DAVID ADAMS reads Paul Grimmond’s book addressing the issue of anxiety, ‘When The Noise Won’t Stop’…
Paul Grimmond,
When The Noise Won’t Stop: A Christian Guide To Dealing With Anxiety
Matthias Media, Sydney, Australia, July, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-1922206558
There’s been a plethora of recent books focusing on the rising issue of anxiety – not least thanks to the isolation and stress experienced during the coronavirus pandemic – but Australian Paul Grimmond’s new book engages with anxiety “as a mental health condition” rather than the sort of “everyday stress” we all face from time-to-time.
Grimmond, the dean of students at Sydney’s Moore Theological College as well as a conference speaker, trainer, mentor and pastor, writes with three groups in mind – “people who struggle with all the distress and difficulty of living with anxiety”, their supporters, family and friends and pastors.
He is upfront about his own struggles with anxiety, depression and “serious burnout” and also points out that, while he has been a counsellor, he is not trained in psychiatry or psychology.
“This book is an attempt to create a biblically faithful framework for understanding anxiety and then to apply that framework to living with anxiety…” he writes. “My hope is that this will stimulate you to ask questions, to pray, to read the Scriptures, and to talk to others so that you come to your own answers for some of the big questions.”
Grimmond starts with some tips on how to approach his book – including urging people to do so “in community” – before he turns to painting a picture of what anxiety in its various forms can look like, drawing on testimonies of those who have experienced it.
Alongside statistics, definitions and a potted history of responses to the issue, much of the book concerns how the Bible speaks into the issue as well as a broader look at the concept of ‘Biblical wisdom’ and the interplay of the Bible and science.
There’s a particular focus whether anxiety is a sin and its associated questions: “If all that anxiety did was to raise this question of obedience and sin, it would be complex enough. But this is the beginning, rather than the end, of the questions. If anxiety is sin, then how should we respond when anxiety sufferers say that they ‘can’t help it’? Are they responsible for their anxiety or is anxiety in some sense beyond their control?”
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The book also addresses other key issues including what Grimmond calls the “often antagonistic attitude of the psychological establishment towards religion in general and to Christianity in particular”, and the role medication and counselling can play.
In his examination of what the Bible says, Grimmond aims to go beyond the “memory verse” approach (although he recommends I Peter 5:7 as a good one) and takes a more in-depth look at both the “big picture” – covering the many nuanced ways in which anxiety is referred to in the Scriptures – as well as a more detailed examination of what the Bible says about the human experience, especially in the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
When The Noise Won’t Stop, which comes with a handy summary of key Biblical encouragements in the appendix, is a balanced, thoughtful and grounded response to what is, as Grimmond is at pains to point out, a complex issue. It shines a light on the tough questions, particularly around the issue of sin, and responds in a gentle, yet deeply insightful, and practical way. A hope-filled resource for those grappling with anxiety as well as those supporting them – and, yes, that includes church leaders.
