by Maureen Vincent
Our Rebel Emotions by Bernard Mobbs (Hodder and Stoughton 25s.)
"DON'T ask me to add Christianity to all my other burdens." This plea by one unfortunate woman beset by emotional problems reflects the attitude of many people who find themselves plagued by disabling anxieties, humiliating fears or bewildering mood swings.
Bernard Mobbs here tries to show that sufferers from these peculiarly modern afflictions can find the strength and peace they need in the Christian faith.
He takes a realistic look at the problems of depression. anxiety, deviant sex. jealousy and hatred, explaining their probable causes in nontechnical and easily understood terms and offering possible solutions to those who struggle on without skilled counselling or psychiatric help "either becau.se they cannot bring themselves to share their problem or because no skilled help is available to them."
Perhaps the greatest comfort which this book can offer is the consolation that people who have to wrestle with emotions which they find baffling and overwhelming are in no way freaks or monsters. Every individual must come to terms with his own psyche.
Developing theories
Education in Religion and the Emotions by John Wilson (H eine mann Educational Books £2.25) John Wilson is Director of the Farmington Trust Research Unit in Moral Education and this latest volume is a followup and elaboration of his original thesis published as "An Introduction to Moral, Education." Philosophical concepts are here being worked out and although some practising educators may find this heavy going, it is illuminating to seo academic theories being developed which may eventually filter through into the classroom.
The author, by a process of elimination, isolates "religion" as involving primarily the emotions of awe and worship and then proceeds to show how these emotions relate to out "wants" ;ind our "behaviour," In a field of education where the idea of "indoctrination" is sometimes considered a normative concept. Wilson eschews this form of religious teaching and pleads for rationalisation of the emotions