Skip to main content

Perfect mental health: a historical perspective


I'm no expert on mental health. All I offer here is an observation about a use of the phrase in the Victorian period that I find very interesting. 

Sir James Stephen (civil servant, historian, son of member of the Clapham Sect) uses the phrase 'mental health' twice in a volume of essays on 17th and 18th century English reformers and revivalists. One reference is to Henry Venn:

"He was one of the most eminent examples of one of the most uncommon of human excellencies — the possession of perfect and uninterrupted mental health." (Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography, p. 107) 

In the following long paragraph Stephen explains what he means largely in relation to the 'harmony' of Venn's mind, affections and life; how all his thinking, feeling and actions were balanced, co-ordinated and served a single goal as 'tributaries' feeding into a great river. Towards the end of this description of the harmonised, single-minded life Stephen writes:

"He was at once a preacher, at whose voice multitudes wept or trembled, and a companion, to whose privacy the wise resorted for instruction, the wretched for comfort, and all for sympathy. In all the exigencies and in all the relations of life, the firmest reliance might always be placed on his counsels, his support, and his example."

J C Ryle agrees: 

"The vicar of Huddersfield appears to me to have possessed the spirit of counsel and of a sound mind in an eminent degree." (Christian Leaders, p. 295)

Ryle continues with examples from Venn's letters of his godly advice to people in all sorts of situations. Balleine similarly talks about Venn's advice as the chief evidence of his 'perfect mental health':

"His common sense was sensible and sanctified to the highest degree, and shepherds and weavers, saints and sinners flocked to his study for advice. But behind all the good advice that he gave about farms or quarrels or marriages, there was always the deep desire to win the soul for God." (History of the Evangelical Party, p. 73)

John Stephen's other reference to mental health is in connection with Henry Thornton (MP, banker, philanthropist, host of the Clapham Sect):

"Like the life-blood throbbing in every pulse and visiting every fibre, [his piety] was the latent though perennial source of his mental health and energy. (Essays, p. 192)

The paragraph that follows describes Thornton's peace and forbearance in the midst of illness, happily surrendering to the good and sovereign will of his Father and concludes:

"Surrounded to his latest hours by those whom it had been his chief delight to bless and to instruct, he bequeathed to them the recollection of a wise, a good, and a happy man" (ibid) 

What I find so interesting about this is that it is a definition of 'mental health' that is:

  1. Communal rather than individual. Good mental health is seen not so much in how a person relates to themselves but more in how they relate to others. It is not so much about being able to be content on your own in an empty room but more about being useful in a room full of people. 
  2. Giving rather than receiving. Rather than it being about having ones own needs met (for acceptance, validation, respect, safety, security etc.) important as they may be, this understanding of good mental health stresses how it manifests in helping others and meeting their needs.
  3. Wisdom rather than emotion. While these Victorian writers do talk about peace and happiness, the stress seems to be on what the Bible would describe using the category of wise guidance and instruction (Prov 1:3; 10:13; 25:11; 27:9).
It all makes me think of Jesus in the upper room in John 13-17. He was 'deeply troubled' - in mental anguish - and yet, surrounded by his disciples, he ministered to them words of deep assurance and indestructible joy, eternal life and perfect wisdom. 



References:

G R Balleine, A History of the Evangelical Party in the Church of England, 1909.
J C Ryle, The Christian Leaders of the Last Century, 1871.
James Stephen, Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography, Volume II, first published 1849 (the edition I'm referencing is a 1907 reprint available here).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everlasting gobstopper theology

The idea here is that there are layers to Christ's fullness and when the biblical authors present Christ to us they might only explicitly refer to one layer but as they do that the underlying layers are also implied. Or to put it another way, the glory of the underlying layers shines through the layer that is presented to us. That might sound strange, abstract and not particularly helpful but let me try to explain.  The incarnation implies the pre-existent Word When John identifies "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" as the key test of orthodoxy, Augustine asks (Homily 6 on 1 John) how can this be when so many heretics happily affirm the humanity of Jesus but deny his deity? Augustine then asks us to dig a bit deeper and consider: From whence did he come? "Was he not God?" Simon Gathercole demonstrated (in his 2006 book, The Pre-existent Son ) that Jesus' phrase in the synoptic gospels, "I have come", implies divine pre-existence.  So whenever we ...
Post a Comment
Read more

10 things servant leadership is

Having cleared away 10 things servant leadership is not , here are 10 that it is. [Credit to Harrison Mungai for his help in observing many of these features and helping us to think through this really important area.] I used to think that all that was necessary in gospel ministry was faithful Bible handling. Preach the Word carefully and surely everything else should follow? But I was wrong. Sadly it is possible to have high quality expository preaching and ungodly leadership. It shouldn’t be possible but it is. And it’s a very ugly thing. Peter Mead has written  on the danger that can be done to a church or ministry when appointment of leaders values ability over character. So here are ten aspects of biblical servant leadership, specifically in relation to gospel ministry leadership, from 1 Thessalonians, especially chapters 2 and 3: Servant leadership is, wherever possible, Plural . A lot of articles and books on leadership assume that it is a personal project. Search G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Building a RAFT: transitioning well

From the archives - originally written 8 years ago in the midst of international family transition… When Duncan Olumbe led an excellent session for the iServe Africa ministry training course on transition , there was one thing that he mentioned but didn’t have time to go into detail on: building a RAFT. The idea of building a RAFT comes from Pollock & Van Reken's  Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds but it’s applicable to anyone moving on, whether adults or children, expats or citizens. The basic plan is Reconciliation-Affirmation-Farewells-ThinkDestination. It’s not only practical and proven but it also fits well with the pattern and teaching of the apostle Paul, someone who certainly knew what it was to go through a lot of transitions. Reconciliation Deal with conflict before you leave. Forgive and ask for forgiveness. We can easily sweep conflict under the carpet. Particularly when we are leaving it’s very tempting not to bother dealing with unresolved issues. But...
Post a Comment
Read more