Author to speak on mental illness and faith

Dr. Kathryn Greene-McCreight, author of Darkness is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness, will be a guest speaker at Northwestern College Feb. 18 and 19. Greene-McCreight will speak in chapel services about mental illness and its place within Christianity.

On Monday, Feb. 18, at 10:05 a.m., she will speak on “The Light Shines Through the Darkness.” On Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 11:05 a.m., she will continue speaking about mental illnesses and where they fit within the Christian faith. Both chapel services are open to the public.

During her time on campus, Greene-McCreight will also give a presentation regarding the material in her book. The presentation, "Christian Reflections on Mental Illness," will be held Monday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. in the England Proscenium Theatre of the DeWitt Theatre Arts Center and is open to the public. No admission will be charged.

Greene-McCreight is the assistant priest at an Episcopal church in New Haven, Conn., where she also teaches and writes. She is the chair of the Christian Theology and the Bible unit of the Society of Biblical Literature and has held teaching positions at Smith College, Connecticut College and Yale.

 Greene-McCreight’s Darkness is My Only Companion was named by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the “Top Ten Religious Non-Fiction Books for 2006.” Greene-McCreight suffered clinical depression after the birth of her second child and was diagnosed as bipolar five years later. She wrote the book to help others deal with depression while maintaining their Christian faith. The book’s title comes from the last verse of Psalm 88.

Co-editor of Theological Exegesis: Essays in Honor of Brevard S. Childs, Greene-McCreight has written Ad Litteram: How Augustine, Calvin and Barth Understand the Plain Sense of Genesis 1-3 and Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine: Narrative Analysis and Appraisal. She has also published numerous articles.

Greene-McCreight earned Ph.D., Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology degrees at Yale Divinity School. She received a bachelor’s degree in romance languages and literatures from Wesleyan University.