Joy Renewed

A Biblical Prescription for Rediscovering Joy in Late Modernity

Benjamin Fischer & Cedric Kanana

joy renewed

A Biblical Prescription for Rediscovering Joy in Late Modernity

Copyright © 2021 Benjamin Fischer and Cedric Kanana. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Wipf & Stock

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

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paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-1556-9

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-1557-6

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-1558-3

July 26, 2021

All Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

• Title Page

• Part I: Joy and Its Loss

• Chapter 1: Joy By Design: Remembering Our Story

• Chapter 2: Disrupted Design: The Fall of Joy

• Chapter 3: Getting Up to Speed: The Poverty of Modernity

• Part II: Paths to Rediscovering Joy

• Chapter 4: The Joy of Knowing God

• Chapter 5: The Joy of Living God’s Ways

• Chapter 6: The Simple Joy of Contentment

• Chapter 7: The Joy of Serving in the Kingdom

• Chapter 8: The Joy of Agreeing with God: Confession

• Chapter 9: The Joy of Fellowship

• Chapter 10: The Path to Joy Includes Suffering

• Chapter 11: The Joy of Sharing in the Suffering of Christ

• Bibliography

Dedicated to Bishop Ngendahayo Emmanuel,

our brother and friend,

Who gives his life that others may find joy

Part I

Joy and Its Loss

1

Joy By Design: Remembering Our Story

Joy is inseparable from the human story. But if we forget our story, we also lose the knowledge of how joy is meant to fit. In order for any people to know itself truly, remembering its story is essential.

Rehearsing stories has been part of human society throughout the ages. There is an old legend of the Germanic people called Beowulf, written down as a long poem by a forgotten Anglo-Saxon monk sometime in the tenth century. One way to understand the poem is that Beowulf is given as a model for the Anglo-Saxons of how a hero ought to live in faithfulness to God’s design. As Beowulf comes into the ongoing story of his people, his special design quickly shows itself: he is very strong. Despite doing some foolish things with his strength (like a Germanic Samson), as the story gets moving, the man of strength and courage whom God has made him to be comes to meet the terrible needs of a moment. A monster is attacking and destroying a neighboring kingdom. So Beowulf comes and kills the marauding troll and then its avenging mother.

At the feast after his battles, the old king, Hrothgar, gives the young hero some advice. He reminds Beowulf that the Almighty God apportions kingdoms. ...