A beautiful work of rubber-meets-the-road theology by an apparently gifted scholar. I love the way he relates doctrines like divine impassibility, concursus (a new one for me--over against deistic and fatalistic or monocausal approaches to God's relationship to suffering, as well as open theism), and above all, union with Christ to
his experience with incurable cancer. Also some good material on intercessory prayer and theodicy in general. Definitely a gift to the church. I'll want to get my own copy so I can mark it up. ( )

J. Todd Billings is a theology professor who in 2013, while in his late 30's, was diagnosed with an incurable cancer. Rejoicing in Lament is a book that describes his journey with cancer in the first years since his diagnosis. More than merely describing his journey, Billings offer a distinctly Christian reflection on faith and cancer from a robustly Reformed vantage point.

Disclaimer: While in seminary I studied systematic theology with Dr. Billings. I have read two of his previous books and was given a complimentary copy from the publisher. I did read other reviews of this book prior to my reading it however I did listen to his appearance on Mortification of Spin, the podcast of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

As noted in the disclaimer I did not read any previous reviews of this book, although I understand there were a number of favorable reviews and I would refer you to one of those for a more comprehensive treatment. I would just like to make a few comments on several things that stood out to me as I read it.

First, Billings' reflections, on God and cancer, are consistently, even persistently, Trinitarian. Billings never lets go of the fact that God is Triune. He continually brings to mind that God is Father, Son and Spirit, always. When so much of contemporary, dare I say generic, Evangelical Christianity is addressed primarily to the Son, secondarily to the Father, and, only perhaps inclusive of the Spirit, it is a real strength of Billings' thinking and writing here that God is always Triune.

Secondly, Billings also is always mindful of the fact that, for the Christian, union with Christ is an ordinary state of affairs. (Union with Christ is both the title and subject of a previous book by Billings, one which I have not read.) Among other things this means that for Billings, even in the face of an incurable cancer, one that struck him at a much younger age than the "average" person with the same diagnosis, there is never a part of his cancer journey that occurs separate from his Savior. Even at the depths of his initial treatment, which included a stem cell transplant, he knew, based on the promises God gives through his word, that his faithful Savior and Lord, Jesus, was with him.

And lastly, for purposes of my review, there was a certain tone of voice that permeated Billings' writing that made his thoughts easily and practically accessible. As someone who serves as a pastor I found that there was much in Billings' writing to help me understand people in my own congregation struggling with serious illness and other life situations that can seem to have no end and then respond to them in ways that are not trite but both empathetic and genuinely pastoral.

These are but a few of the many strengths of this particular book, and I highly commend it. ( )