The Consolations of Theology

by Brian S. Rosner (Editor)

Inspired by Alain de Botton's bestselling  Consolations of Philosophy , this volume shows how theology can be of practical value to every believer. The great theologians in the history of the church have always found that theology affords genuine comfort in the face of life's difficulties. In The Consolations of Theology  Brian Rosner and other practical theologians present a compelling blend of biography and theology that profoundly addresses the perennial human problems of anger, obsession, despair, anxiety, disappointment, and pain.


Gwenfair Walters Adams
Robert Banks
Peter Bolt
Andrew Cameron
Richard Gibson
Brian Rosner
Mark Thompson

Genres: Theology

168 pages

First published April 29, 2008

Reviews

[Irene]

This is a collection of 6 essays, each focused on a different classic Christian theologian’s thoughts on a different difficult emotion. The essays span Augustine on obsession to C.S. Lewis on the problem of pain. The essays were good introductions to their topics, providing brief biographical notes, general overview of the man’s theology and a clear summary of his thought on the topic.

[Joost Nixon]

I loved the mix of Bible, theology, and biography applied to subjects like anger, and sexual (and other) obsession, and despair and disappointment. My least favorite chapter was Kierkegaard on Anxiety. Most of the rest of the book is 5 stars.

And... Christians should keep writing books after this model. 2 Corinthians 1--We comfort others with the comfort we have received from the God of all comfort.

[Brenna Weaver]

I came across this book at an estate sale with a whole library room, which after perusing intently, I shortly realized the man who had passed was also a former minister.

Consolations of Theology is essentially a series of long-form essays evaluating the theological roots of, impacts of, and comforts in various types of hardships and trials that are experienced here in a world broken by sin. And it does so through the lens of theologians in church history: Lactantius on anger, Augustine on obsession/desire, Luther on despair, Kierkegaard on anxiety, Bonhoeffer on disappointment, and Lewis on pain. Personally, I think they’re incredible effective, relatively short and efficient in their evaluations, and a great combination of history, biography, theology for knowledge sake, and consolation for experience sake. Summarized them (mostly for future me to come back to again and again) belowwww

Anger: Without anger, evil would remain unchecked. The challenge is to restrain anger, not remove or diminish it, but to express it within the boundaries for which it was intended. It is possible to be anger, righteously, and not to sin, and in fact, God calls us to be angry and yet not sin.

Obsession: Enchantment with the passing good blinds us to something greater. In such pleasures there is no true joy. Our hearts find no peace until they rest in You. What humans need is a mediator, someone human enough to know our cravings well, but godlike enough to desire well, and we have all that we need.

Despair: Our despair and its causes are not unknown to the living God. Christ endured Godforsakenness for us. Yet in despair, Satan turns the rod of the Father into the hangman’s rope. A salutary remedy into the deadliest poison. “Through my baptism God, who cannot lie, has bound himself in a covenant with me.” God can be trusted in the midst of darkness and He has promised that the darkness will end. Hope can withstand the world because Jesus died and rose again.

Anxiety: Anxiety is a daily reminder that we live under the shadow of the grave. Yet the Gospel brings God’s own solutions to the world’s problems and anxieties. They address the profoundest levels of our existence, the solutions are at the depths of our being. Anxiety is not something to flee from; it is here, in the midst of the anxiety built into the fabric of the fallen world, that we can hear the promises of the gospel most sharply, and so anxiety can serve a positive good, in that it provides an opportunity not just for sin but for faith.

Disappointment: We want to receive what God bestows on us with open, outstretched hands, and to delight in it with all our heart, yet we do not want to, with a quiet heart, sacrifice what God does not grant us or even has given but takes away. To renounce full life and its real joys in order to avoid pain and disappointment is neither Christian not human. We honor God more when we gratefully accept the life he gives us with all its blessings, drinking it to the full, and also grieving deeply and sincerely when we have impaired or wasted any of the good things of life. Hope should never be despised, even when it is proved wrong a hundred times. We give to God those good things that we have lost and never gotten in order that they might be protected in glory, and that hope will never be put to shame. All that we may rightly expect from God and ask him for, is to be found in Christ Jesus.

Pain: If the universe is just the product of chance or impersonal forces, why should we be aggrieved for the amount of evil and pain within it. Pain reminds us that good things cannot give us what we most basically desire, and God will not allow you to mistake the good things of the world for Home. Heaven is the ultimate reality that people unconsciously long for in their search for earthly happiness. We need God, ‘the great iconoclast’ to continue shattering our neat little categories and preconceptions. While no more than Job, will we get answers to all our questions, what we get is a deeper understanding of God

[Graham Heslop]

This book has everything that I look for crammed between its covers: theology, philosophy, and history (just enough). But as the title suggests it contains more: a pointedly pastoral and practical application of the above. Though I will be returning to these succinct and quite simple essays combining my favourite fields, I think that I will come back to it for the excellent insights into the Christian life and how those truths might be fleshed out in counselling.

If you are unsure which essay to start on, then I would recommend, in this order:
- Bonhoeffer on disappointment
- Augustine on obsession
- Luther on despair

[Jon]

A unique take on several past theologians.

[Tim]

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.