{"product_id":"evangelical-anxiety-a-memoir-isbn-9780062862747","title":"Evangelical Anxiety: A Memoir","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this riveting spiritual memoir, the writer, scholar, and commentator tells the story of his struggles with mental illness, explores the void between the Christian faith and scientific treatment, and forges a path toward reconciling these divergent worlds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor years, Charles Marsh suffered panic attacks and debilitating anxiety. As an Evangelical Christian, he was taught to trust in the power of God and His will. While his Christian community resisted therapy and personal introspection, Marsh eventually knew he needed help. To alleviate his suffering, he made the bold decision to seek medical treatment and underwent years of psychoanalysis. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this riveting spiritual memoir, Marsh tells the story of his struggle to find peace and the dramatic, inspiring transformation that redefined his life and his faith. He examines the tensions between faith and science and reflects on how his own experiences offer hope for bridging the gap between the two. Honest and revealing, Marsh traces the roots of shame, examines Christian notions of sex, faith, and mental illness and their genesis, and chronicles how he redefined his beliefs and rebuilt his relationship with his community. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA poignant and vital story of deep soul work, Evangelical Anxiety helps us look beyond the stigma that leaves too many people in pain and offers people of faith a way forward to find the help they need while remaining true to their beliefs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis unflinching memoir of faith and mental illness explores:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Crisis of Faith and Mind:\u003c\/b\u003e A raw, first-person account of a terrifying breakdown at Harvard Divinity School and the debilitating anxiety that followed, forcing a confrontation between spirit and psyche.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eEvangelical Culture from the Inside:\u003c\/b\u003e An honest look at the evangelical subculture of the Deep South, from its rigid ideas about sex and purity to its deep-seated resistance to therapy and psychology.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe Turn to Psychoanalysis:\u003c\/b\u003e Why a man raised to believe prayer was the only answer chose the bold, often misunderstood path of psychoanalysis, and what he discovered on the couch about his past, his faith, and his God.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDeconstruction and Rebuilding:\u003c\/b\u003e Follow the author’s journey as he redefines his beliefs, challenges the faith of his childhood, and rebuilds a new foundation strong enough to hold both doubt and devotion.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Path to Healing:\u003c\/b\u003e Beyond the stigma, a moving testimony for people of faith struggling with mental health, offering a way forward that honors both their beliefs and their need for help.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Examines Christianity’s fraught relationship to the erotic, and how Marsh suffered under religion’s often impossible precepts. From the kudzu-strangled landscapes of his Deep South childhood to the spiritual salve of literary novels to the theological integrity of psychoanalysis, \u003cem\u003eEvangelical Anxiety \u003c\/em\u003eis as transgressive as it is vibrant.”    - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDarcey Steinke, author of Flash Count Diary\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Marsh probes the realms of piety and mental health with engrossing prose and naked honesty, showing us how the sacred can be found in literature and on the therapist’s couch. Anyone curious about a better way to navigate mental health and belief will find hope and inspiration in this book.\"  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJemar Tisby, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is a bold, beautiful memoir, at once transgressive and faithful. Marsh embodies a theology with the courage to tackle the taboo, including depression and desire, in prose that is evocative and seductive. In the end, we learn that the most astounding grace is found in the God we can tell our secrets.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJames K.A. Smith, Calvin University, editor in chief, Image, author of You Are What You Love and On the Road with Saint Augustine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A raw, beautifully written look at holding onto faith when the mind runs wild, and finding healing where one least expects it.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Evangelical Church Library Association\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Marsh has used his own narrative talents to provide readers—those both anxious and not—with a gritty and profane book full of wisdom and honesty and gratitude and grace.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eScott Stossel, author of My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I just finished reading \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eEvangelical Anxiety\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e. I couldn't put it down. I shoved all duties aside. Wow. Whoa. Jesus H! The book is positively enthralling.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCarlos M.N. Eire, T. Lawrason Riggs, Professor of History and Religious Studies, Yale University, and author of National Book Award-winning Waiting for Snow in Havana\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eEvangelical Anxiety\u003c\/em\u003e opens up important questions about how faith relates to mental health and illness. It is a thoughtful, readable exercise in what Charles Marsh has elsewhere called ‘lived theology'. It chronicles a passionate literary journey as well as a typically messy existential search for a life that is fuller, truer and at least partially healed.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"With exquisite prose, Marsh takes us into the depths of his illness. [He] tells his secrets and tells the truth in ways many of us have been told not to. I am grateful we have his voice and this book.\"  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eReformed Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A staggering memoir--one part religion, one part mental health, strained through introspection and garnished with vulnerability. It’s surprising and courageous, with notes of redemption. . . . Marsh narrates this story beautifully.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMere Orthodoxy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“ Riveting . . . a poignant and vital story of deep soul work, \u003cem\u003eEvangelical Anxiety\u003c\/em\u003e helps us look beyond the stigma that leaves too many people in pain and offers people of faith a way forward.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEnglewood Review of Books (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An erudite glimpse into the psychology of white evangelicalism and how the current proliferation of white Christian nationalism could spring from the religious imperatives Marsh details.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An illuminating journey, often sad and disturbing, sometimes funny and endearing, and ultimately uplifting. In our skeptical world where psychiatrists are so are often undone, it is refreshing to read a memoir where the psychiatrist is the good guy and the patient emerges healed and whole.“ - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMedscape\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Not every book that is written with literary verve and gorgeous prose is, frankly, still that interesting. This, though, a memoir of a journey in and coming out of a southern sort of fundamentalism, and finding a way through the hurts and hang-ups of that milieu, is a page-turner.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBryon Borger, Hearts and Minds\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This reads like balm. Marsh seamlessly twines profound theological insights with his own story of mental breakdown and psychotherapy, which he comes to see as an incarnational practice: word-made-flesh as a trajectory to wholeness. An achingly intelligent, beautifully written memoir, essential reading for anyone wrestling with the specious sacred\/secular divide.”   - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJamie Quatro, author of Fire Sermon and I Want To Show You More\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Marsh challenges the church to reckon with the mental health of the faithful, to be more open and accepting of how many of us struggle. Through gripping and honest storytelling, Marsh reveals the ways in which therapy can be a form of prayer.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eW. Ralph Eubanks, author of A Place Like Mississippi\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A faith memoir that proves religion is not the business of pious devotion but unbridled desire. Marsh stalks this unruly passion to the knife's edge of mental exhaustion and breakdown. A harrowing book but, weirdly and wonderfully, also a hoot. I kept laughing aloud—and then sighing. A remarkable achievement.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePatricia Hampl, author of The Art of the Wasted Day and The Florist’s Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In this beautifully choreographed memoir, Charles Marsh’s lyrical prose dances as he recounts a tormenting anxiety disorder. Eventually he finds solace through years of a masterfully-described psychoanalysis (later supplemented with a bit of Prozac). \u003cem\u003eEvangelical Anxiety \u003c\/em\u003eis a courageous memoir where Christianity and psychoanalysis --worlds that rarely converge—interweave.\"   - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDinah Miller MD, assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and author of Shrink Rap: Psychiatrists Explain Their Work\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Dark and sometimes bawdy humor enlivens the proceedings, making for an endearing and rewardingly unusual account of mental illness and faith. This candid and funny volume hits the mark.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperOne","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44890421428453,"sku":"NP9780062862747","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062862747.jpg?v=1730233248","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/evangelical-anxiety-a-memoir-isbn-9780062862747","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}