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The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross
The cross is the heart of Scripture
Everything about the gospel message leads to the cross, and proceeds from the cross. In fact, within the narrative of Scripture, the crucifixion of Jesus is literally the crux of the story—the axis upon which the biblical story turns. But it would be a mistake to think we could sum up the significance of the crucifixion in a tidy sentence or two. That kind of thinking only insulates us from the magnificence of what God has done. In our ongoing quest to make meaning of the cross, we need to recognize that this conversation will never conclude—that there is always something more to be said.
Brian Zahnd reminds us that the meaning of the cross is multifaceted and should touch every aspect of our lives. Just as gazing through the eyepiece of a kaleidoscope reveals a new geometric image with every turn, Zahnd helps us see that there are infinite ways to behold the cross of Christ as the beautiful form that saves the world. The Wood Between the Worlds is an invitation to encounter the cross of Christ anew.
Everything about the gospel message leads to the cross, and proceeds from the cross. In fact, within the narrative of Scripture, the crucifixion of Jesus is literally the crux of the story—the axis upon which the biblical story turns. But it would be a mistake to think we could sum up the significance of the crucifixion in a tidy sentence or two. That kind of thinking only insulates us from the magnificence of what God has done. In our ongoing quest to make meaning of the cross, we need to recognize that this conversation will never conclude—that there is always something more to be said.
Brian Zahnd reminds us that the meaning of the cross is multifaceted and should touch every aspect of our lives. Just as gazing through the eyepiece of a kaleidoscope reveals a new geometric image with every turn, Zahnd helps us see that there are infinite ways to behold the cross of Christ as the beautiful form that saves the world. The Wood Between the Worlds is an invitation to encounter the cross of Christ anew.
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2024
151 people are currently reading
2796 people want to read
About the author
Brian Zahnd
51 books395 followersBrian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. As the lead pastor, he is the primary preacher during our weekend services, and he oversees the direction of the church. Pastor Brian is a passionate reader of theology and philosophy, an avid hiker and mountain climber, and authority on all things Bob Dylan.
He and his wife, Peri, have three adult sons and five grandchildren. He is the author of several books, including Unconditional?, Beauty Will Save the World, A Farewell To Mars, and Water To Wine.
He and his wife, Peri, have three adult sons and five grandchildren. He is the author of several books, including Unconditional?, Beauty Will Save the World, A Farewell To Mars, and Water To Wine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
February 20, 2024
A book I didn't want to end, but couldn't stop reading, therefore my only disapointment was that it ended too soon. In a world of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, a world where everything has been stripped of heart, passion, and poetry, the church has been left wanting, desiring, and yearning when it comes to searching for meaning in the cross. What Zahnd did so well in this book was, is to show us how the grusome tool of Roman torture has become the tool of redemption, and Zahnd did not do it through the science of Systematic Theology but rather through the art of Theopoetics. And what a journey that was. If you haven't read it yet, then I envy you as you have one beautiful adventure awaiting you.
April 2, 2024
Most of this book is beautifully done and enlightening, teaching me a great deal about atonement theory and the crucifixion in general.
The parts on pacifism I'm not sure I'm fit to judge, as my own biases tempt me both to flippancy (John and Yoko as exemplars? Really?) and to argument (indeed, Putin's invasion of Ukraine is horrendous -- now what should Ukraine do about it?).
But I liked the rest of the book so much that it feels petty to spend a lot of time on either response, so I will simply be appreciative of and grateful for those other parts!
The parts on pacifism I'm not sure I'm fit to judge, as my own biases tempt me both to flippancy (John and Yoko as exemplars? Really?) and to argument (indeed, Putin's invasion of Ukraine is horrendous -- now what should Ukraine do about it?).
But I liked the rest of the book so much that it feels petty to spend a lot of time on either response, so I will simply be appreciative of and grateful for those other parts!
April 19, 2024
My favorite scene in all of the literary canon is one from The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis, which is the book wherein exists the wood between the worlds that inspired this book’s title. I was, therefore, perhaps predisposed to like this one, but I did end up enjoying it for different reasons.
First, the book is absolutely beautiful, inside and out. You cannot tell in flat images of the cover, but the dust jacket has these beautiful areas of differing texture - the reddish bits are more of a smooth matte and the parts that look like paintings are shiny. When you move the book around, it reflects the light beautifully in those shiny sections, almost as if the paintings are foiled even though I don’t think they are. Under the dust jacket, the book cloth and endpapers are a shimmery gold, and there is a collection of full color images in the center of the book that depict historic artwork.
I think this book makes a lovely follow-up read to another of Brian’s books: Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God (the Kindle eBook version of it is on sale for $1.99 at the time I am writing this), which was one of my favorite reads of 2023 and is a book I plan to revisit again this year. In this one, Zahnd presents a beautifully rendered theology of the cross in a collection of chapters, each exploring a different theme.
I love the way Zahnd works through each of the chapters, presenting ideas that align with a more faithful theology and discussing as he goes why this more thoughtful approach to interpretation is so important. “…To err in depicting the divine is to create an idol - a false and misleading picture of God,” he says in chapter 3, and in chapter fourteen, he states, “Bad theology has real-life consequences.”
I very much appreciated that the interpretations he posits do not depict God as an an angry, abusive tyrant who needs appeasing and afflicts suffering and punishment on the Son. That kind of theology leads to so much cognitive dissonance, bad fruit, and unhealthy farther-down beliefs, and I don’t believe it accurately reflects God at all. I like how Brian discusses those kinds of depictions of God in chapters six, fourteen, and eighteen.
From chapter six: “When we speak of the suffering love on display at the cross, we must be careful not to isolate this suffering in the Son of God alone. There are some theologies of the cross that make the mistake of imagining the Father as entirely aloof and impassible to the suffering of the Son. Or worse, there are atonement theologies that posit the Father as the source of the Son’s suffering. This is paganized soteriology at its worst! The Father is not the one who inflicts pain and suffering upon the Son. To imagine the Father as the one inflicting pain upon the Son is to import an unspeakable violence into the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are bound together in eternal love. In the crucifixion of the Son, the Trinity shares the suffering. The Trinity does not consist of separate parts with separate experiences. The Trinity has no “parts.” The Trinity is the divine community in a perichoretic dance of love.”
From chapter fourteen: “Evil was overcome at the cross, not by an imperial execution, but by the triumph of divine love.”
From chapter eighteen: “In speaking of the sacrificial death of Christ, we must always remember that we are ransomed people for God, not from God. In like manner, an orthodox atonement theology understands that Christ does not save us from God, but for God. Thus the redeeming ransom is not paid to God, but on behalf of God. The ransom is paid to the abductor that held humanity captive: death and Hades. Jesus obtained the keys of death and Hades through his ransom. In the logic of ransom, the abductor does not pay himself the ransom.”
He dives into these perspectives much more deeply in the book than I can with just a few brief excerpts here, but suffice it to say that I found the interpretations he offered so refreshing, life-giving, faith-deepening, and affirming.
I highly recommend this book, both to people who feel firm in their faith and want to deepen their perspectives, and to people who have been questioning or deconstructing their faith. If you have found yourself disillusioned with the modern western church and dissatisfied with the same, surface-level, trite answers to hard questions about God (same here, friend), I would encourage you to give this book a try. I think you’ll find it thought-provoking and encouraging at the very least.
I loved this book. It’s one of the most beautiful books I have read in recent years, and it’s one I think I’ll read over and over again. The writing is slow-paced (take your time), thought-provoking, and so beautifully poetic in places, and the theopoetics of the cross section at the end is stunning. I think you’ll enjoy it!
First, the book is absolutely beautiful, inside and out. You cannot tell in flat images of the cover, but the dust jacket has these beautiful areas of differing texture - the reddish bits are more of a smooth matte and the parts that look like paintings are shiny. When you move the book around, it reflects the light beautifully in those shiny sections, almost as if the paintings are foiled even though I don’t think they are. Under the dust jacket, the book cloth and endpapers are a shimmery gold, and there is a collection of full color images in the center of the book that depict historic artwork.
I think this book makes a lovely follow-up read to another of Brian’s books: Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God (the Kindle eBook version of it is on sale for $1.99 at the time I am writing this), which was one of my favorite reads of 2023 and is a book I plan to revisit again this year. In this one, Zahnd presents a beautifully rendered theology of the cross in a collection of chapters, each exploring a different theme.
I love the way Zahnd works through each of the chapters, presenting ideas that align with a more faithful theology and discussing as he goes why this more thoughtful approach to interpretation is so important. “…To err in depicting the divine is to create an idol - a false and misleading picture of God,” he says in chapter 3, and in chapter fourteen, he states, “Bad theology has real-life consequences.”
I very much appreciated that the interpretations he posits do not depict God as an an angry, abusive tyrant who needs appeasing and afflicts suffering and punishment on the Son. That kind of theology leads to so much cognitive dissonance, bad fruit, and unhealthy farther-down beliefs, and I don’t believe it accurately reflects God at all. I like how Brian discusses those kinds of depictions of God in chapters six, fourteen, and eighteen.
From chapter six: “When we speak of the suffering love on display at the cross, we must be careful not to isolate this suffering in the Son of God alone. There are some theologies of the cross that make the mistake of imagining the Father as entirely aloof and impassible to the suffering of the Son. Or worse, there are atonement theologies that posit the Father as the source of the Son’s suffering. This is paganized soteriology at its worst! The Father is not the one who inflicts pain and suffering upon the Son. To imagine the Father as the one inflicting pain upon the Son is to import an unspeakable violence into the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are bound together in eternal love. In the crucifixion of the Son, the Trinity shares the suffering. The Trinity does not consist of separate parts with separate experiences. The Trinity has no “parts.” The Trinity is the divine community in a perichoretic dance of love.”
From chapter fourteen: “Evil was overcome at the cross, not by an imperial execution, but by the triumph of divine love.”
From chapter eighteen: “In speaking of the sacrificial death of Christ, we must always remember that we are ransomed people for God, not from God. In like manner, an orthodox atonement theology understands that Christ does not save us from God, but for God. Thus the redeeming ransom is not paid to God, but on behalf of God. The ransom is paid to the abductor that held humanity captive: death and Hades. Jesus obtained the keys of death and Hades through his ransom. In the logic of ransom, the abductor does not pay himself the ransom.”
He dives into these perspectives much more deeply in the book than I can with just a few brief excerpts here, but suffice it to say that I found the interpretations he offered so refreshing, life-giving, faith-deepening, and affirming.
I highly recommend this book, both to people who feel firm in their faith and want to deepen their perspectives, and to people who have been questioning or deconstructing their faith. If you have found yourself disillusioned with the modern western church and dissatisfied with the same, surface-level, trite answers to hard questions about God (same here, friend), I would encourage you to give this book a try. I think you’ll find it thought-provoking and encouraging at the very least.
I loved this book. It’s one of the most beautiful books I have read in recent years, and it’s one I think I’ll read over and over again. The writing is slow-paced (take your time), thought-provoking, and so beautifully poetic in places, and the theopoetics of the cross section at the end is stunning. I think you’ll enjoy it!
May 14, 2025
This is an absolutely, profoundly beautiful book - a vast, creative exploration of the crucifixion and what it means for us and all of creation. And in its beauty, this book doesn’t try to provide all the answers. It’s not systematic theology. It’s so much better than that - it’s poetic theology. It’s looking at the cross, examining it, meditating on it, and acknowledging that the cross is so much bigger than we could ever understand.
If someone asks “what is the meaning of the cross,” I daresay the best response is “what isn’t the meaning of the cross?” And that’s what this amazing little book explores.
If someone asks “what is the meaning of the cross,” I daresay the best response is “what isn’t the meaning of the cross?” And that’s what this amazing little book explores.
March 29, 2024
War sehr angetan von diesem Buch. Wer viele verschiedene Perspektiven auf das Kreuz haben möchte, ist mit diesem Buch bestens aufgehoben.
Schwarze Kreuzestheologie, Theologie nach Ausschwitz, orthodoxe Christologie und vieles mehr lässt sich in diesem Buch finden. Auch arbeitet er viel mit verschiedenen Jesus-Darstellungen. Love it!
Besonders gut gefallen hat mir bei Zahnd, dass er jedes Kapitel sehr knapp hält und gleichzeitig die wichtigsten Aussagen präsentieren kann.
Schwarze Kreuzestheologie, Theologie nach Ausschwitz, orthodoxe Christologie und vieles mehr lässt sich in diesem Buch finden. Auch arbeitet er viel mit verschiedenen Jesus-Darstellungen. Love it!
Besonders gut gefallen hat mir bei Zahnd, dass er jedes Kapitel sehr knapp hält und gleichzeitig die wichtigsten Aussagen präsentieren kann.
February 25, 2024
captivating, brave (considering the nationalism of american christianity), and poetic (of course).
zahnd in his best shape. a rich and polychromatic theology of the cross that makes n.t. wright and c.s. lewis proud.
zahnd in his best shape. a rich and polychromatic theology of the cross that makes n.t. wright and c.s. lewis proud.
April 1, 2024
This is the most beautiful book I've ever read. Zahnd shows how the cross is multifaceted and that to reduce Jesus's work to academic atonement theories is not only doing a disservice to his sacrifice, but also misses the inexhaustible beauty of the "wood between the worlds." I can't recommend it highly enough.
June 6, 2024
Yes! Theopoetic engagement with the cross! This was an absolutely beautiful read. Set down your systematic theologies and atonement theories for a couple hundred pages and come EXPERIENCE the wood between the worlds. I will be revisiting this one.
July 28, 2024
A lovely introduction to the wide array of thinking and imagining on the cross which has been part of the history of the church for so long. If you’ve read Brian Zahnd before, you know that he brings high art and pop culture and everything in between into theological conversation for the lay Christian. This book is no exception.
September 9, 2025
Really profound meditations on the cross through the medium of art.
July 7, 2024
Go back and reread my review of Rembrandt Is In The Wind. This book is all that, but moreso.
June 4, 2024
I don't often review books, but in this case, I find it hard not to.
Brian Zahnd is a formidable writer, able to use his craft to highlight the redemptive power of the Cross in its various forms. However, there is almost an immediate juxtaposition in the book where Brian exalts the Cross and then denies the primary atonement theory, that of penal substitutionary atonement (PSA), calling it cosmic child abuse. I was left to wonder if you can truly exalt the Cross of Christ yet deny its power, so I read on.
With its power stripped, how does Brian's Cross accomplish its goal? That gets cleared up at the end of the book where a scapegoat theology substitutes that of PSA. Jesus is the ultimate scapegoat, dying due to the sin of the world, but not for it, and his forgiveness becomes somewhat meaningless because no justice is accomplished. Jesus then becomes nothing but a symbolic stand-in for anyone who has suffered at the hands of someone else (cue the liberation theology). Is this an over-simplistic caricature of his view? I want to say yes, but I also don't think so. While Zahnd might argue that the scapegoat theory highlights the end of sacrificial systems and the revelation of God's non-violent nature, it fails to address the core issue of justice. Without a substitutionary element, the problem of sin remains unresolved, and the Cross loses its redemptive power.
Brian plays his hand in the final chapters. The theopoetic language is a bait-and-switch tactic. It draws you in as you are implored to behold the beauty of Christ's Cross in mystic ways aimed at the heart, and then goes on to militantly explain how the orthodox beauty of the Cross is not sufficient, but abhorrent.
Don’t buy Brian's claim that you can only see the beauty of Christ's Cross if you unhitch it from systematic theology, or that orthodox writers are clinical in their views to the point of coldness. There are indeed orthodox writers—John Stott comes to mind—who accomplish what Brian set out to do without compromising on sound doctrine or giving in to Christian Nationalism, liberalism, and violence.
The ultimate irony is that Brian partakes in systematic theology to prove his views despite putting his theopoetics against systematic theology; it’s simply just his own systematic theology using his proof texts. Zahnd might assert that his view is rooted in a deep engagement with Scripture, seeing Jesus' death as a revelation of God’s love and a rejection of violent justice. However, without recognizing the substitutionary nature of Christ’s sacrifice, his theology falls short of the full biblical narrative.
Does he have a high view of the Cross? Yes. Does he lack the theological depth of Scripture's view on sacrificial atonement? Definitely. You simply cannot deny the deep-rooted theme of sacrifice in the Bible without outright denying the existence of large portions of Scripture on it, or claiming that the authors just had it wrong. For that reason, you can give this book a pass if you are an orthodox believer, unless you want to get an idea of opposing atonement theories. Understanding alternative perspectives can be valuable, but it’s crucial to measure them against the truth of Scripture. Zahnd’s work challenges traditional views, but it ultimately fails to uphold the full depth and power of the Cross as revealed in the Bible.
Brian Zahnd is a formidable writer, able to use his craft to highlight the redemptive power of the Cross in its various forms. However, there is almost an immediate juxtaposition in the book where Brian exalts the Cross and then denies the primary atonement theory, that of penal substitutionary atonement (PSA), calling it cosmic child abuse. I was left to wonder if you can truly exalt the Cross of Christ yet deny its power, so I read on.
With its power stripped, how does Brian's Cross accomplish its goal? That gets cleared up at the end of the book where a scapegoat theology substitutes that of PSA. Jesus is the ultimate scapegoat, dying due to the sin of the world, but not for it, and his forgiveness becomes somewhat meaningless because no justice is accomplished. Jesus then becomes nothing but a symbolic stand-in for anyone who has suffered at the hands of someone else (cue the liberation theology). Is this an over-simplistic caricature of his view? I want to say yes, but I also don't think so. While Zahnd might argue that the scapegoat theory highlights the end of sacrificial systems and the revelation of God's non-violent nature, it fails to address the core issue of justice. Without a substitutionary element, the problem of sin remains unresolved, and the Cross loses its redemptive power.
Brian plays his hand in the final chapters. The theopoetic language is a bait-and-switch tactic. It draws you in as you are implored to behold the beauty of Christ's Cross in mystic ways aimed at the heart, and then goes on to militantly explain how the orthodox beauty of the Cross is not sufficient, but abhorrent.
Don’t buy Brian's claim that you can only see the beauty of Christ's Cross if you unhitch it from systematic theology, or that orthodox writers are clinical in their views to the point of coldness. There are indeed orthodox writers—John Stott comes to mind—who accomplish what Brian set out to do without compromising on sound doctrine or giving in to Christian Nationalism, liberalism, and violence.
The ultimate irony is that Brian partakes in systematic theology to prove his views despite putting his theopoetics against systematic theology; it’s simply just his own systematic theology using his proof texts. Zahnd might assert that his view is rooted in a deep engagement with Scripture, seeing Jesus' death as a revelation of God’s love and a rejection of violent justice. However, without recognizing the substitutionary nature of Christ’s sacrifice, his theology falls short of the full biblical narrative.
Does he have a high view of the Cross? Yes. Does he lack the theological depth of Scripture's view on sacrificial atonement? Definitely. You simply cannot deny the deep-rooted theme of sacrifice in the Bible without outright denying the existence of large portions of Scripture on it, or claiming that the authors just had it wrong. For that reason, you can give this book a pass if you are an orthodox believer, unless you want to get an idea of opposing atonement theories. Understanding alternative perspectives can be valuable, but it’s crucial to measure them against the truth of Scripture. Zahnd’s work challenges traditional views, but it ultimately fails to uphold the full depth and power of the Cross as revealed in the Bible.
March 26, 2024
This is a remarkable book that opens up a lot of different perspectives on what Jesus' work on the cross accomplishes and means. I've been hungry for a book like this that goes beyond stale maxims when thinking about the crucifixion and is deeply personal and beautiful.
This book by Brian Zahnd does that while maintaining a poetic and literary perspective. My favorite chapters were about God's self-revelation in death; the paradoxical and grotesque beauty of the cross; the perspective of Mary, the mother of God; the Harrowing of Hell; and the one on the two thieves crucified with him.
Some reflections that have stuck with me:
- "The throne of God is the cross, and it is from there that God reigns."
- The Blood of Jesus brings the exile caused by Cain shedding Abel's blood to an end.
- Mary and what it must have been to have borne God in the flesh and witnessed the death of your firstborn Son.
- Jesus filling up the whole world with his presence through his descent to the realm of the dead.
This book opened up a lot of wonder for me personally. What does it mean to have faith in a tradition whose central story is a crucified person? I spent a lot of Sundays just gazing at my church's crucifix thinking about this book, thinking about how God's glory, love, and mercy could be shown in so grotesque and brutal a lynching.
So why only four stars? For one, I think this book would be better if it engaged penal substitution more honestly. I get that it's cool and in vogue to just write them off, but it's silly to pretend as if Calvin is the originator. There are elements of penal substitution present in early church Fathers, even if they don't espouse it in a Calvinistic way (to use an anachronistic term). I also felt the more socially-oriented chapters (lynching of the Son of Man, Capital Punishment) were weak, even if I agree with some of his sentiments. I think you'd be better served reading The Cross and the Lynching Tree and spending a couple of months pondering the connection between America's lynchings and the cross.
Last, as an fyi to any very reformed readers, Zahnd is a "hopeful universalist" and that colors much of what he writes in this book.
This book by Brian Zahnd does that while maintaining a poetic and literary perspective. My favorite chapters were about God's self-revelation in death; the paradoxical and grotesque beauty of the cross; the perspective of Mary, the mother of God; the Harrowing of Hell; and the one on the two thieves crucified with him.
Some reflections that have stuck with me:
- "The throne of God is the cross, and it is from there that God reigns."
- The Blood of Jesus brings the exile caused by Cain shedding Abel's blood to an end.
- Mary and what it must have been to have borne God in the flesh and witnessed the death of your firstborn Son.
- Jesus filling up the whole world with his presence through his descent to the realm of the dead.
This book opened up a lot of wonder for me personally. What does it mean to have faith in a tradition whose central story is a crucified person? I spent a lot of Sundays just gazing at my church's crucifix thinking about this book, thinking about how God's glory, love, and mercy could be shown in so grotesque and brutal a lynching.
So why only four stars? For one, I think this book would be better if it engaged penal substitution more honestly. I get that it's cool and in vogue to just write them off, but it's silly to pretend as if Calvin is the originator. There are elements of penal substitution present in early church Fathers, even if they don't espouse it in a Calvinistic way (to use an anachronistic term). I also felt the more socially-oriented chapters (lynching of the Son of Man, Capital Punishment) were weak, even if I agree with some of his sentiments. I think you'd be better served reading The Cross and the Lynching Tree and spending a couple of months pondering the connection between America's lynchings and the cross.
Last, as an fyi to any very reformed readers, Zahnd is a "hopeful universalist" and that colors much of what he writes in this book.
April 1, 2024
This came highly recommended to me from trusted sources. I'm disappointed in myself for not enjoying it more.
The first chapter is very strong, he argues for including as many theories of atonement as possible for a complete picture. This is what I take the task of "poetic theology" to be and it is really beautiful.
By the second chapter, he abandons ship on his own premise. Within seconds he dives into polemics against PSA. I'm not indifferent to the work of N.T. Wright, in fact, I'm actively a fan of it. However, going on the offensive against a strawman just after arguing for inclusion is a strange mood. He seems to think that he is the first one to discover 300+ year-old objections to PSA while reminding you how creative, poetic, and mystic he is. You can be mystic or you can be someone who has analytical objections to particular systematic theologies, I don't think you can do both at the same time. To me, this is the sign of someone who thinks the word mystic is trendy or uses it whenever they've painted themselves into a corner rather than a true believer.
There is a lot of hubris in continually telling us how thoughtful and creative you are. Would it not be better to demonstrate said thoughtfulness and creativity and let the reader discover this for themselves? Of course, that is a much more difficult task. If I had to sum up the book's ethos in a convoluted sentence it would be, "Follow me as we reject popular theology and pat ourselves on the back for being so clever." I would have loved this in my 20s as I was desperate to differentiate myself from the landscape of popular American theology. To be clear, I have an equal measure of disdain for what constitutes "popular American theology" but I have learned just enough to know that arrogant dismissal is not a helpful approach especially for the person employing it.
Ultimately this book has a lot of good nuggets and insights, but they are the type that are designed to puff you up. I imagine the primary fruit of a book like this to be a lot of pretentious theological dilettantes talking about how poetic and creative they are and throwing around the word "mystic" a lot without understanding the positions they are espousing or the ones they're rejecting. If you can get past the aspiring pretense, there are a lot of good things in this book.
The first chapter is very strong, he argues for including as many theories of atonement as possible for a complete picture. This is what I take the task of "poetic theology" to be and it is really beautiful.
By the second chapter, he abandons ship on his own premise. Within seconds he dives into polemics against PSA. I'm not indifferent to the work of N.T. Wright, in fact, I'm actively a fan of it. However, going on the offensive against a strawman just after arguing for inclusion is a strange mood. He seems to think that he is the first one to discover 300+ year-old objections to PSA while reminding you how creative, poetic, and mystic he is. You can be mystic or you can be someone who has analytical objections to particular systematic theologies, I don't think you can do both at the same time. To me, this is the sign of someone who thinks the word mystic is trendy or uses it whenever they've painted themselves into a corner rather than a true believer.
There is a lot of hubris in continually telling us how thoughtful and creative you are. Would it not be better to demonstrate said thoughtfulness and creativity and let the reader discover this for themselves? Of course, that is a much more difficult task. If I had to sum up the book's ethos in a convoluted sentence it would be, "Follow me as we reject popular theology and pat ourselves on the back for being so clever." I would have loved this in my 20s as I was desperate to differentiate myself from the landscape of popular American theology. To be clear, I have an equal measure of disdain for what constitutes "popular American theology" but I have learned just enough to know that arrogant dismissal is not a helpful approach especially for the person employing it.
Ultimately this book has a lot of good nuggets and insights, but they are the type that are designed to puff you up. I imagine the primary fruit of a book like this to be a lot of pretentious theological dilettantes talking about how poetic and creative they are and throwing around the word "mystic" a lot without understanding the positions they are espousing or the ones they're rejecting. If you can get past the aspiring pretense, there are a lot of good things in this book.
March 12, 2024
In The Wood Between the Worlds, Brian Zahnd offers a series of essays reflecting on the cross, offering a theology of Calvary and how it changed the world. The reader is immediately struck by the beauty of Zahnd’s prose, which borders, at times, on poetry. Indeed, he describes his style as “theopoetics,” which he defines as “an attempt to speak of the divine in more poetic language.” In terms of writing style, he certainly well-nigh achieves that goal.
His reflections on the cross are a mixture of the theological (how does the cross speak to penal substitutionary atonement?) and the practical (how does the cross speak to our thirst for power, human warfare, and capital punishment?). Some of what he writes is genuinely helpful. Some of it serves as a thought-provoking conversation starter. Sometimes, he is frustratingly dismissive of certain Scriptures in favour of other Scriptures, as if God openly contradicts himself in the Bible. At some points, he resorts to caricature and scriptural cherry-picking to argue his case. Early on, he complains about “the full and prosaic world of matter-of-fact dogma that tends to shuts down further conversation,” though he appears to engage in a fair amount of such dogma himself, particularly in his dogmatic dismissal of (his caricatured version of) penal substitutionary atonement.
I find it a difficult book to recommend, though it certainly contains a degree of helpful, Christological content. There is always need in our reading to chew the proverbial meat while picking out the proverbial bones, but there may be many more bones here than one might typically want in one’s steady diet.
At times, Zahnd meanders. At times, he caricatures. At times, he obfuscates. Readers who already have an aversion toward Zahnd may be tempted to dismiss the entire work out of hand. Those who deeply appreciate his ministry might be tempted to embrace it uncritically. In truth, though I opened the book as one reasonably squarely in the former camp, I found that there is some good to be found here for those who are able to read with a spiritually mature and critical eye, even if there is a great deal of bathwater that must be drained for the sake of the baby.
His reflections on the cross are a mixture of the theological (how does the cross speak to penal substitutionary atonement?) and the practical (how does the cross speak to our thirst for power, human warfare, and capital punishment?). Some of what he writes is genuinely helpful. Some of it serves as a thought-provoking conversation starter. Sometimes, he is frustratingly dismissive of certain Scriptures in favour of other Scriptures, as if God openly contradicts himself in the Bible. At some points, he resorts to caricature and scriptural cherry-picking to argue his case. Early on, he complains about “the full and prosaic world of matter-of-fact dogma that tends to shuts down further conversation,” though he appears to engage in a fair amount of such dogma himself, particularly in his dogmatic dismissal of (his caricatured version of) penal substitutionary atonement.
I find it a difficult book to recommend, though it certainly contains a degree of helpful, Christological content. There is always need in our reading to chew the proverbial meat while picking out the proverbial bones, but there may be many more bones here than one might typically want in one’s steady diet.
At times, Zahnd meanders. At times, he caricatures. At times, he obfuscates. Readers who already have an aversion toward Zahnd may be tempted to dismiss the entire work out of hand. Those who deeply appreciate his ministry might be tempted to embrace it uncritically. In truth, though I opened the book as one reasonably squarely in the former camp, I found that there is some good to be found here for those who are able to read with a spiritually mature and critical eye, even if there is a great deal of bathwater that must be drained for the sake of the baby.
March 23, 2024
There's nothing I can say about this beautiful book that hasn't already been said a dozen times over in these reviews. Zahnd's easygoing "aw shucks" demeanor belies a fierce intellect and a sound grasp of theology that reminds me very much of my late father. His commentary on Tolkien's analogous Christian narrative in The Lord of the Rings is one of the most concise yet insightful summaries I have read anywhere.
I always make it a point to read anything by Zahnd, but this is (IMHO) his best book yet.
I always make it a point to read anything by Zahnd, but this is (IMHO) his best book yet.
April 8, 2024
A beautiful meditation on the cross that helped renew a sense of wonder and curiosity about the crucifixion and the atonement we celebrate during Lent and Eastertide. I couldn't help but hold in my mind Fleming Rutledge's seminal book on the crucifixion, and that comparison illustrated the "poetic theology" that describes Zahnd's book. He doesn't skimp on theological richness and depth, but the poetic language and the many historical and literary references makes it even more readable and accessible.
February 4, 2024
I saw the title of Pastor Brian Zahnd’s book, “The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross” here, and thought, “Hey! I’ve seen that wood between the worlds. It’s a quiet, peaceful magical place in Lewis’ “The Magician’s Nephew,” the first book of his Chronicles of Narnia. His wood had pools that take people to other worlds using rings made from magical substances found there.
Zahnd’s “wood between worlds” is the cross Jesus Christ bore in place of condemned humanity. The pools in his wood take readers on a journey in time before and after Christ’s crucifixion. A 500-mile walk through Northern Spain’s Camino de Santiago inspired Zahnd to enter into that conversation as he contemplated Christ’s crucifixion depicted in hundreds of crucifixes. He and wife Peri saw them like other Christian pilgrims on the way.
Zahnd said the Holy Spirit led him to study each crucifix and not draw quick conclusions. He would look at the ways artists depicted Christ’s cross, “the wood between the worlds,” and meditate on the answers he discovered using words in a theopoetic manner. He imagined a kaleidoscope, which he said means “beautiful forms” in Greek. Every turn of the kaleidoscope presented him with a new and meaningful insight that he hopes will prompt the believer to worship the Savior with each new discovery. Artistic interpretations of the crucifixion of Christ, he said, fall in line with theopoetics in that words are often not enough to explain these insights people receive. The mysteries of that day at Golgotha are better explained in art than written accounts. Here are a few he shared:
The Scapegoat Ritual: Zahnd talked about Old and New Testament use of prophecy concerning Jesus as the Lamb of God. He connected the Jewish Passover lamb with the Jewish scapegoat ritual . Jesus would take the place of a criminal named Jesus Barrabas, Zahnd said. Jesus died in his place; He became a scapegoat, in other worlds, when He died for of all who have sinned. He paid the debt, and ransomed humanity from Death’s grip at Calvary. Zahnd said the mob on scene at Christ’s crucifixion became gripped by “the satan” as they watched the Lord and the two thieves dying. Those viewing experienced a demonic sort of catharsis after the victims’ deaths. (He talked often about “the satan,” not the fallen angel, Lucifer, we know as Satan.) Many realized Christ was the innocent Son of God too late and despair followed.
Similarities Between Crucifixions and Lynching: Zahnd compared Christ’s crucifixion to the lynching of Black men and women in the South during the 19th and 20th centuries in reference to the book, “The Cross and the Lynching Tree” by James H. Cone. Both were public executions of victims who did not receive due process. A mob would make a scapegoat out of the victim, feel the frenzy of rage and hatred and experience a catharsis when the person died. Zahnd tried to connect the past lynchings with recent cases of alleged police brutality we’ve seen in the news, but lynchings and crucifixions were premeditated. I didn’t see it as he did. Zahnd has excellent sources to explain how crucifixion and lynching in the past were similar.
That said – and he didn’t say this, I saw a connection when it comes to mob mentality. People of all races united to speak out against what they believed to be immoral and unjust actions. That’s admirable and appropriate. But some care nothing for the victims and come together to wreak havoc. Whether it’s vengeance or they just a new iPhone, people unite now to loot businesses, destroy their communities, and mar peaceful protests with violence.
Pagan vs Christian Views of God the Father: Zahnd said Christians often misread the crucifixion, viewing Father God as a vengeful deity, inflicting His wrath with violence on His innocent Son. Many believe Christ’s work on the cross paid God’s ransom, not Death’s ransom. But the Trinity is not parts but a whole, he said. The crucifixion of Christ involved the entire Trinity. He wasn’t sacrificed to appease His Father’s wrath; Jesus is the image of God in human flesh. Jesus Christ fulfilled every requirement to save humanity from the wages of sin: Death and Hell.
Symbolism of Two Trees & the Violent Legacy of Cain: The garden of Eden had two trees, The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, explained here in Genesis. Zahnd said the fruit of the latter tree was poisonous when eaten out of season, which is not how I took that to be in Scripture. I did think it may be from the legal term, “fruit of the poisonous tree,” used to describe when evidence is illegally gathered. Eve offered Adam the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil after listening to the serpent. After eating the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened and they knew shame for the first time. Sin and death entered God’s perfect creation.
Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain became the first murderer, killing Abel because he, like his parents, didn’t heed God’s warning. (For more, see this commentary from Zondervan Academic about Cain and Abel.) Sin crouched at Cain’s door, and he acted on that temptation, setting a violent course for humanity. Humans still seek vengeance and choose murder (even in their thoughts) when they are wronged, just as Cain their predecessor. Drawing from the language of Scripture, Zahnd said Jesus not only became a better second Adam, but His blood shed on the cross spoke a better word than Abel’s in this verse. His blood redeemed humanity and lifted the curse placed on the daughters of Eve and sons of Adam, erasing the mark of Cain.
Admirers Vs. Followers of Christ: Zahnd wondered how many Christians truly would pick up their crosses, as Christ did, knowing that the Way He went led to suffering and death? Here, he discussed a “theology after Auschwitz,” a timely topic, and retold the stories of Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel (Night) and Christian martyrs, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran minister, whose writings are Christian classics, and Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer whose life and martyrdom were the subject of the 2019 film, “A Hidden Life.”
In “Night,” Wiesel wrote a terrifying account of his teen years in Auschwitz with the murder of his family members and the death of his innocence. He despaired as he looked into the very face of evil and the corrupted hearts of men and women taken over by Nazism. Both dissidents, Bonhoeffer would die by hanging, while Jägerstätter by guillotine, because their allegiance was to God and not Hitler and Nazism. German Christians deemed Jägerstätter’s refusal unpatriotic. They could not understand why he didn’t just pledge on paper his allegiance to the Nazis. How many of Jesus followers know the Way is narrow, not broad? How many would willingly drink from the same bitter cup Christ drank as He endured suffering all the way to the cross at Golgotha?
The Harrowing of Hell: Zahnd talked about Christ’s death and descent into Hades – the harrowing of Hell – during the three days following His crucifixion. He used the story of Jonah and the whale to give new meaning here. Death couldn’t digest Christ’s body when He died. Some trickery was involved, Zahnd said, and Death had to spew Christ out. He said he has used this scene where Agent K goes after his weapon inside the evil bug. That scene lends a modern interpretation of the story in Jonah, as well as of Death’s failed attempt to hold Christ inside Hades.
Hades is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments as a place where departed spirits went before the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. I knew that saints were resurrected with Jesus in a display that showed He had defeated death in this passage. I doesn’t think I ever asked where those departed souls were before, nor where Jesus went during those three days. I asked Pastor Max McCullough who pastored Grace Baptist in Canton, OH, in my growing up years from teen to young adult. I’m very thankful for Facebook in that I found him again. He is a great Bible teacher, so I knew he’d answer in a way I’d understand.
He said Jesus Christ went to Hades and informed those who died before the long-awaited Messiah came to earth about His victory. Pastor Max gave these Scriptures as references: 1 Peter 3:18-19 ESV and 1 Peter 4:6 ESV. While in Hades, Christ preached the Good News that He conquered sin and death. Zahnd talked about one of his favorite art pieces that shows Christ holding Adam and Eve by the wrist called the Anastasis icon of the Resurrection. He alone had the power to pull them from Hades. Zahnd talked about the anastasis here in this blog post. His finished book will have illustrations.
When I read this section, I thought that meant Zahnd believed people today have a second chance. Pastor Max referenced Scripture in his response to clear that up for me. Hebrews 9 explains God’s first covenant with His people and the new covenant. In verse 27, Scripture says “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” Those who deny Christ have no part with Him, and when they die, they will face judgment and eternal fire prepared for Satan and his angels (Matthew 25: 33-46; John 5:28-29 ESV).
Finally, early on, I feared Zahnd would focus only on Christ’s crucifixion because he didn’t mention the full Gospel story at first. Most people will agree that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, but not everyone agrees He rose again and then ascended to Heaven. My thinking had been, “Nothing continues from the cross of Christ if He did not also rise from the dead.” My fears were not justified though; in fact, Zahnd followed the outline I imagined he would, ending with a brief synopsis of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, or what is yet to happen in the future.
That leads me to the audience for this book. People who study the Bible and have an understanding of basic theological terms will enjoy the debate Zahnd delivers in “The Wood Between the Worlds.” He drew on biblical prophecies and stories in a way that were made for the Bible student. He talked about many early theologians, church leaders and philosophers, including the writings of Greek philosopher Plato and Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.
He also drew from the works from one of my favorite writers, Fyodor Dostoevsky, including “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov.” His arguments are the stuff of the academic world, in my view, and led me back to doing university level research. He challenged my Biblical knowledge and my own beliefs as a follower of Christ. I’m thinking he wrote for Christians who need a refreshing way to reach out to unbelievers by showing the beauty found in “the cruciform.” Zahnd said theopoetics often speaks more to the hearts of unbelievers.
Thinking of the variety of crucifixes Zahnd saw along the way in Northern Spain made me think of the variety of ways God rescues each of us as the Good Shepherd. Christ’s lowly birth, His life and ministry, His death and resurrection are all worthy of a kaleidoscopic treatment, so Zahnd may have a new book series right there.
Zahnd’s “wood between worlds” is the cross Jesus Christ bore in place of condemned humanity. The pools in his wood take readers on a journey in time before and after Christ’s crucifixion. A 500-mile walk through Northern Spain’s Camino de Santiago inspired Zahnd to enter into that conversation as he contemplated Christ’s crucifixion depicted in hundreds of crucifixes. He and wife Peri saw them like other Christian pilgrims on the way.
Zahnd said the Holy Spirit led him to study each crucifix and not draw quick conclusions. He would look at the ways artists depicted Christ’s cross, “the wood between the worlds,” and meditate on the answers he discovered using words in a theopoetic manner. He imagined a kaleidoscope, which he said means “beautiful forms” in Greek. Every turn of the kaleidoscope presented him with a new and meaningful insight that he hopes will prompt the believer to worship the Savior with each new discovery. Artistic interpretations of the crucifixion of Christ, he said, fall in line with theopoetics in that words are often not enough to explain these insights people receive. The mysteries of that day at Golgotha are better explained in art than written accounts. Here are a few he shared:
The Scapegoat Ritual: Zahnd talked about Old and New Testament use of prophecy concerning Jesus as the Lamb of God. He connected the Jewish Passover lamb with the Jewish scapegoat ritual . Jesus would take the place of a criminal named Jesus Barrabas, Zahnd said. Jesus died in his place; He became a scapegoat, in other worlds, when He died for of all who have sinned. He paid the debt, and ransomed humanity from Death’s grip at Calvary. Zahnd said the mob on scene at Christ’s crucifixion became gripped by “the satan” as they watched the Lord and the two thieves dying. Those viewing experienced a demonic sort of catharsis after the victims’ deaths. (He talked often about “the satan,” not the fallen angel, Lucifer, we know as Satan.) Many realized Christ was the innocent Son of God too late and despair followed.
Similarities Between Crucifixions and Lynching: Zahnd compared Christ’s crucifixion to the lynching of Black men and women in the South during the 19th and 20th centuries in reference to the book, “The Cross and the Lynching Tree” by James H. Cone. Both were public executions of victims who did not receive due process. A mob would make a scapegoat out of the victim, feel the frenzy of rage and hatred and experience a catharsis when the person died. Zahnd tried to connect the past lynchings with recent cases of alleged police brutality we’ve seen in the news, but lynchings and crucifixions were premeditated. I didn’t see it as he did. Zahnd has excellent sources to explain how crucifixion and lynching in the past were similar.
That said – and he didn’t say this, I saw a connection when it comes to mob mentality. People of all races united to speak out against what they believed to be immoral and unjust actions. That’s admirable and appropriate. But some care nothing for the victims and come together to wreak havoc. Whether it’s vengeance or they just a new iPhone, people unite now to loot businesses, destroy their communities, and mar peaceful protests with violence.
Pagan vs Christian Views of God the Father: Zahnd said Christians often misread the crucifixion, viewing Father God as a vengeful deity, inflicting His wrath with violence on His innocent Son. Many believe Christ’s work on the cross paid God’s ransom, not Death’s ransom. But the Trinity is not parts but a whole, he said. The crucifixion of Christ involved the entire Trinity. He wasn’t sacrificed to appease His Father’s wrath; Jesus is the image of God in human flesh. Jesus Christ fulfilled every requirement to save humanity from the wages of sin: Death and Hell.
Symbolism of Two Trees & the Violent Legacy of Cain: The garden of Eden had two trees, The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, explained here in Genesis. Zahnd said the fruit of the latter tree was poisonous when eaten out of season, which is not how I took that to be in Scripture. I did think it may be from the legal term, “fruit of the poisonous tree,” used to describe when evidence is illegally gathered. Eve offered Adam the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil after listening to the serpent. After eating the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened and they knew shame for the first time. Sin and death entered God’s perfect creation.
Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain became the first murderer, killing Abel because he, like his parents, didn’t heed God’s warning. (For more, see this commentary from Zondervan Academic about Cain and Abel.) Sin crouched at Cain’s door, and he acted on that temptation, setting a violent course for humanity. Humans still seek vengeance and choose murder (even in their thoughts) when they are wronged, just as Cain their predecessor. Drawing from the language of Scripture, Zahnd said Jesus not only became a better second Adam, but His blood shed on the cross spoke a better word than Abel’s in this verse. His blood redeemed humanity and lifted the curse placed on the daughters of Eve and sons of Adam, erasing the mark of Cain.
Admirers Vs. Followers of Christ: Zahnd wondered how many Christians truly would pick up their crosses, as Christ did, knowing that the Way He went led to suffering and death? Here, he discussed a “theology after Auschwitz,” a timely topic, and retold the stories of Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel (Night) and Christian martyrs, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran minister, whose writings are Christian classics, and Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer whose life and martyrdom were the subject of the 2019 film, “A Hidden Life.”
In “Night,” Wiesel wrote a terrifying account of his teen years in Auschwitz with the murder of his family members and the death of his innocence. He despaired as he looked into the very face of evil and the corrupted hearts of men and women taken over by Nazism. Both dissidents, Bonhoeffer would die by hanging, while Jägerstätter by guillotine, because their allegiance was to God and not Hitler and Nazism. German Christians deemed Jägerstätter’s refusal unpatriotic. They could not understand why he didn’t just pledge on paper his allegiance to the Nazis. How many of Jesus followers know the Way is narrow, not broad? How many would willingly drink from the same bitter cup Christ drank as He endured suffering all the way to the cross at Golgotha?
The Harrowing of Hell: Zahnd talked about Christ’s death and descent into Hades – the harrowing of Hell – during the three days following His crucifixion. He used the story of Jonah and the whale to give new meaning here. Death couldn’t digest Christ’s body when He died. Some trickery was involved, Zahnd said, and Death had to spew Christ out. He said he has used this scene where Agent K goes after his weapon inside the evil bug. That scene lends a modern interpretation of the story in Jonah, as well as of Death’s failed attempt to hold Christ inside Hades.
Hades is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments as a place where departed spirits went before the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. I knew that saints were resurrected with Jesus in a display that showed He had defeated death in this passage. I doesn’t think I ever asked where those departed souls were before, nor where Jesus went during those three days. I asked Pastor Max McCullough who pastored Grace Baptist in Canton, OH, in my growing up years from teen to young adult. I’m very thankful for Facebook in that I found him again. He is a great Bible teacher, so I knew he’d answer in a way I’d understand.
He said Jesus Christ went to Hades and informed those who died before the long-awaited Messiah came to earth about His victory. Pastor Max gave these Scriptures as references: 1 Peter 3:18-19 ESV and 1 Peter 4:6 ESV. While in Hades, Christ preached the Good News that He conquered sin and death. Zahnd talked about one of his favorite art pieces that shows Christ holding Adam and Eve by the wrist called the Anastasis icon of the Resurrection. He alone had the power to pull them from Hades. Zahnd talked about the anastasis here in this blog post. His finished book will have illustrations.
When I read this section, I thought that meant Zahnd believed people today have a second chance. Pastor Max referenced Scripture in his response to clear that up for me. Hebrews 9 explains God’s first covenant with His people and the new covenant. In verse 27, Scripture says “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” Those who deny Christ have no part with Him, and when they die, they will face judgment and eternal fire prepared for Satan and his angels (Matthew 25: 33-46; John 5:28-29 ESV).
Finally, early on, I feared Zahnd would focus only on Christ’s crucifixion because he didn’t mention the full Gospel story at first. Most people will agree that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, but not everyone agrees He rose again and then ascended to Heaven. My thinking had been, “Nothing continues from the cross of Christ if He did not also rise from the dead.” My fears were not justified though; in fact, Zahnd followed the outline I imagined he would, ending with a brief synopsis of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, or what is yet to happen in the future.
That leads me to the audience for this book. People who study the Bible and have an understanding of basic theological terms will enjoy the debate Zahnd delivers in “The Wood Between the Worlds.” He drew on biblical prophecies and stories in a way that were made for the Bible student. He talked about many early theologians, church leaders and philosophers, including the writings of Greek philosopher Plato and Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.
He also drew from the works from one of my favorite writers, Fyodor Dostoevsky, including “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov.” His arguments are the stuff of the academic world, in my view, and led me back to doing university level research. He challenged my Biblical knowledge and my own beliefs as a follower of Christ. I’m thinking he wrote for Christians who need a refreshing way to reach out to unbelievers by showing the beauty found in “the cruciform.” Zahnd said theopoetics often speaks more to the hearts of unbelievers.
Thinking of the variety of crucifixes Zahnd saw along the way in Northern Spain made me think of the variety of ways God rescues each of us as the Good Shepherd. Christ’s lowly birth, His life and ministry, His death and resurrection are all worthy of a kaleidoscopic treatment, so Zahnd may have a new book series right there.
February 18, 2024
I would give this book six stars if I could. This is a masterful meditation on the cross, in all its brutality and grace.
The throne of God is the cross, and it is from there that God reigns.
What a phenomenal book to read during this Lenten season.
The throne of God is the cross, and it is from there that God reigns.
What a phenomenal book to read during this Lenten season.
April 19, 2025
A remarkable book in its depth of truth and beauty. Could not recommend more highly!
May 15, 2024
Zahnd apparently used to be a mega church pastor. He still pastors the same church in Missouri as he did twenty years ago, but it’s no longer a mega church, as according to one article I read about him, 90% of his congregation left. This happened as he began discovering and preaching a more traditional (as in ancient) Christianity, rather than the patriotic Christian nationalism his members wanted to hear in the time surrounding the Iraq war.
When Zahnd learned that a huge component of Christ’s teachings and message was incompatible with nationalistic fervor and pursuit of violent wars, it seems to have changed his life and his direction as a teacher of the gospel.
The Wood Between the Worlds is a gift to the world, a beautiful statement of the theology of the cross of Christ, and so much of the depth of meaning found therein. Zahnd gives us some thoughts to ruminate on about the problem of evil, how exactly it is that Christ crucified takes away sins of the world, what it means that Christ overcame death, and the massive implications of a God who is found in the suffering of humanity—as a God that suffers with humans.
Zahnd gets a bit into atonement theory, but makes sure the reader knows that every theory of “how the atonement works” is merely one facet of a mystery of God that defies complete comprehension. But it’s clear that he does not favor the idea that God needed to punish his son because he was angry with humankind, or that God needed to kill his son to make humankind acceptable to him, both common misunderstandings in the Christian world.
I was especially moved by the chapter on Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is something to the Catholics’ great love for her that the rest of Christianity seems to have lost. The importance of a “divine feminine” force in the life of a Christian cannot be underestimated. (Perhaps that’s why overly masculine “John Wayne over Jesus” Christianity of much of America today is so warlike and power hungry.)
Most of the book is prose, not poetry. But the final chapter is a free verse poem about the theology underlying the cross of Christ, and it is beautiful.
Five stars, easily. I’ll listen to this one again soon.
When Zahnd learned that a huge component of Christ’s teachings and message was incompatible with nationalistic fervor and pursuit of violent wars, it seems to have changed his life and his direction as a teacher of the gospel.
The Wood Between the Worlds is a gift to the world, a beautiful statement of the theology of the cross of Christ, and so much of the depth of meaning found therein. Zahnd gives us some thoughts to ruminate on about the problem of evil, how exactly it is that Christ crucified takes away sins of the world, what it means that Christ overcame death, and the massive implications of a God who is found in the suffering of humanity—as a God that suffers with humans.
Zahnd gets a bit into atonement theory, but makes sure the reader knows that every theory of “how the atonement works” is merely one facet of a mystery of God that defies complete comprehension. But it’s clear that he does not favor the idea that God needed to punish his son because he was angry with humankind, or that God needed to kill his son to make humankind acceptable to him, both common misunderstandings in the Christian world.
I was especially moved by the chapter on Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is something to the Catholics’ great love for her that the rest of Christianity seems to have lost. The importance of a “divine feminine” force in the life of a Christian cannot be underestimated. (Perhaps that’s why overly masculine “John Wayne over Jesus” Christianity of much of America today is so warlike and power hungry.)
Most of the book is prose, not poetry. But the final chapter is a free verse poem about the theology underlying the cross of Christ, and it is beautiful.
Five stars, easily. I’ll listen to this one again soon.
July 18, 2025
I know many people who love this book, and I definitely love certain parts of it. There were a couple of different chapters that I thought were about as good as it gets. Zahnd is a brilliant, evocative, and beautiful writer. He helps uncover dimensions of the cross that we too easily forget or push aside. He is rightfully critical of some versions of penal substitutionary atonement theory, as well as other suspect doctrines we have ceased to think critically about.
However, that is also the problem with this book, in my opinion. Zahnd tries to do too much, and I don't know how many times I thought, "Well, he's building a straw man again." There are serious discussions to be had about the atonement, pacifism, universalism (though it is my understanding that he doesn't describe himself as a universalist), the ontological nature of Satan (who he claims is a non-entity), etc. He is passionately serious about them, but he does not engage in good-faith representations of differing viewpoints and often relegates them to the realm of sub-Christian (or worse).
Of course, I didn't expect that precise theological analysis to be the point of Zahnd's book. He says in the prelude he hopes it "will be a kaleidoscopic and theopetic conversation about the wood between the world." When he does that, the book is majestic and moving. When he dives into complex theological matters, he seems to lose all the nuance he advocates for when calling us to contemplate the cross.
However, that is also the problem with this book, in my opinion. Zahnd tries to do too much, and I don't know how many times I thought, "Well, he's building a straw man again." There are serious discussions to be had about the atonement, pacifism, universalism (though it is my understanding that he doesn't describe himself as a universalist), the ontological nature of Satan (who he claims is a non-entity), etc. He is passionately serious about them, but he does not engage in good-faith representations of differing viewpoints and often relegates them to the realm of sub-Christian (or worse).
Of course, I didn't expect that precise theological analysis to be the point of Zahnd's book. He says in the prelude he hopes it "will be a kaleidoscopic and theopetic conversation about the wood between the world." When he does that, the book is majestic and moving. When he dives into complex theological matters, he seems to lose all the nuance he advocates for when calling us to contemplate the cross.
March 28, 2024
An important part of my “theological deconstruction” has been the necessary discarding of the penal substitution theory of atonement.
This abandonment has admittedly left a partial vacuum in my theology of the cross, opening the door for this timely book written by a pastor who I have come to trust for his wise theological acuity on many matters.
In his opening chapter, Brian invites us to view the cross as through a kaleidoscope. The cross means many things and this book shows us what and why. My reading of his book has been complemented by listening each week to Brian’s Lenton sermon series which has largely followed the outline of his book.
Together, this has significantly contributed to my Lenten devotional experience this year. An important book that deserves a wide reading.
This abandonment has admittedly left a partial vacuum in my theology of the cross, opening the door for this timely book written by a pastor who I have come to trust for his wise theological acuity on many matters.
In his opening chapter, Brian invites us to view the cross as through a kaleidoscope. The cross means many things and this book shows us what and why. My reading of his book has been complemented by listening each week to Brian’s Lenton sermon series which has largely followed the outline of his book.
Together, this has significantly contributed to my Lenten devotional experience this year. An important book that deserves a wide reading.
June 2, 2025
A beautiful reflection of the meaning of the cross. My faith was deeply stirred by Zahnd’s poetic commentary. His writing is rich and breathes new life into some theology that we might take for granted at times.
“On Good Friday the calloused hands of the Creator-carpenter were nailed to rough-hewn timber and the tree of Calvary became the center of the cosmos-the center that holds, the center that heals, the center that inaugurates the world to come. The tree of Calvary is the wood between the worlds.”
“On Good Friday the calloused hands of the Creator-carpenter were nailed to rough-hewn timber and the tree of Calvary became the center of the cosmos-the center that holds, the center that heals, the center that inaugurates the world to come. The tree of Calvary is the wood between the worlds.”
March 20, 2024
Such a great book for the Lent season, and I just couldn't put it down. The way Zahnd writes about the cross, consults church history, art, music, and other places to help illustrate the significance and impact of the cross is so good. More than that, if we take seriously the pictures of the cross (and others he didn't write about), I think we would see some good shifts in the church in America for starters. Well worth the purchase and read.
March 3, 2024
The Wood Between the Worlds by Brian Zahnd is a thought provoking lesson on the crucifixion of Christ. Reading this book during the season of Lent was sobering, but also gave me hope. The book is a blend of prose and poetry, and Zahnd share his views on the theology of the cross, His focus is on the shared suffering of Christ, and Christ's response to evil and destruction in the world. Zahnd shows the reader a unique blend of not only how we must understand the teachings and the life of Christ in order to understand His suffering and death, and if we don't grasp those concepts, then why the Cross? Why the Wood Between the Worlds? There would be no significance for Christ, the Son of God, to take on the form of a human, and suffer, die, and be buried, so that He can be resurrected on the third day to atone for ALL of man's sins. The use of "current" movies, such as the Lord of the Rings, and other current events that have occurred in our society to date, are interspersed in the reading, giving content to the meaning of Christ's life and death and the suffering He endured. Although there are some theological sections I did not agree with, overall Zahnd has delivered a great read in The Wood Between the Worlds. One of my favorite quotes was : "Three trillion trees and one became the wood between the worlds. God died upon a tree that by God’s own death a door might be opened to the world on the far side of the wood." [Brian Zahnd] There is beauty in this message. Thank you for NetGalley and InterVarsity Press for the review copy of this thought provoking book. All opinions are my own.
August 26, 2024
I absolutely loved the title and its subtle nod to CS Lewis' The Magician's Nephew. I don't remember if that connection is ever explicitly made in the book or not, but it certainly predisposed me to like this book. That said, the book at times lived up to those high expectations and at others fell flat.
In the Wood Between the Worlds, Zahnd uses the cross and the events immediately surrounding it to do a series of devotional-style examinations on a variety of topics ranging from the nature of God, love, and truth to the person of Mary, capital punishment, and the harrowing of hell. Some of these chapters were absolutely brilliant. Some others... meh.
Rather than examine each chapter by turn or share the points I agreed or disagreed, here are some quotes that stood out to me...
The cross is the scene of love supreme, not a scene of domestic violence.
The transformation of the ROman cross from an abhorrent symbol of death into a beautiful symbol of love is a testament to the redeeming power of Christ. If the cross can be saved, the world can be saved. If crucifixion can be made beautiful, all things can be made beautiful. The hope we have for the healing of a world marred by sin and death is that God makes all things beautiful in His time.
Yes, Jesus is a king, but His kingdom is not something that Pilate can easily recognize. The Kingdom of Christ is for this world, but it is not from this world.
Just as Middle-Earth could not be saved, only enslaved, by the Ring of Power, so Christianity cannot save the world by political power; it can only be corrupted by it.
Wars are always unjust, since it is the people of God who pay. Our hearts cannot bu weep before the children and women killed, along with all the victims of war. War is never the way.
If the death penalty can go so wrong that it murders God, a Christian conscience can do nothing other than call for its abolition.
In the Wood Between the Worlds, Zahnd uses the cross and the events immediately surrounding it to do a series of devotional-style examinations on a variety of topics ranging from the nature of God, love, and truth to the person of Mary, capital punishment, and the harrowing of hell. Some of these chapters were absolutely brilliant. Some others... meh.
Rather than examine each chapter by turn or share the points I agreed or disagreed, here are some quotes that stood out to me...
The cross is the scene of love supreme, not a scene of domestic violence.
The transformation of the ROman cross from an abhorrent symbol of death into a beautiful symbol of love is a testament to the redeeming power of Christ. If the cross can be saved, the world can be saved. If crucifixion can be made beautiful, all things can be made beautiful. The hope we have for the healing of a world marred by sin and death is that God makes all things beautiful in His time.
Yes, Jesus is a king, but His kingdom is not something that Pilate can easily recognize. The Kingdom of Christ is for this world, but it is not from this world.
Just as Middle-Earth could not be saved, only enslaved, by the Ring of Power, so Christianity cannot save the world by political power; it can only be corrupted by it.
Wars are always unjust, since it is the people of God who pay. Our hearts cannot bu weep before the children and women killed, along with all the victims of war. War is never the way.
If the death penalty can go so wrong that it murders God, a Christian conscience can do nothing other than call for its abolition.
February 7, 2024
This book tells the story of the crucifixion and resurrection through a variety of well-written and well-researched lenses. I loved the emphasis on poetry to convey what prose cannot. Each chapter is an essay on an aspect of the cross, so I found the book easy to read in pockets of free time. I found answers to questions I have long wrestled with and cheered the author on as he clearly stated how some political issues in the US do not align with Christian theology - and why. I appreciated how in each chapter the author went one step further to complete the analysis beyond summarizing the issue; that is a skill I highly value in a writer. I disagreed with a few statements, but overall, I respect the author, I am happy he gave opinions throughout this book, and I look forward to reading more of his work. This book is a great read any time of the year, but especially during Lent.
Thank you NetGalley and InterVarsity Press for this advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
Thank you NetGalley and InterVarsity Press for this advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
February 20, 2024
Interesting but messy. The chapters roughly and circuitously built around ' Jesus and John Wayne' and ' The Cross and the Lynching Tree' might have been better served convincing readers to read those books for themselves. Non systematic and imaginative approaches to massive subjects like Mary are interesting but unpersuasively reliant on a over reliance on a metaphoric interpretation that seems to dim the actual lived experience of people such as Mary.
March 21, 2024
I always love Zahnd’s work, but the depth and beauty his words in this were amazing. He shows the vast depth and perhaps inadequacies that our words or concepts have with the cross. Too easily can the cross just be seen as a precursor to the resurrection, it is much greater than that.
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