Date/Time
Date(s) - October 21, 2021
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Categories No Categories
How does Blackness shape issues of mental health and faith? With the diversity of global Blackness and global Christianity, issues of theology and mental health become even more complex.
Leading disability and pastoral care theologian John Swinton and womanist process theologian and mental health advocate Monica A. Coleman will engage in a public conversation on Blackness, theology and mental health from their respective contexts of Scotland and the United States of America.
The Theological Commons at Methodist Theological School in Ohio will present “Blackness, Mental Health and Faith: A Conversation Across the Waters” online at 3 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 21. The event is open to all and presented at no charge. Advance Zoom registration is required and available here.
Monica A. Coleman is professor of Africana studies at the University of Delaware and an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She works at the intersection of faith, culture and social justice. She is the author or editor of six books that focus on the role of faith in addressing critical social and philosophical issues.
Coleman’s memoir, Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith, received the Silver Illumination Award in 2017. Her book Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology is required reading at colleges and universities around the United States. She speaks widely on religion and sexuality, religious pluralism, churches and social media, mental health, and sexual and domestic violence.
John Swinton is professor in practical theology and pastoral care and chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. For more than a decade, he worked as a registered mental health nurse. He also worked for a number of years as a hospital and community mental health chaplain alongside of people with severe mental health challenges who were moving from the hospital into the community.
In 2004, Swinton founded the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability. He is the author of a number of books, including 2020’s Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of People with Mental Health Challenges.
Methodist Theological School in Ohio provides theological education and leadership in pursuit of a just, sustainable and generative world. In addition to the Master of Divinity degree, the school offers master’s degrees in counseling, social justice, theological studies and practical theology, along with a Doctor of Ministry degree.
CONTACT:
Danny Russell, communications director
[email protected], 740-362-3322