Dr. Kevin Chapman Releases New Book to Help Christians Master Emotions through Scripture
With mental health issues on the rise in the American Church, Dr. Kevin Chapman, a licensed clinical psychologist, believes that the word of God is the solution to mastering our emotions. Dr. Chapman has written a new book titled Mastering Our Emotions to help believers and people of faith walk through biblical principles for their emotional health. In a sit-down interview with Crosswalk, Chapman lays out solutions and answers to dealing with the key issues of our day.
Crosswalk Headlines: When and where did you know that you had to write the book?
Dr. Kevin Chapman: The Lord really planted seeds with me about my training in psychology and anxiety, and the Holy Spirit started just revealing to me over time that much of what I've been studying is found in the Word of God. I remember distinctly, though, to answer your question, I was at a minister's conference in Colorado, and we were in the middle of the conference when the Holy Spirit really quicked me at that moment and said, it's time to write the book. At that moment, standing in Colorado at the Minister's conference, that's when I knew that it was time for me to put the book out for the body of Christ.
CWH: After hearing God speak, did the writing process flow?
KC: It did, I think, because that's how God's timing works. The Lord was really revealing to me through the Scriptures regarding anxiety and how the Lord speaks about that a lot, anger how the Lord speaks about that a lot. David talks about these issues in Psalms, but Paul reiterates them in Ephesians. Through the Bible, God showed me how emotions are found throughout the Word of God; there's a misconception, I think, in the body of Christ, that we're not supposed to have certain emotions, and that's frankly not true. I think the enemy wants us to believe that.
CWH: Why did you make the book so interactive?
KC: We really lack a lot of practical application of the word. I think we can hear all day long about faith and renewing your mind and to, you know, do X, Y, and Z. And yet so many of us don't know practically step one, step two, step three, how to apply the Word of God to our circumstances. I wanted the book to be interactive so that people could apply the word of God to their circumstances.
CWH: You say that you're a Christian who happens to be a psychologist. Can you please explain that?
KC: In being a psychologist by training, I always like to clarify that I'm a believer who happens to be a psychologist. I'm not a Christian psychologist; there is a difference, so I say that to say that my worldview is the Word of God. In my training as a psychologist, you know, we pride ourselves at our anxiety center, for example, in very practical, evidence-based time, limited treatment. We help people who struggle with intense emotionality, like panic disorder and attacks, OCD, things that people know about in the world, and we do it in a very short amount of time, practically. And there's a lot of structure and collaboration. The irony is the Word of God is no different than that. The Holy Spirit wants to partner with us through his word to navigate things in a very structured, orderly fashion; we serve a God of order.
CWH: Why do you call the book a manual and less of a traditional book?
KC: I am very intentional about calling it a manual rather than a book throughout it on purpose, it's a really practical application that's not just a read through, it's a listen to the Holy Spirit speak, along with specific prayers that's in the book to walk people through their issues and emotions.
Photo Credit: ©Instagram/drkevinchapman
Originally published April 01, 2025.
