Reflections on God and Mental Illness - Audio

Science & Medicine

“I don’t know that I have a theory of integration; I know I have a life of it,” said Stanley Hauerwas, renowned Christian ethicist and featured lecturer for the annual Fuller Symposium on the Integration of Psychology and Theology, on Wednesday, February 16. During the two-day symposium, Dr. Hauerwas delivered three lectures reflecting on the topic “God and Mental Illness,” drawing from his own experience with Ann, his wife of 24 years who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The symposium was established to discover new connections between the disciplines of faith and psychology, commented School of Psychology Dean Winston Gooden in his opening remarks, and “one area that has been most neglected is theological reflection on mental illness.”

Stanley Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at the Divinity School of Duke University and holds a joint appointment at Duke Law School. He has authored several books in addition to Hannah’s Child, including A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic, which was selected as one of the 100 most important books on religion of the 20th century.