Deliverance Ministry: Bringing healing and peace to those disturbed by evil
About this ebook
Drawing on the authors' experience of providing national and diocesan training within the Church of England, it explores deliverance ministry from theological, spiritual, cultural, psychological and medical perspectives.
Covering phenomena including hauntings, poltergeists, spirit attachment, occult involvement and possession states, the authors emphasise careful discernment, safeguarding, teamwork and responsible pastoral care, including collaboration with mental health professionals in aiming to bring about healing and peace.
Informed by the Church of England House of Bishops' 2023 guidelines on deliverance ministry, this authoritative resource equips clergy, chaplains, pastoral ministers and theological students to approach questions of spiritual disturbance with theological depth, pastoral sensitivity and appropriate professional safeguards.
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About the author
Christopher C. H. Cook is Emeritus Professor in Spirituality, Theology and Health at Durham University, past chair of the Spirituality & Psychiatry Special Interest Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Honorary Chaplain for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. He was awarded the Canterbury Cross by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2020 for his work on theology and psychiatry, and the Oskar Pfister Award by the American Psychiatric Association in 2021 for his work on religion and psychiatry. His books include Hearing Voices, Demonic and Divine (2019) and (with Isabelle Hamley and John Swinton) Struggling with God (2023).
Dr Anne Richards is National Public Policy Adviser (modern society, popular culture, contemporary spirituality, apologetics) in the Faith and Public Life department, based at Lambeth Palace. She is also the Church of England's national officer for deliverance ministry. She is also the convener of the ecumenical Mission Theology and Apologetics Group, providing resources on Spirituality, Theology, Reconciliation, Evangelism and Mission. Shortlisted for the Michael Ramsay Prize in 2016 for Children in the Bible, she is a prolific writer and speaker, and holds the St Alphege Medal for Evangelism and Witness awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
