Book description:
When Psychologist Rocky Devos lost his wife to cancer, he also lost his faith in the fairness of God. For over a year, he lived in the thin space between his love for God and his hatred for what he believed God did. Each night, he banged on heaven’s gate demanding an explanation.
“Why Rachel, Lord? Why would you let her suffer like that? Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you give us a miracle?”
The longer his prayers went unanswered the more frustrated he became. Eventually, he meets God’s silence with a silence of his own. But then, a year and four months later, the answer arrives disguised as a homeless vagabond who claims to be the apostle Paul. Clearly, Rocky believes he was delusional. But in their court-appointed sessions, he finds a kindred spirit. As Paul unpacks the pain of losing his wife in childbirth the two men connect. Rocky believes he’s there to help Paul. Paul believes the opposite.
The book explores the thin space between faith and doubt. Rocky’s questions are our questions. At some point we will all lose someone we love. When we do, we will find comfort in the company of those who have walked the path of suffering before us. Rocky invites us to join him on his journey of redemption. His conversations with Paul will not only change the way he thinks about God, they may do the same for you as well.
My review:
I read and reviewed the author's first book eight years ago, The Gate. It has been compared to The Shack (a book I hate), but I feel it is nothing like that book, and I really enjoyed it.
The Thin Space is different, but still an engaging read. The main character is a psychologist who had lost his wife around a year ago, and was still struggling with that and with his faith because of that. He begins counseling a man who thinks he is the Apostle Paul. The author never quite says so, but the idea that I got was that the man wasn't crazy, but actually was the Apostle Paul....but I could be wrong. :)
It is an interesting and easy read. There is a lot of back and forth between Paul and Rocky, and there is a lot of great truths and theology in those conversations. There is also a lot of background about the Apostle Paul, most of which I knew, but it was still interesting to get a refresher on Paul and his past and his exploits after encountering Jesus.
A book such as this is not just well written Christian fiction, but is also a book that could help people who are struggling with their faith, especially due to a loss in their life. The author gets a lot of great truths across in a non-preachy way using the medium of Christian fiction.
The Thin Space is a great read with the possibilities of helping people who are questioning God because of loss or other bad things in their life.
I was provided a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions in this review are my own.
About the author:
Dr. Dann Stouten is the Pastor of Leadership and Teaching at Christ Memorial Church in
Holland, MI. Prior to that he was the Regional Coordinator of Development for the Reformed Church in America. He was also the senior pastor at Community Reformed Church in Zeeland, Michigan. While Dann was leading Community, the church was one of the fastest growing churches in West Michigan.
Dann works with churches to help them assess their current reality, discover their preferred future, and develop a pathway to realize their objectives. His goal is to outfit the church to influence the world for Jesus Christ.
Dann is the author of The Gate: A Novel (Revell 2013), The Thin Space: Where Faith and Doubt Collide (2021), and he has written the Illustration/Application portion of the Teach the Text commentary series (Baker Books 2016).
The Thin Space is available from Elk Lake Publishing.
0 comments:
Post a Comment