Another seasonally themed read, this time on the resurrection. Despite the feast of books available to the reader on the Cross, there aren't so many on the resurrection. Having found this one a while back, I looked forward to reading it. Eugene Peterson is a well-known pastor, writer and Bible translator (famous for producing The Message version).
A helpful aspect of the book was the review of the resurrection stories from the Gospels and Acts, with some useful insights. Yet despite all this, I didn't enjoy the book. It didn't deal with resurrection in the way I expected, and for the most part, confused me as I didn't follow his reasoning.
Peterson's main argument is for spiritual formation, which he says, is what the resurrection is all about. "The resurrection of Jesus is the action at the core of all Christian formation." This formation-by-resurrection is then applied to our sense of wonder, our meals and our relationships through Sabbath, Lord's Supper and Baptism. To me, it seemed as if there were a lot of words but not much substance.
Worse, it would appear that resurrection stands on it's own, with few references to the Cross. So much so that it seems that the resurrection life is available for anyone, without reference to sin, or the redemption available only through the cross. This is, for me, the biggest failing of the book, and for this reason, I wouldn't recommend it to others.
Given this, are there books on the resurrection you would recommend for me and others?
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