If Billy Sunday Comes to Town - Delusion as a Religious Experience?: The Biography of Anton T. Boisen from the Perspective of Foundational Theology

Delusion is seen as a way of experiencing and speaking, in which rationality seems to be lost and, at the same time, as a construction to prevent further fragmentation of the personality. Foundational theology can contribute to the understanding of religious delusions and the search for meaning. This book explores how religious delusion can be acknowledged as a religious experience. In addition, it offers a detailed case-study of the life of Presbyterian minister Anton T. Boisen (1876-1965), a leading figure in the hospital chaplaincy and clinical pastoral education movements. Boisen's crises and religious delusion brought him to the brink of the abyss after the trauma he experienced during World War I. (Series: Nijmegen Studies in Theology - Vol. 4)