Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times - Softcover

"You wouldn't expect a journey through the book of Lamentations to be particularly relevant to life in the 21st century. And yet that is what Soong-Chan Rah accomplishes. Lament, Rah emphasizes, is an essential part of the deeper engagement God desires for humanity and creation."--Relevant Magazine, September/October 2015

"Lamentations is a book that can and should speak into our current circumstances and, in Prophetic Lament, Rah has given us an accessible introduction for our troubled times."--David Swanson, Signs of Life, December 19, 2015

"This timely book is indeed prophetic in its call for us to live as the faithful and repentant people of God in our violent age."--C. Christopher Smith, Relevant, December 18, 2015

Missio Alliance Essential Reading List of 2015Hearts & Minds Bookstore's Best Books of 2015, Social Criticism and Cultural EngagementRELEVANT's Top 10 Books of 2015, Non-FictionEnglewood Review of Books Best Books of 2015, TheologyWhen Soong-Chan Rah planted an urban church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his first full sermon series was a six-week exposition of the book of Lamentations. Preaching on an obscure, depressing Old Testament book was probably not the most seeker-sensitive way to launch a church. But it shaped their community with a radically countercultural perspective. The American church avoids lament. But lament is a missing, essential component of Christian faith. Lament recognizes struggles and suffering, that the world is not as it ought to be. Lament challenges the status quo and cries out for justice against existing injustices.Soong-Chan Rah's prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church's relationship with a suffering world. It critiques our success-centered triumphalism and calls us to repent of our hubris. And it opens up new ways to encounter the other. Hear the prophet's lament as the necessary corrective for Christianity's future. A Resonate exposition of the book of Lamentations.