{"product_id":"9781597310611","title":"Mental Disorders And Spiritual Healing","description":"This work, the third panel of a triptych dedicated by the author to the\u003cp\u003enotion of illness derived from the patristic and hagiographic texts of the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChristian East from the first to the fourteenth centuries, makes an\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eessential contribution to the history of mental illnesses and their\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etherapies in a domain very little studied until now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eConfronted by the numerous problems still posed today in understanding\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethese illnesses, their treatment, and their relationship to those who are\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esick, he shows the importance offered for reflection and current practice\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eby early Christian thought and experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter indicating how the Fathers understood the psyche and its\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003erelationship with body and spirit, the author gives a detailed analysis of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe different causes they attribute to mental illness and the various\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etreatments recommended.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the same time he shows how, relying on fundamental Christian values,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethey manifest a constant solicitude and respect for the sick, and how\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethey are at pains to integrate them into community life and have them\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eparticipate in their own healing, foreshadowing in this way the needs and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003easpirations of our own time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe last part discloses the deep significance of one of the strangest and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emost fascinating forms of asceticism the Christian East has known: 'folly\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efor the sake of Christ', a madness feigned with the goal of attaining a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehigh degree of humility, but also a way well-suited, through a close\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eexperience of their condition, to help those who are often among, today as\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ein the past, the most destitute.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJean-Claude Larchet is docteur dès lettres et sciences humaines, docteur en\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethéologie, and docteur d'État en philosophie. The author of Thérapeutique\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edes maladies spirituelles (Paris: Editions de l'Ancre, 1991) and The\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheology of Illness (Crestwood, New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2002), he is a specialist in questions of health, sickness, and healing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe is today one of the foremost St Maximus the Confessor specialists.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Angelico Press Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47041206124784,"sku":"9781597310611","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781597310611_p0.jpg?v=1763824499","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781597310611","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}