Review of The Consolations of Theology by Brian S. Rosner (Editor)

Many Christians know this Bible-verse by heart: "[B]e ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you [for] a reason [for] the hope that is in you" (I Peter 3:15). As the title of this anthology suggests, this book is an effort to illuminate ("give an answer to") how various prominent Christians (from Augustine and Luther to Bonhoeffer and C.S. Lewis) found Christian hope in the face of vexing experiences and emotions: Anger, Obsession, Despair, Anxiety, Disappointment and Pain.

Does this book succeed in its effort? Well, it depends on what you're looking for. In most of the essays in The Consolations of Theology I found a lot more (abstract) theology than (practical) consolation. Readers who are facing real-life challenges, and looking for real-life solace and consolation, will find most of this anthology's essays too abstract to fit the bill. (Then again, readers who are interested in Christian theological conceptualizations of Anger, Obsession, Despair, etc., and the issue of how these human experiences fit into a Christian world-view, will find this book's essays to be well-researched, well-written and thought-provoking.)

The shining exception to the book's abstract academic tone is Brian S. Rosner's chapter, "Bonhoeffer on Disappointment" (pages 107-129). Rosner sticks close to the details of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's pain in the midst of Nazi persecution. Rosner offers a list of specific coping-attitudes Bonhoeffer possessed (e.g., "4. Don't Pretend or Minimize the Failure--Look Disappointment in the Face" (pages 120-121)). Rosner draws from Bonhoeffer's letters and diary to illustrate how he employed these attitudes in his daily life in a Nazi prison. And Rosner highlights how Bonhoeffer's Christian faith played a role in his coping with tribulation (e.g., the solace Bonhoeffer finds in meditating on Ecclesiastes 3:15: "I suspect these words mean that nothing that is past is lost..., that God gathers up again...our past....So when we are seized by a longing for the past...we may be sure that it is only one of the many 'hours' that God is always holding ready for us" (page 122)). Rosner's essay, both sensitive in tone and learned in scope, was exactly the kind of essay I was expecting when I picked up this book. Robert Banks' essay, "C.S. Lewis on Pain" (pages 131-157) is similar in spirit to Rosner's essay.

So I think this book contains a bit of something for everyone. Those reading in a scholarly spirit will find theology; those reading in a sensitive spirit will find a little consolation. The book also contains ample reading-lists to follow up on any of the topics.
 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1786196045