Customer Reviews:
 The Best Book on this Subject! February 7, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is written by one who understands what the Scriptures teach regarding depression. Before you seek a drug prescription, read what Jones has to say. You will be "glad" you did.
 Highly Sensitive But Primarily Intellectual January 31, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is very very good. Very! The problem I had with it had more to do with a paradox Reverend Lloyd-Jones might not even have been aware of: when Christians fall into depression of the severity he addresses so well, *any* book will appear too intellectual.
Having said that, "Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures" is a kind of spiritual boot camp. There will be days you'll look at it on your shelf and go Ugh! I don't want to go near those spartan biblical principles. (And God will still love you if you say this.) There will be days when you'll grab it as soon as you wake up in the morning. I purchased the book to help with unresolved bereavement, when some days you're able to forget the departed one and some days grief paralyzes you. Reverend Lloyd-Jones' book was "always there," whether I picked it up or not, and in this respect, it was like having a pastor in my house.
Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures January 19, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In a time when so many are struggling with depression and finding their only help in prescription drugs or popular counceling this book is there to help in a very different way. In a series of sermons Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes the many and varied ways the Christian can fall into a depressed state and lays out some sound help found in the Word of God. I believe this book would be a useful tool to a Christian councelor, minister or anyone dealing with their own or another's depression whether alone or in addition to conventional treatment.
A Collection of Sermons December 27, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The title immediately conjures up visions of dry clinical and case studies of modern psychology. The fact that the author is Lloyd-Jones is our first clue that this book will be nothing of the sort. This prince of preachers presents us with a series of 21 sermons dealing with the general theme of the unhappy Christian. Each sermon is taken from a separate Biblical text which is then tied to the general theme. Although there are many different approaches, the answer is always the same. The key to Christian rejoicing is to be found through faith in Christ - a faith that abandons the past, faces the future, looks to the cross, endures hardships as it touches the heart, mind and body - but always a faith that focuses upon Christ. "The ultimate cause of all spiritual depression is unbelief" (Pg 20).
This is an excellent book for basic Christian discipleship as well as a desirable pattern for preachers who would develop solid expositional skills. It is eminently practical in that it speaks to the needs faced universally by all Christians. It is in this regard that, as we are turned time and time to the Scriptures (this is, after all, a book made up of expository sermons), we are also reminded that this Christian is to use common sense. "The Christian... is a man who is to apply common sense to situations, and it is right and legitimate that he should do so." (Pg 82). Obviously, the book is not meant to deal with complex psychological problems and it is understood that this is a "shotgun approach" to the problems of depression.
I found myself challenged to return daily to the shadow of the cross, depending upon Christ rather than upon my own personal skills in ministry.
In one particularly striking chapter, we are reminded that "there is only one way to get rid of self, and that is that you should become so absorbed in someone or something else that you have no time to think about yourself. Thank God, the Spirit of God makes that possible" (Pg 103). This book not only gives us the call to focus upon Christ, it also presents us both the doctrinal truths as well as the loving picture of the Christ on whom we are to focus.
Well... its good! November 21, 2005
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
The first time, I read it reluctantly. The second time, I read it for a christian group and we discussed it. The third time, I REALLY read it.
Im not sure the first 2 times I thought I needed to read it, but half way through discussion with the group, I realized that this book really has something and explains a lot!
Since reading it the third time, I have become a different person spiritually. It's not all the books doing, but the book was the catalyst! Thank you.
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