Mead Spiritual Formation Endowment with Ruth Haley Barton

"Finding God in the Darkness: Spiritual Formation through Depression and the Dark Night of the Soul"

Wednesday, April 20 @ 7pm, Bakke Auditorium

In this inaugural lecture for The Stephen & Marjorie Mead Endowment for Spiritual Formation, Ruth Haley Barton discusses ways that spiritual formation practices, informed by insights from the Wade Center authors, help address the challenges of depression among Christians as well as distinguish between depression and dark night of the soul. During these times when there is so much depression prevalent in society as a whole, it is particularly helpful for Christians to focus with intentionally upon the Dark Night of the Soul as a way of understanding this necessity in their own life and the related pascal rhythms of hope, rebirth and renewal.

Dr. Barton is the Founder and Board Chair of the Transforming Center who has been a student, practitioner, and thought leader in the area of Christian spirituality and formation for over 25 years. When she founded the Transforming Center with a few like-minded souls in December of 2002 it was based purely on a shared desire to experience deeper levels of transformation in Christ’s presence so they could discern and do the will of God. What has happened since then surprises her every day! A seasoned and highly regarded spiritual director, teacher, and retreat leader, Barton was trained at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and the Loyola University Chicago Institute for Pastoral Studies and holds a Doctor of Divinity from Northern Seminary. She has served on the pastoral staff of several churches and is the author of numerous books and resources on the spiritual life including Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Sacred Rhythms, and Invitation to Retreat.

WATCH THE LECTURE