychologically deep, warm and approachable, insightful and relevant, and packed with images of New York or New Jersey or Florence in a way that invites the reader right into her space in those places. In Jesus Wept, she combines her own experience of serious depression with the wisdom of people over the centuries, from St. John of the Cross to Gerald May, as she addresses the issues that people of faith are inclined to struggle with when they encounter darkness rather than joy in their lives. The book is both easy to read and profound, equally good for a person who is experiencing depression and trying to sort out questions of faith, and for a person close to the depressed individual.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend May 28, 2010

By J. Hartin

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

When this book arrived, I read it in one afternoon because the author's descriptions of her depression, what it did to her, how she coped, and is still coping with this disease echoed so many of my own internal dialogues. I was in my 50's before I finally got treatment for recurrent major depression and anxiety disorder, mainly because I was brought up to believe that a good person who was "right with God" could pull herself out of the morass without outside help. I love this book. I re-read it and highlight passages and recommend it to anyone who doubts their depression is a real disease with which "good" people need help and medication.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jesus Wept May 30, 2009

By N. Farley

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an excellent book and one I will use often in my church. I believe we remained silent far too long on this difficult and often deadly disease of depression.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational December 19, 2012

By Bernadine Swanson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Thought the book was very well written. Gave it to a person that suffers with depression, after I read it. She felt that it was a big help to her.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Page Turner September 23, 2011

By Lana

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Jesus Wept" was a real page turner for me. The author really bared her soul and the reader is given an inside look at depression and the feelings it brings to the sufferer. With depression so rampant in our society, I wanted a better understanding of it and what those who had it were going through. I think the author has done this very successfully.