Shameless promotionMy other brother's book is out and worth reading.
From the Eerdmans website:
Too often, Christians who discover melancholy or skepticism occupying a place in their hearts are perplexed, troubled, or even ashamed. Knowing Darkness is a frequently provocative apologetic for the benefits of both skepticism and melancholy for biblical, Christian faith.
Arguing that these phenomena are not detrimental to faith but are often decidedly helpful, Addison Hart draws from such figures in Scripture as Job and Qoheleth of Ecclesiastes, and from the well known life and experience of Mother Teresa. Understanding the challenges that melancholy and skepticism present to those who experience them, he reflects on the need for genuine human friendship in the life of faith.
Writing in a forthright, engaging style, Hart inspires us to look more deeply into troublesome matters of the heart and soul — emotions we would often rather ignore or condemn — and therein find a far more authentic faith.
"Alongside the biblical injunctions to adhere, as the normative standard of faith, to what I will call ‘conventional piety,' the Scriptures also present a much more complex and variegated interaction with God. On the level of adult faith, nothing is monochrome or monolithic when the canon is taken as a whole. The approach to God includes uncertainties of doubt and darkness, and melancholy and skepticism are unapologetically present in these holiest books of Christianity and Judaism."
— from chapter 1
5 comments:
Just when I tried to stop spending all of my disposable income on books, here you go tempting me.
I've taken the bait. I should be getting a package from Amazon any day now.
I have no will power.
I have no will power.
Good thing I don't endorse cigarettes here.
Good thing I don't endorse cigarettes here.
It's been a long week and I needed a good laugh.
Thank you!
I have lots of "will" power, more in fact than I need. What I'm short on is "won't" power.
That's why my most successful Lent was the year I gave up self-abnegation.
John A. Hollister+
I am ordering this book now.
More and more, I run into thoughtful and devout Christians who experience melancholy and doubt as a constant companion. I usually point them to some well known Saints who grappled with these things, and yet lived lives that glorified God.
It has been my experience that many Christians who wrestle with these issues are often greatly used by God, even if they themselves are unaware of it.
Thanks to the author for taking this subject on.
+ Sam Seamans
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