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Product Description

It is not uncommon to hear of people who have lost their faith as a result of suffering. Songs for Suffering will help people to pray during seasons of suffering, using psalms as the primary resource and addressing difficult issues of faith such as despair, failure, tragedy, and fear.

The Psalms are the ideal resource to keep someone in contact with God through such times of difficulty. They take pain and trouble seriously, and afford dignity to the sufferer by expressing what we feel in these times. The Psalms even allow negative responses toward God to be voiced in a safe context and take seriously God’s capacity for redemption. In the Psalms, evil and its agents are real, and this allows a measured and God-centered response to those who cause suffering.

The chapters in Songs for Suffering cover issues such as:
- Despair and loss of faith
- Giving voice to anger and complaints to God
- The ideas of changing God’s mind and of moving God to act for justice
- Regaining a right perspective on issues of security
- Moving from lament toward praise and confidence

Reviews

"This book explores both our human experience and the prayer book of Jesus. Read it, make the Psalms your own, and find words for when there are no words."
-Rt. Rev. Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Leeds, Church of England

“Songs for Suffering fills a gap for a Christian culture so used to praising God for his blessings as its default mode that it has little to say when life takes a wrong turn. Writing with a simplicity that interprets profundity, this teacher-pastor brings out the contemporary relevance of the biblical psalms of lament.”
—Leslie C. Allen, senior professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. Simon Stocks teaches Biblical Studies at St Augustine''s College of Theology, England (formerly known as SEITE). He is chair of the Theological Educators'' Network and also ministers in the Anglican parish of Christ Church, Purley. After a career in civil engineering, he trained for ministry and worked in parish ministry in the Diocese of Southwark, before undertaking doctoral studies. His research interests include the interactions between poetic form and interpretation in Hebrew poetry, and the theology of lament.