Looking Through the Cross: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2014

by Graham Tomlin

Everything looks different in this world through the lens of the Cross. This book deals with reconciliation, humility, identity, power, suffering, life and atonement. These are familar themes for a Lent book but in Dr Tomlin's hands they are given exciting new meaning which will touch the hearts and minds of men and women in a turbulent modern world. Dr Tomlin is a theologian of the first rank, but he is also a writer with a keen pastoral commitment, celebrated for his common touch.

Genres: Theology

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Graham Tomlin (Ph.D., Exeter University) is dean of St. Mellitus College, London. He taught on Martin Luther and the Reformation in the theology faculty of the University of Oxford for eight years. He is the author, among many other publications, of The Power of the Cross: Theology and the Death of Christ in Paul, Luther and Pascal and Luther and His World.

Reviews

[marion hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look Through The Cross

This book challenged me the first time I used it through Lent in its first year. It constantly made me stop, think and read a passage again. Very well laid out in a sequence of chapters which made me want to go on to the next. I used it through Lent this year and I will probably read it again and again.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book's author is a priest and theologian in the Church of England who wrote this book at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and was written to be the basis for study and discussion groups meeting during the season of Lent in 2014, in the Church's parishes. Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are at the heart of Christianity - the religion would not exist without them, and belief that they actually happened was what moved the first Christians away from Judaism and into what became a separate religion. However, this book is not a historical study per se, but rather a guide for Christian believers contemplating the meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection for the Christian life as it is lived out today. It explores how our understandings of and attitudes toward evil, power, suffering, etc. are all transformed by what Jesus did by embracing his death on the cross. The cross is understood as a lens through which we view our world and directs our response as Christians.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

City Church walked through Tomlin's Lenten reflections this year during Lent. Tomlin tackles power, ambition, failure, evil, wisdom, identity and suffering through the lens of the cross. Weighty topics but all exposed within the meaning of Easter.


"The best theology begins and ends in silence. It begins in silence as we stop our idle chattering and listen to what God has to say. We start by listening for the quiet, strong, deep voice of God speaking to us through the pages of Scripture, through the words of those who have come to know him best through the centuries. It also ends in silence, as when we begin to glimpse the greatness, the mercy, the wisdom of God, there is not much we can say in return, apart from to wonder and worship."

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book, clearly written, and in nine chapters it examines The Cross and Wisdom, The Cross and Evil, The Cross and Power, The Cross and Identity, The Cross and Suffering, The Cross and Ambition, The Cross and Failure, The Cross and Reconciliation and The Cross and Life. There is much here to ponder.

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly written, sometimes thought-provoking, some good bits; sometimes so infuriating that in my mind's eye I was throwing the book across the room. Too many unsupported and unwarranted assertions and comparisons. Not up to the standard of many previous Archbishops' Lent Books.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing particularly ground-breaking, but a sound and edifying set of meditations on how Christians should approach power, suffering, ambition, failure, reconciliation, and other areas of life, informed by a Luther-esque theology of the cross.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good lenten reading.

[John Simms · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful overview of life seen through the lens of the Cross. Not perhaps as taxing as some recent Archbishop's Lent Books, but food for thought.

[Jenny Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it but picked it up again for Holy Week and am equally enjoying it now easy to read and it's a fresh way of looking at the subject