About Providence, Divine Action and the Church


In this blog, Terry J. Wright posts thoughts and shares research on the Christian doctrine of providence. This doctrine testifies to God’s provision for all things through creation’s high priest, the man Christ Jesus. However, the precise meaning and manner of this provision is a perpetually open question, and this blog is a forum for discussion of the many issues relating to providence and the place of the Church within God’s action.

Friday 4 July 2014

Rejoicing in Lament: J. Todd Billing's Forthcoming Book on Providence and Lament

Regular readers of this blog (both of ’em) will know that I’m interested in the relation between God’s providence and the practice of lament. Thus I was pleased to hear that J. Todd Billings is going to publish on precisely this relation – though it saddens me that Billings’s personal circumstances were the occasion for writing this book.

Here’s the blurb:


At the age of 39, 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.

I’ve read Billings’s Calvin, Participation, and the Gift, which impressed me, and so I anticipate a thoughtful and stimulating read. Rejoicing in Lament is planned for publication by Brazos Press in February 2015.

1 comment:

  1. Yes for bearing the cross of Christ and share his lament in life sometime and be witnes for him to win the people from the fire of hell and set us to to joy for love of God in harmony and in the pwer thanks and bless ,keijo sweden

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