Embodied Hope

I often wonder if God cares about my blood disorder. Reading Embodied Hope was reassuring, “Heartfelt cries and existential questions operate at the core of healthy theology, and suppressing them is more hurtful than a confession of ignorance.” This is the second book by Kelly M Kapic I read, I’m convinced he's a gifted writer and a good theologian.

An indepth and profound exploration of how God meets us in the darkness of suffering and loss. A resource rich in theological and practical detail on how to love, care and walk with others through their pain-filled world. God is raised high as the root source of 'theological instinct' and brought low to stand with us via 'pastoral care' -- two of the main principles presented in this book.
I'll just come out and say that this is truly a tremendous effort on the part of Dr. Kapic to face, analyze and provide, not solutions - but advice on what C.S. Lewis referred to as the "problem of pain" - in it's many forms. Through actual accounts of afflicted loved ones and friends, Dr. Kapic attempts to work out difficult equations of physical and emotional burdens using solid biblical variables. This book empowers a church and the individual, not to romanticize pain with stock phrases of purpose and hope, that ultimately disconnect us from God, but to:
-confess the complexity of pain
-accept it as part of this fallen world
-learn to live in the presence of it
and allow us to teach us more about God and develop a stronger relationship with Him, through His Son.
'Embodied Hope' calls the believer to grieve, lament, wrestle amid the pain/challenges and maintain confidence in God throughout.

We all know pain and suffering differently. Physical or emotional, pain always leads us to feel anguish, loneliness and discouragement. What should Christians think about suffering? Should we just accept it or what can we do? Kapic, writes this work, from a personal and experiential perspective, considering what the Scriptures teach us, as well as other good writings.

This is a good book, which should be read by those who are suffering. Also this book, should be read by those who see God as guilty of their sufferings.

The book consists of 3 parts:
Part 1: The Struggle
In this part the author talks about the pain and the thoughts that arise concerning God. There are questions, there is anguish, and where is God?

Part 2: The strangeness of God
In this part of the book, Kapic tells us about the incarnation, the importance of recognizing that Christ was as one of us. Not only that, but it is one with us.

Part 3: Life together
In the last part, the author talks about the importance of communion among believers to face the pain.

There are 13 chapters that will be of inspiration, comfort and help for many.

Personally this book helped me a lot, since I have seen many family members suffering from illness or pain. And what great consolation are these books that do not tell us about "how to overcome the pain in 24 hours", but they tell us about pain in a theological and experiential way.

Thanks to IVP for the copy of this book.

First sentence: This book will make no attempt to defend God. I will not try to justify God or explain away the physical suffering in this world. Instead, I wrestle with nagging questions about our lives, our purpose, and our struggles. How should we live in the midst of this pain-soaked world? How do we relate to the God whose world this is? If you are looking for a book that boasts triumphantly of conquest over a great enemy or gives a detached philosophical analysis that neatly solves an absorbing problem, this isn’t it. Instead, this book aims to invites you into a larger conversation, a conversation greater than my family, and a struggle bigger than your pain and doubt. For while our pain, or the suffering of those we love, may cause us to feel isolated, these challenges remind us that we are actually part of the much larger stream of humanity.

Premise/plot: Embodied Hope is a Christian book about pain--chronic physical pain to be exact. It is divided into three parts: "The Struggle," "The Strangeness of God," and "Life Together."

The premise is simple: "Physical suffering often affects how we relate to God and others….The condition of our bodies does influence how we understand God and his ways….Pain in our body often influences how we relate to others." Kapic writes, "We must not pit the body against the spirit, the mind against the heart, the individual against the community. For our struggle is not ultimately with a single side of suffering but with how it affects us in our totality: from our relationships to our faith, from our bodies to our hope, from our mourning to our love."

Kapic examines the subject of pain in the world in this world. How pain impacts the individual, the family unit, the church community, and to a very small extent society itself. It isn't necessarily a theological book on "the problem of evil" vs. "the goodness of God." I don't think it would be a stretch to say that Kapic seeks to avoid the general and abstract in favor of the intimate and personal. In fact, he writes, "Rightly understood, doing theology is more often like farming than it is like stacking doctrinal bricks. Theology is lived; it is not regimentally constructed….Only when we begin to see that theology is not merely about repeating back answers but instead more like caring for a garden can we care well for others….There is a world of difference between reading a book about caring for people and actually caring for people. To theologize well, we need to love well."

The truth of the matter is that every person is unique. Every person has his or her own way of dealing with the pain, of coping with the pain, of living with the pain. And as much as he tries not to make generalizations, I think a few slip in.

In the first part, he explores "the struggle" of living with pain and the theological implications. He assumes that pain leads most to have "hard thoughts" about God. He assumes that most pain sufferers have false notions of God. For example, they see him as angry, distant, cruel, harsh; someone who enjoys watching people suffer. Pain sufferers might conclude that God isn't good and merciful and kind.

Kapic writes, "How does God look upon us in our weakness, even in our sin? Is God really angry or wrathful with us, his children? His bride? What picture of God is really warranted by the Scriptures? How do these passages like Zephaniah 3:17 and Isaiah 62:5 intersect our own experience? How can we then deal with the “hard thoughts” that tempt us, especially in our suffering? How do we develop a profound and affectionate trust of God rather than a sense of alienation? Our journey is to learn why such hard thoughts don’t reflect the triune God. Our hope is to learn to hear him singing over us, to trust his presence in the middle of the pain. Some will immediately object that this is wishful thinking based on a few obscure verses here and there. However, we will see that we are not talking about a few scattered biblical texts but are diving into the heart of the gospel, the heart of the good news discovered in Messiah. Only here will we unquestionably discover the very heart of God. To understand God and his relationship to our pain, we will need to examine the case of Jesus of Nazareth, a man who walked the dusty roads of Galilee over two thousand years ago. Only by listening to his words and by following the movement of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension might our very human struggle be seen in different light. Because he was and is God’s revelation of himself to us, it only makes sense to start there. In this endeavor it is to be hoped that our view of the God of heaven and earth will deepen beyond our current understanding. But to see Jesus clearly we need to stop defending our preconceived notions of who God is."

In the second part, the focus shifts to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

In the third part, the focus shifts to the church, to the community of believers. How can the church of God best care for the people of God? How can the church reach out, include, better understand those living and struggling with physical pain and suffering?

I found the tenth chapter the most thought-provoking. In this chapter, he discusses the importance of confessing our sins to one another. This isn't a subject that is addressed often in contemporary theology. So he gave me a lot to think about!