Rejoicing in Lament
Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ
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- USD 5.99
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- USD 5.99
Descripción editorial
At the age of thirty-nine, Christian theologian Todd Billings was diagnosed with a rare form of incurable cancer. In the wake of that diagnosis, he began grappling with the hard theological questions we face in the midst of crisis: Why me? Why now? Where is God in all of this? This eloquently written book shares Billings's journey, struggle, and reflections on providence, lament, and life in Christ in light of his illness, moving beyond pat answers toward hope in God's promises. Theologically robust yet eminently practical, it engages the open questions, areas of mystery, and times of disorientation in the Christian life. Billings offers concrete examples through autobiography, cultural commentary, and stories from others, showing how our human stories of joy and grief can be incorporated into the larger biblical story of God's saving work in Christ.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 2012, at age 39, seminary professor and minister Billings (Union with Christ) was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Faced with significantly reduced life expectancy, Billings finds himself asking such hard questions as why God would answer his and his wife's prayers for their children, only to "take away their dad during their childhoods?" Praying in "the many keys of the Psalms", Billings offers cries of anger and pain as an act of faith and trust. In entries from his online CarePages journal, he offers to family and friends theological reflections on his illness and treatment, opening an intimate window into his faith journey. An exploration of complex, age-old questions about suffering and God's nature leads Billings to extol the beauty of mystery and the limits of human wisdom: "humans don't have an answer to the problem of evil, and we shouldn't claim that we have one." Along with disclosing his wrenching questions, fears, and hopes, Billings explores "the ways in which God's story intersects with the cancer story." His poignant insight into the role of lament in faithful Christian living makes this a work of both astute scholarship and powerful testimony.
