I am very pleased and proud to announce that I have signed a contract with Westminster John Knox Press to publish Beautiful and Terrible Things! The publication date is Fall 2020.
I am so thankful for everyone who has and continues to engage with me on matters relating to the biblical theology of suffering and grace. This book is intended for all audiences and your feedback, pushback, and questions are integral to the refining and writing process. Thank you.
Beautiful and Terrible Things
We all endure suffering in this life. No matter how blessed and privileged you may be, we will experience hardship and grief. It may be the death of a loved one, sudden illness, the loss of a job, or the struggle with mental health. It is part of living in a world that God created but humanity unmade.
As Christians, we are assured that Jesus has saved us from our sin and so, some profess, we should “boast in our sufferings” (Rom. 5:3). Such a reading of the New Testament has led many Christians to believe that all suffering we experience is sent from God. Yet is all suffering part of God’s purpose for us? Should we really “boast” in the suffering and grief that follows when a child dies from illness? Does God bring about the hurricanes, mudslides, and earthquakes that takes the lives of hundreds of thousands?
This personal yet scholarly work considers what the Bible has to say about suffering and grace while reflecting upon his own loss and grief. What is revealed is that rather than an image of God managing every event and action in our lives, the biblical account describes the very real world in which we all live, a world full of hardship and calamity that often comes unbidden and unmerited. Yet it is also a world into which God lovingly intrudes, to bring comfort, peace, and grace. As importantly, the Bible also provides license to lament, to grieve, and to protest the injustice we experience.
2 thoughts on “Beautiful and Terrible Things Book Contract”
Very much looking forward to this! Just had a conversation today with a family who lost a 40 year old son to cancer a couple of years ago and still have questions about “God’s purpose for taking their son.” After our conversation I left with topic swirling in my mind and the question that came to me, and I know we have had some of this conversation before, is, “what is truly lost if God does not know the future exhaustively apart from what he has determined?” I understand that you contend that scripture affirms God as timeless and that timelessness means God sees all time as present time, but what exactly does this understanding add to God’s ability to accomplish his goals? Alternatively, what is lost by understanding God to not know the future exhaustively?
Tim, thank you so much for continuing to pose questions and prod me! I am going to mull on this a bit more, but look for it in a future post!