Finding Lost Words: The Church’s Right to Lament
Ebook
The brokenness of this world inevitably invades our lives. But how do you maintain faith when overwhelmed by grief? When prayer goes unanswered? When all you have are questions, not answers? What do you say to God when you know he is in control but the suffering continues unabated? Is there any alternative to remaining speechless in the midst of pain and heartbreak? This book is about finding words to use when life is hard. These words are not new. They are modes of expression that the church has drawn on in times of grief throughout most of its history. Yet, the church in the West has largely abandoned these words--the psalms of lament. The result is that believers often struggle to know what to do or say when faced with distress, anxiety, and loss. Whether you are in Christian leadership, training for ministry, or simply struggling to reconcile experience with biblical convictions, Finding Lost Words will help you consider how these ancient words can become your own.
"As the contributors to Finding Lost Words so
insightfully point out, the Psalms offer us a robust invitation to
express our honest feelings before God. I found this volume utterly
compelling and encourage everyone to read this book and let the
laments of the Psalms teach you how to pray."
--Tremper Longman III, Westmont College
"This book is a work the church needs. Lament is a missing practice
in the praying life of too many Christians in a broken world. It
needs to be recovered. After all we find it in psalm after psalm. .
. . Scripture not only gives us a language for our joys, it also
gives us a language for our confusions, disappointments, and even
anger towards God. In this work, a constellation of careful
thinkers and practitioners serve us so very well. I commend it
without reservation."
--Graham A. Cole, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
"There is a level of superficiality in the spiritual experience of
today's church that needs to be challenged. . . . Finding Lost
Words is an excellent set of readable essays dealing with the
theology and practice of lament from an exegetical, historical, and
pastoral perspective. I don't want to overstate things but, if we
really hear the message of this book, it will change the way we do
church."
--Jamie A. Grant, Highland Theological College UHI
"Like a well-cut diamond, this collection of essays radiates light
in many directions, helping readers to see the biblical concept of
lament from different perspectives with greater clarity. . . . This
timely volume offers a much needed rebalance to Christian theology
that often appears to have lost sight of the pain and suffering
caused by the reality of evil in our broken world."
--T. Desmond Alexander, Union Theological College, Belfast
Product Details
- Title : Finding Lost Words: The Church’s Right to Lament
- Authors:
- Harper, G. Geoffrey
- Barker, Kit
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Publication Date: 2017
- ISBN: 9781498242165
G. Geoffrey Harper is Lecturer in Old Testament at Sydney
Missionary and Bible College. He has written several essays and
articles on intertextuality in the Old Testament.
Kit Barker is Lecturer in Old Testament at Sydney Missionary and
Bible College. He is the author of Imprecation as Divine
Discourse (2016) and the author of Imprecation as Divine
Discourse: Speech Act Theory, Dual Authorship and Theological
Interpretation (Eisenbrauns).
Reviews
1 rating
Andrew Kerr
4/16/2022
What a great book. When you sit in church and all you hear are happy songs and messages where do you go when you need to Lament? There are not many songs and few moments in church for grief and loss. This book brings together the insights of multiple authors restoring lament to the Christian life