Beautiful and Terrible Things (Christian Brady) - A Review

 

BEAUTIFUL AND TERRIBLE THINGS: A Christian Struggle with Suffering, Grief, and Hope. By Christian M. M. Brady. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020. 167 pages.

                We will all die at some point. It’s a biological fact. However, knowing this to be true doesn't make facing the deaths of loved ones any easier. This is perhaps especially true for those who mourn the deaths of their children. These deaths raise questions of theodicy. How does one believe in a loving God who, if all-powerful, lets such things happen? Those who maintain faith in the midst of grief, have discovered that faith doesn’t take away grief, but they discover that faith can sustain them amid their grief.

                Christian Brady takes on the challenges posed to faith by suffering, death, and grief. He affirms the struggle and helps the reader find a pathway of hope through these realities. He comes to this conversation as both an Episcopal priest who serves the Diocese of Lexington as Canon Theologian and as a professor of Ancient Hebrew and Jewish Literature at the University of Kentucky. He comes to this conversation not only as an academic and as a member of the clergy but, more importantly, he speaks from personal experience. Throughout his book Beautiful and Terrible Things he draws from his experience of struggling with the death of his young son Mack from a blood infection.

                When he learned of the death of his son, the first thing that came to mind was the opening lines of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This cry of dereliction is a lament, and Brady brings to his reflections the importance of the biblical laments, especially those found in the Psalms. These laments invite us to challenge God. He writes that what Job and the psalms of lament teach us is that “we can and indeed must be sincere and honest with God. Our prayers should not be filled with platitudes and flowery language but should express our deepest needs and concerns even our complaints against God” (p. 14). Therefore, psalms and prayers of lament are personal, and in a sense, this book is a form of lament that is deeply personal. As he reminds us throughout the book, grief may not define our lives, but it will never leave us. While this is true, there is a pathway of hope that is rooted in faith.

                This is a book that can be used by groups to process grief and to deepen one's faith. One needn't have experienced the grief shared by the author to wonder about the nature of faith in God in a world that includes deep suffering. The pandemic of 2020 has taken several hundred thousand lives in the United States alone, and over a million worldwide. One can ask: where is God in this? Brady doesn't give answers so much as he provides us with a process that will help us deal with the laments of our lives.

                He begins by inviting us to let it out, to express our anger and our grief to God. He wants us to know that God is big enough to take what we can give. He brings into the conversation Job as well as Jesus, reminding us that Jesus weeps at the tomb of Lazarus. With this in mind, he writes: "Our response to hardship and grief does not need to be pious silence; outrage and anger are acceptable!" He goes on to say that God wants our honesty. "God wants us to share all of our selves, including our pain, and God wants to be present with us in our suffering, through our suffering." (p. 16). Standing at the heart of this reflection is the resurrection. He laments the death of his son but celebrates the resurrection. While Scripture might not give us a clear picture of what life after death looks like, there is still the promise of resurrection to give us hope. Regarding the resurrection, Brady interestingly turns to a book Emil Brunner titled Eternal Hope. He takes from Brunner a promise that sustains his faith. Following the Swiss theologian, he writes that if God stands outside time and space then the timing of resurrection is simultaneous, so we all arrive at the same moment. No one is waiting, for we all come at the same moment. He finds this very comforting. It is a possibility that I find compelling as well.

                In the end, the key is that there is hope. This hope is found in the prospect of looking forward to the day of resurrection, a promise rooted in the resurrection of Jesus. Thus, what we find here is a hopeful lament. As he concludes the book, he writes that this book is his lament, it is his "complaint to God that our son was taken from this life. It is not right, and it cannot be justified. This is also my declaration of thanksgiving grace and joy of Mack's birth, the mutual love of Mack and his sister, and the brilliant vibrancy of his life." There is grief at the loss but also thanksgiving that God hears the prayers of those who cry out. In this, there is peace (p. 155).

                As noted above Brady has written a book that can be used by groups or by individuals for study and/or reflection. Each chapter concludes with a prayer and a set of reflection questions. It is written in a way that will draw in the reader, who will find that the deeply personal nature of Brady’s presentation will speak to their deepest concerns. While Brady speaks from personal experience, he roots his responses in the biblical story and in Christian theology. One of his key points in the course of the book is emphasizing finding meaning in these dark moments in human life. We may not have asked for the heavy load of grief and suffering we endure, but we can choose how we carry this experience. He also reminds us that carrying this grief is not something we have to do alone. Standing at the core of his own meaning-making is the promise of the resurrection. This combination of personal narrative with theological reflection will make Brady’s Beautiful and Terrible Things a valuable resource as they address the suffering and grief experienced by members of their congregations. It can also help them navigate their own grief when that comes into play. There are no easy answers, but there is hope, and Brady leads us to those places within the Christian faith tradition that provide hope, most especially that is to be found in prayer.