A Trinitarian Response to the Horrors of This World
SCOTT HARROWER
STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
God of All Comfort: A Trinitarian Response to the Horrors of This World
Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology
Copyright 2019 Scott Harrower
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Christian Standard Bible® (csb), copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and csb® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Print ISBN 978-1-68-359230-3
Digital ISBN 978-1-68-359231-0
Lexham Editorial Team: Todd Hains, Claire Brubaker, Danielle Thevenaz
Cover Design: Bryan Hintz
This book is dedicated to those who have mediated
God’s presence, care, and insight to me over many years:
Kate Harrower, Roland and Elke Werner, and Lindsay Wilson.
Thank you.
The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock—to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.
―Flannery O’Connor, “The Fiction Writer and His Country”
Part 1: Horrors and Skepticisms
4. Issues Arising from Horrors
Part 2: Horrors and Interpretation
5. Addressing Horrors through Real-World Stories
6. The Horror-Attuned Reader and Perception
7. A Horror Reading of Matthew
8. A Blessed Reading of Matthew
The brokenness of the world is patent. Indeed, stories of the brokenness are difficult, if not impossible, to avoid. A night spent watching the TV evening news or CNN or FOX or reading the New York Times or catching up with Facebook reveal the horrors. Last afternoon there was shooting in a hospital here in Chicago. A doctor was executed by an ex-fiancé. Two others were gunned down and the gunman himself was killed by the police. Domestic abuse and sexual abuse add to the dark picture. And then there are diseases that ravage our bodies. In fact, as I write I have two faculty wrestling with deadly disease. Looking ...
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About God of All Comfort: A Trinitarian Response to the Horrors of This WorldHow does God respond to trauma in a world full of horrors? Beyond their physical and emotional toll, the horrors of this world raise difficult theological and existential questions. Where is God in the darkest moments of the human experience? Is there any hope for recovery from the trauma generated by these horrors? There are no easy answers to these questions. In God of All Comfort, Scott Harrower addresses these questions head on. Using the Gospel of Matthew as a backdrop, he argues for a Trinitarian approach to horrors, showing how God—in his triune nature—reveals himself to those who have experienced trauma. He explores the many ways God relates restoratively with humanity, showing how God’s light shines through the darkness of trauma. |
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