“Depression is a silent plague in postmodern culture, and is rapidly taking on pandemic proportions…. The World Health Organization reports that it has become the greatest single cause of health disability in the world” (xiii). Dr. Stephen Pietsch, associate professor of practical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, wrote these words almost a decade ago. A cursory online search confirms that depression remains “the greatest single cause of health disability in the world,” with the recent global pandemic only exacerbating the problem across demographics. Because of this, a growing number of those who serve in public ministry have sought to strengthen their counseling skills to serve souls burdened by depression, anxiety, or some other mental or emotional disorder.
While there is certainly benefit in mining contemporary theological and pastoral resources in this area, Pietsch encourages the Seelsorger not to quickly dismiss the rich experience and wisdom of those who cared for souls before him. How did the pastors of old care for those troubled by what was known as melancholia or Anfechtung? One rich example of past pastoral counsel is found in Martin Luther’s letters of consolation.
Of Good Comfort flows out of Stephen Pietsch’s doctoral research, which examined contemporary pastoral theology and practice, the pastoral care of Martin Luther, and modern clinical care of the depressed. Pietsch emphasizes early on that Christian pastoral care is “not a form of treatment for clinical therapeutic effect, even though it seeks to sustain, help, counsel, guide, heal and bless.” Rather, his goal with this book is to take pastoral care of the depressed back to “the theological and spiritual means of Seelsorge…to return to addressing the long-forgotten theological and spiritual dimension of depressive illness, drawing on the unique insight and experience of Luther” (xxiv–xxv, emphasis author’s). In so doing, “we not only find that Luther is able to address us meaningfully today, but that his theology and pastoral counsel have potential to enhance and even transform our practice of Christian care and comfort with depression sufferers” (xxv).
In the first chapter, Pietsch provides helpful historical context for Luther’s 21 letters of consolation (Trostbriefe). The world in which Luther lived and its view of both melancholy and comfort comes across to the modern reader as both strange, yet strangely familiar. Luther’s age was a time of great cultural and religious upheaval. People had to deal with transformed views of self, salvation, church, community, country, and culture. Is it any wonder, then, why there was a surge in melancholia and Anfechtung? In light of our own upheaval of world and culture, is it any surprise to see yet another surge in melancholia and Anfechtung?
Additionally, Luther’s counsel was unique because his perspective came from personal experience with the depressive sadness and madness of melancholia. He also knew Anfechtung—the dark night of the soul when Satan attempts to sift the Christian’s soul like wheat. These experiences enable Luther to come across in a surprisingly modern way, ultimately resulting in beautifully clear letters of consolation for the troubled.
In chapter 2, Pietsch takes the reader through a close examination of the ten scenarios behind the twenty-one letters of consolation, which Luther wrote between 1527 and 1544. The letters themselves are helpfully provided in an appendix. Those who care for souls would do well to regularly read through these letters of rich consolation and consider how we too can bring such consolation. At the same time, Pietsch provides an important caveat: “Today’s reader of Luther must be mindful of the 500 years that have in fact passed since he put pen to paper. He lived in a very different world, and there is a significant journey to careful analysis and interpretation to be undertaken in order to avoid anachronistic assumptions and misunderstandings” (33).
Pietsch also clarifies that these letters only provide Luther’s side of his pastoral care. This care was often part of a broader pastoral association with the individuals being counseled, both by Luther and others. Many of the letters Luther himself received have since been lost. Even so, we can see how Luther not only counseled, but catechized, and how he sought through letters to walk beside the troubled soul and point them to Christ. “Luther’s comfort…like all true Christian comfort, is also actually Christ’s own gracious consolation” (53, emphasis author’s).
Chapter 3 brings the reader up to speed with modern clinical views of depression and its treatment. In this section, Pietsch argues that the development of modern psychology de-emphasized the role of spirituality in depression to the detriment of pastoral care for the depressed. Thankfully, starting in the early 1990s, a renewal began of awareness and understanding of spirituality and religion in the psychiatric community in Western countries (125ff.). At the end of this chapter, Pietsch provides a critique of the state of pastoral care of the depressed. The examples of a lack of understanding, empathy, and engagement on the part of the congregation and pastor are, in my opinion, heartbreaking. Nevertheless, Pietsch does not leave us without hope. He cites several examples from the early 2000s of a growing body of research on the pastoral care of people with mental health issues. He comments, “From a pastoral ministry point of view, the most encouraging sign in this area is the re-emergence of the Seelsorge tradition” (135).
Pietsch spends the next 100 pages developing a dialogue between Luther’s “comforting the melancholy” and modern “counseling of the depressed.” Along the way, Pietsch helpfully provides a number of areas where Luther and modern counseling can each be beneficial as we care for souls. From modern counseling, he draws insights from cognitive-behavioral therapy. From a theological and spiritual perspective, Pietsch emphasizes the possibility of spiritual warfare or recognizing the rich comfort of the doctrine of justification by grace. He encourages a deep application of the Scriptures in counseling rather than a “Take two passages and call me in the morning” approach. Two other areas of this dialogue that Pietsch highlights—which are worth further study—are his lengthy section on how we view suffering, patience, and the theology of the cross, and the call for a renewal of Luther’s theology of joy. This chapter alone is well worth the time of the pastoral counselor.
The final chapter is an excellent and helpful “So what?” for the pastoral reader. Why does all of this matter, and what should we take away from it? He highlights 1) points where Luther’s understanding and practice need to be modified for the contemporary context; 2) points where Luther’s understanding and practice coincide with today’s and may be brought together; and 3) points of transformation where Luther’s theology and pastoral care critique contemporary understanding and practice by recovering valuable theological and pastoral insights and possibilities (239).
At this point, it is hopefully clear that this book comes highly recommended for the pastor who counsels souls. The only negatives were the fact that this book is nearly a decade old—a decade which included a global pandemic—and the surprising number of typos throughout the book. There is so much we can learn from Luther that keeps us from slipping too far into the clinical, while encouraging us to provide the pastoral and spiritual counsel needed. Even though this book flows from Pietsch’s doctoral work and is used for pastoral training at both LCMS seminaries, Of Good Comfort is impressively readable.
In the end, if you are charged with caring for souls, you would be well served if Of Good Comfort were not only on your shelf, but thoroughly studied. The fresh translations of Luther’s letters of consolation alone are worth their weight in gold.