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Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross
Numerous writers and composers have been captivated by the suggestiveness of Jesus' Seven Last Words. But Richard John Neuhaus's sustained exploration of these utterances is something altogether different. Through them he plumbs the depths of human experience and sets forth the central narrative of Western civilization-the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ-in a way that engages the attention of believers, unbelievers, and those who are not sure what they believe. Death on a Friday Afternoon is an invitation to the reader into a spiritual and intellectual exploration of the dark side of human experience with the promise of light and life on the far side of darkness.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
Richard John Neuhaus
90 books28 followersRichard John Neuhaus was a prominent Christian cleric (first as a Lutheran pastor and later as a Roman Catholic priest) and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States where he became a naturalized United States citizen. He was the founder and editor of the monthly journal First Things and the author of several books, including The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America (1984), The Catholic Moment: The Paradox of the Church in the Postmodern World (1987), and Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth (2006). He was a staunch defender of the Roman Catholic Church's teachings on abortion and other life issues and an unofficial advisor of President George W. Bush on bioethical issues.
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April 4, 2014
I finished Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross - appropriately – on Easter Sunday evening. This will always stand out in my mind as the Lent I walked for forty days with Father Neuhaus, exploring the Last Seven Words of Jesus. The book is a profound meditation, at times a little too profound for this poor mind, but then what I did glean was beneficial and I’m grateful. What made the book so difficult to read, and yet so worthwhile at the same time, was the way Father would walk you all the way around each of the ‘Words’ – which are really not words at all, but statements made by Our Lord from the Cross – refusing to settle for easy or simplistic interpretations of them. Early on Neuhaus quotes the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead when he said that, ‘the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity on the far side of complexity. The only joy to be trusted is the joy on the far side of a broken heart, the only life to be trusted is the life on the far side of death. Stay a while, with Christ and him crucified.’ It isn’t clear in the book how much of that is Neuhaus and how much Whitehead, not that it really matters I suppose; the point is we aren’t going to find easy answers here. We don’t. We do, however, find a very detailed and fascinating examination of each of the Seven Words, complete with stories, both personal and related, quotes, insights and suggestions. Some might call them conclusions and/or arguments.
At times I thought the good Father wrote deductively, but then again I thought no, it wasn’t that; it was something else and what I wasn’t sure. In time I came to understand he writes with an underlying premise, a radical assumption about his reader but one which is not like most writer's assumptions and here is the crucial difference. Father Neuhaus takes it as a given that we are all on a similar path, on the way to find Jesus. He takes it for granted that his reader wants to find Christ—that the Holy Spirit has brought the soul and this book together in the first place. Repeatedly, he starts off his sentences, ‘We know...’ ‘We contemplate...’ ‘We hear...’ ‘We respond...’ etc. He doesn’t need to resort to the imperative because what he believes about his fellow brothers and sisters is true Christian love and humility.
Death on a Friday Afternoon is not an easy book to read, but it’s well worth the effort—for Lent or for any time of the year.
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Chapter 5: In this chapter the 'word' is "I thirst!" and Jesus is crying out from the Cross not for some liquid refreshment but for souls. Here Fr. Neuhaus discusses the evolution of his understanding of 'saving souls' from his earliest experience at mission revival when he was still a young boy through his maturation to a deeper, richer appreciation of living in and for the Truth. As he says on pages 168-169: ‘Possessing the truth and sharing the truth are not two things, but one. As Jesus makes dramatically clear in many parables and sayings, the same is true of forgiveness and love; we do not possess if we do not share, and the more we give away the more we possess.’
Chapter 4: What I like best here is Fr. Neuhaus’s treatment of the complexity of sin, the struggle we all face in trying to fight it, how often (constantly?!) we fail, why we fail, the futility of the struggle when we 'go it alone', and most of all, the fact that he refuses to compromise to the triteness of 'just do it' or 'be good', as if those remedies haven't been thought of (and tried) by almost every human being who ever lived. Whereas the rest of the book thus far has been more informative, this chapter, for me, has been the most helpful as a reflection on humanity’s hardhearted sinfulness, as well as its helplessness without God.
The exclamation Jesus cries out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is the opening words of the beautiful lamentation Psalm 22. Beautiful lament? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? It would be if there was no one to hear, no one to answer, no one to respond. But just as everyone smiles at the first cries of a newborn, knowing that he (or she) lives, it truly is beautiful when we cry out to God, for only then do we truly LIVE in Him.
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Although not entirely meditative, Father Neuhaus suggests with good reason, we read Death on a Friday Afternoon Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross slowly and 'maybe even put the book aside from time to time just to think about the mystery.'
Each of the chapters deals with one of the "Seven Last Words" spoken by Our Lord from the Cross. These Words were in actuality entire phrases, even sentences and are found variously in the four Gospels of the New Testament.
So far I've only read the Preface and first chapter. I was amazed to learn of the long, rich and extensive history of the Seven Last Words' devotions which continued right up to Vatican II.
Chapter 1, Coming to Our Senses, is very much like being thrown into ice-cold water. Father Neuhaus wants us -- and I will say "me" -- to know without a doubt that I, and I alone am the reason Jesus was crucified. This isn't going to be a book where I'm going to be able to excuse myself by saying, "but you know, I'm not nearly so bad as X, Y and Z. I mean I never did that at least!" It doesn't matter. I have sinned and forgiveness costs. Someone had to pay the price for my sins. Jesus did it. I was the one who caused Him that agony in the Garden. I scourged Him. I pounded those nails into His hands and feet. I put Him up there on the Cross.
This is how Father Neuhaus puts it,
At times I thought the good Father wrote deductively, but then again I thought no, it wasn’t that; it was something else and what I wasn’t sure. In time I came to understand he writes with an underlying premise, a radical assumption about his reader but one which is not like most writer's assumptions and here is the crucial difference. Father Neuhaus takes it as a given that we are all on a similar path, on the way to find Jesus. He takes it for granted that his reader wants to find Christ—that the Holy Spirit has brought the soul and this book together in the first place. Repeatedly, he starts off his sentences, ‘We know...’ ‘We contemplate...’ ‘We hear...’ ‘We respond...’ etc. He doesn’t need to resort to the imperative because what he believes about his fellow brothers and sisters is true Christian love and humility.
Death on a Friday Afternoon is not an easy book to read, but it’s well worth the effort—for Lent or for any time of the year.
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Chapter 5: In this chapter the 'word' is "I thirst!" and Jesus is crying out from the Cross not for some liquid refreshment but for souls. Here Fr. Neuhaus discusses the evolution of his understanding of 'saving souls' from his earliest experience at mission revival when he was still a young boy through his maturation to a deeper, richer appreciation of living in and for the Truth. As he says on pages 168-169: ‘Possessing the truth and sharing the truth are not two things, but one. As Jesus makes dramatically clear in many parables and sayings, the same is true of forgiveness and love; we do not possess if we do not share, and the more we give away the more we possess.’
Chapter 4: What I like best here is Fr. Neuhaus’s treatment of the complexity of sin, the struggle we all face in trying to fight it, how often (constantly?!) we fail, why we fail, the futility of the struggle when we 'go it alone', and most of all, the fact that he refuses to compromise to the triteness of 'just do it' or 'be good', as if those remedies haven't been thought of (and tried) by almost every human being who ever lived. Whereas the rest of the book thus far has been more informative, this chapter, for me, has been the most helpful as a reflection on humanity’s hardhearted sinfulness, as well as its helplessness without God.
The exclamation Jesus cries out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is the opening words of the beautiful lamentation Psalm 22. Beautiful lament? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? It would be if there was no one to hear, no one to answer, no one to respond. But just as everyone smiles at the first cries of a newborn, knowing that he (or she) lives, it truly is beautiful when we cry out to God, for only then do we truly LIVE in Him.
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Although not entirely meditative, Father Neuhaus suggests with good reason, we read Death on a Friday Afternoon Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross slowly and 'maybe even put the book aside from time to time just to think about the mystery.'
Each of the chapters deals with one of the "Seven Last Words" spoken by Our Lord from the Cross. These Words were in actuality entire phrases, even sentences and are found variously in the four Gospels of the New Testament.
So far I've only read the Preface and first chapter. I was amazed to learn of the long, rich and extensive history of the Seven Last Words' devotions which continued right up to Vatican II.
Chapter 1, Coming to Our Senses, is very much like being thrown into ice-cold water. Father Neuhaus wants us -- and I will say "me" -- to know without a doubt that I, and I alone am the reason Jesus was crucified. This isn't going to be a book where I'm going to be able to excuse myself by saying, "but you know, I'm not nearly so bad as X, Y and Z. I mean I never did that at least!" It doesn't matter. I have sinned and forgiveness costs. Someone had to pay the price for my sins. Jesus did it. I was the one who caused Him that agony in the Garden. I scourged Him. I pounded those nails into His hands and feet. I put Him up there on the Cross.
This is how Father Neuhaus puts it,
'Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Yes, we were there when we crucified our Lord. Recognizing the line that runs through every human heart, no longer do we try to draw the line between "them" and "us." Who can look long and honestly at the victims and the perpetrators of history's horrors and say that this has nothing to do with me? To take the most obvious instance, where would we have taken our stand that Friday afternoon? With Mary and the Beloved Disciple or with the mocking crowds? "Know thyself," the philosophers said, for this is the beginning of wisdom. "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom," wrote the Psalmist. Knowing myself and fearing God, knowing a thousand big and little things that I have done and failed to do, I cannot deny that I was there. In ways I do not fully understand, I know that I, too, did the deed, wielded the whip, drove the nails, thrust the spear. (page 20)
April 16, 2009
Hmm. I was torn about how to rate this book; I guess I'd give it a 3 1/2 if I could. It was the first Neuhaus book I read, and, to be honest, I now think I enjoy his thought as a cultural commentator more than as a theologian.
I was looking forward to reading it during Holy Week, and it truly did contain some wonderful meditations on the Cross, which alone made it well worth reading. However, I felt that Neuhaus veered off his meditative course rather distractingly at times, and I found some of his thoughts on universalism and soteriology troubling. Occasionally he just went on too long.
For someone who worked so closely with evangelicals, he sometimes sounded, to my admittedly ultra-sensitive ears, a bit straw-mannish in his appraisals of Protestant theology. And I just don't really feel like debating what happened on the Cross when I'm reading this book on Good Friday. Still, for all that...an undeniably rich and well-written book by a godly man with a pastoral heart.
I was looking forward to reading it during Holy Week, and it truly did contain some wonderful meditations on the Cross, which alone made it well worth reading. However, I felt that Neuhaus veered off his meditative course rather distractingly at times, and I found some of his thoughts on universalism and soteriology troubling. Occasionally he just went on too long.
For someone who worked so closely with evangelicals, he sometimes sounded, to my admittedly ultra-sensitive ears, a bit straw-mannish in his appraisals of Protestant theology. And I just don't really feel like debating what happened on the Cross when I'm reading this book on Good Friday. Still, for all that...an undeniably rich and well-written book by a godly man with a pastoral heart.
March 19, 2019
I read Death on a Friday Afternoon many years ago and found it captivating and inspiring. Recently, I re-read parts of it and found it less so since the author seems distracted and off-topic in some sections. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile book to read about this ultimate act of love from Our Lord and Savior.
April 28, 2025
I began reading this on Palm Sunday, and thought I would finish by Easter. While I didn't finish that quickly, it turns out that it doesn't matter when you read this book, because "Good Friday cannot be confined to Holy Week. Every day of the year is a good day to think more deeply about Good Friday, for Good Friday is the drama of the love by which our every day is sustained." [from the preface].
This would be a beautiful book to read every single year leading up to Easter, but it would also be wonderful to read any time of the year, even a few pages a day as a morning devotional.
So many wonderful quotes; here are a few favorites:
In the sacrifice of the cross, all is endured and all is redeemed. For all that ever was wrong, is wrong, and will be wrong, the price has been paid. Beyond our capacity to understand or explain, justice has been done, and justice was done by love, because the justice of God is love, and that is because God is love. At the foot of the cross, faith discerns, through our tears, that nothing is left unattended, nothing unknown, nothing unloved, nothing unredeemed. Atonement. The Great Thing, the thing that had to be done or else nothing else could be done, has been done. [pg. 225].
The cross is not merely the bad news before the good news of the resurrection. Come Easter Sunday, we do not put the suffering and death behind us as though it were no more than the nightmarish prelude to the joy of victory. No, the cross remains the path of discipleship for those who follow the risen Lord. It is not as though there are two paths, one the way of the cross and the other the way of resurrection victory. Rather, the resurrection means that the way of the cross *is* the way of victory. [pg. 159]
...to the whole bedraggled company of humankind he had abandoned heaven to join, he says, "Come. Everything is ready now. In your fears and your laughter, in your friendships and farewells, in your loves and losses, in what you have been able to do and in what you know you will never get done, come, follow me. We are going home to the waiting Father." [pg. 260]
This would be a beautiful book to read every single year leading up to Easter, but it would also be wonderful to read any time of the year, even a few pages a day as a morning devotional.
So many wonderful quotes; here are a few favorites:
In the sacrifice of the cross, all is endured and all is redeemed. For all that ever was wrong, is wrong, and will be wrong, the price has been paid. Beyond our capacity to understand or explain, justice has been done, and justice was done by love, because the justice of God is love, and that is because God is love. At the foot of the cross, faith discerns, through our tears, that nothing is left unattended, nothing unknown, nothing unloved, nothing unredeemed. Atonement. The Great Thing, the thing that had to be done or else nothing else could be done, has been done. [pg. 225].
The cross is not merely the bad news before the good news of the resurrection. Come Easter Sunday, we do not put the suffering and death behind us as though it were no more than the nightmarish prelude to the joy of victory. No, the cross remains the path of discipleship for those who follow the risen Lord. It is not as though there are two paths, one the way of the cross and the other the way of resurrection victory. Rather, the resurrection means that the way of the cross *is* the way of victory. [pg. 159]
...to the whole bedraggled company of humankind he had abandoned heaven to join, he says, "Come. Everything is ready now. In your fears and your laughter, in your friendships and farewells, in your loves and losses, in what you have been able to do and in what you know you will never get done, come, follow me. We are going home to the waiting Father." [pg. 260]
April 3, 2015
Very good, I would have liked it much better without the chapter with the universalist tone. Basically Hans Urs von Balthasar view from his book "Dare we hope 'That all men be saved'". Neuhaus' view is pretty nuanced and now I remember the whole back and forth about this in First Things. Still I found much to glean from this book.
April 4, 2023
The absolute best Lenten meditation book. A must-have.
May 10, 2025
Each chapter is a meditation on one of Jesus' last words on the cross. I️ found this spiritually satisfying, and Neuhaus wanders with grace into some beautiful thoughts (coupled with beautiful prose!), but I️ was frustrated by his excessive wandering and frequent refusal to fully develop one thought before moving on to the next. Perhaps I'm frustrated by this kind of writing because it reminds me of my own...
Does a good job of explaining orthodox Christians' veneration and understanding of Mary, the meaning of sacrifice, and the importance of particularity to the faith (which is important to maintain in healthy tension with an equally true universal/cosmic understanding of the faith – the relationship between the particular and the universal is well-encompassed by analogizing it to the relationship between icon and idol... sacraments are also a good analogue).
Does a good job of explaining orthodox Christians' veneration and understanding of Mary, the meaning of sacrifice, and the importance of particularity to the faith (which is important to maintain in healthy tension with an equally true universal/cosmic understanding of the faith – the relationship between the particular and the universal is well-encompassed by analogizing it to the relationship between icon and idol... sacraments are also a good analogue).
April 12, 2017
Death on a Friday Afternoon is a good but frustrating book. It contains some substantial insights, beautiful passages, and compelling erudition. Its subject, structure, and tone is perfect for Lent. But it also meanders too much for a book of its length. Although these are supposed to be "meditations," Neuhaus' editor let him wander off too often. I would have loved to read something more structured on this subject from Neuhaus, or to have read this book with 30-50 fewer pages. Too often he would make an interesting point and then start something new without developing it fully or circle back to re-state phrases and ideas.
Although I am familiar with Neuhaus as a cultural commentator and founding editor of First Things, this was my first time reading one of his books. I probably should have started with the Naked Public Square...
Although I am familiar with Neuhaus as a cultural commentator and founding editor of First Things, this was my first time reading one of his books. I probably should have started with the Naked Public Square...
January 5, 2008
Death on a Friday Afternoon explores Christ’s final words form the cross, as they are recorded varyingly in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It reveals, also, our need for a savior and expresses the beauty of the redemption of man.
Some of the passages in this book are downright moving. The author explores many serious questions, delivering, among other things, new insight into the true nature of the missionary imperative. Neuhaus has a wealth of information at his mind’s edge, and he draws on literature, history, and theology regularly, but these allusions are never presented in a “see how smart I am” manner; they are always natural. His prose is not complicated, but nor is it dumbed-down; he does not speak to us as though we were mentally children. Those who believe Christ died only for the elect will have much to object to in the theology of this book, but I think even they will find the writing affecting and at times convincing.
I was especially intrigued by his views of hell and evangelism. One passage struck me especially: "The Christian life is about living to the glory of God. It is not a driven, frenetic, sweated, interminable quest for saving souls. It is doing for his glory what God has given us to do. . . Souls are saved by saved souls who live out their salvation by thinking and living differently, with a martyr's resolve, in a world marked by falsehood, baseness, injustice, impurity, ugliness, and mediocrity." (Of course, souls aren't saved by souls; they're saved by Christ, but overlooking that...poignant stuff.)
Some of the passages in this book are downright moving. The author explores many serious questions, delivering, among other things, new insight into the true nature of the missionary imperative. Neuhaus has a wealth of information at his mind’s edge, and he draws on literature, history, and theology regularly, but these allusions are never presented in a “see how smart I am” manner; they are always natural. His prose is not complicated, but nor is it dumbed-down; he does not speak to us as though we were mentally children. Those who believe Christ died only for the elect will have much to object to in the theology of this book, but I think even they will find the writing affecting and at times convincing.
I was especially intrigued by his views of hell and evangelism. One passage struck me especially: "The Christian life is about living to the glory of God. It is not a driven, frenetic, sweated, interminable quest for saving souls. It is doing for his glory what God has given us to do. . . Souls are saved by saved souls who live out their salvation by thinking and living differently, with a martyr's resolve, in a world marked by falsehood, baseness, injustice, impurity, ugliness, and mediocrity." (Of course, souls aren't saved by souls; they're saved by Christ, but overlooking that...poignant stuff.)
April 21, 2020
Wow. Revelation after revelation. Anyone who is serious about Lent should read this.
April 15, 2014
I would give this more stars if I could. What a positively incredible book! I was so moved and inspired and brought to tears and to deep, deep thought over and over again as I read. Father Neuhaus speaks deep theology in this book, but he also speaks with wonder and awe at the Love we can never fully understand in this world, the Love of God. I can't say enough good things. I chose this as a personal Lenten study, and I feel like my whole understanding of the cross, of Good Friday, has been changed and deepened. Absolutely the best thing I've read this year!!
April 18, 2014
I finished this book on Good Friday, as I prepared to lead worship and preach the final sermon of a series about Jesus' last words from the cross. Fr. Neuhaus' book is, quite simply, a wonder. Read it.
April 10, 2023
O Felix Culpa!
O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
This is a great book for Holy Week and for anyone struggling with the sacrifice of the cross. Richard John Neuhaus goes deep into the seven last words of Christ (sometimes into a rant) with beautiful meditations on the totality of the sacrifice and what that means for everyone of us.
I was a little upset about the second chapter when he talked about apocatastasis (the heresy formally condemned by the fifth ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 553) maybe it was just me but I got the feeling that he was nether condemning it or confirming it. I get that he was trying to show both sides to prove his point that you should not judge anyone for that is Gods business (I totally agree with that) it’s just the way he went about to say it. It just felt like the cheap Christian saying “Jesus loves you no matter what” and while there’s truth to the fact that Jesus loves you, that doesn’t mean he loves what you do, you can love the sinner and hate the sin. He says he has a belief and hope that all will be saved at the last judgement from eternal damnation and that hell will be empty and maybe is empty right now. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with believing and hoping that all will be saved in the end, because how else can we have hope for ourselves. there is a danger in people abusing Gods mercy and believing that no matter what they do they will still be saved. he seems to take out the physiological aspect in how some people choose hell (some people have a hard time with accepting this) they just don’t want God and no matter of explaining or trying to teach them will help, their wills are fixed and all you can do for them is to pray that Gods mercy is infinite (but that doesn’t mean that it is). One of the greatest dangers to humanity is to presume upon Gods mercy. there’s just so much we don’t know that we shouldn’t presume to know.
I invite you, reader! to read this book and make your own assessment, opinion, and conclusion. I’m not saying that there’s multiple truths and "to each his own" just that I don’t know everything, so maybe I’m wrong, and he’s right, maybe I didn’t understand him, or maybe we’re both missing something, but nonetheless I invite you to this discussion. God bless!
O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
This is a great book for Holy Week and for anyone struggling with the sacrifice of the cross. Richard John Neuhaus goes deep into the seven last words of Christ (sometimes into a rant) with beautiful meditations on the totality of the sacrifice and what that means for everyone of us.
I was a little upset about the second chapter when he talked about apocatastasis (the heresy formally condemned by the fifth ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 553) maybe it was just me but I got the feeling that he was nether condemning it or confirming it. I get that he was trying to show both sides to prove his point that you should not judge anyone for that is Gods business (I totally agree with that) it’s just the way he went about to say it. It just felt like the cheap Christian saying “Jesus loves you no matter what” and while there’s truth to the fact that Jesus loves you, that doesn’t mean he loves what you do, you can love the sinner and hate the sin. He says he has a belief and hope that all will be saved at the last judgement from eternal damnation and that hell will be empty and maybe is empty right now. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with believing and hoping that all will be saved in the end, because how else can we have hope for ourselves. there is a danger in people abusing Gods mercy and believing that no matter what they do they will still be saved. he seems to take out the physiological aspect in how some people choose hell (some people have a hard time with accepting this) they just don’t want God and no matter of explaining or trying to teach them will help, their wills are fixed and all you can do for them is to pray that Gods mercy is infinite (but that doesn’t mean that it is). One of the greatest dangers to humanity is to presume upon Gods mercy. there’s just so much we don’t know that we shouldn’t presume to know.
I invite you, reader! to read this book and make your own assessment, opinion, and conclusion. I’m not saying that there’s multiple truths and "to each his own" just that I don’t know everything, so maybe I’m wrong, and he’s right, maybe I didn’t understand him, or maybe we’re both missing something, but nonetheless I invite you to this discussion. God bless!
November 30, 2025
There were parts of this book where the writing sparkled and the turns of phrases were memorable. I especially recommend the chapter titled, "Dereliction", which touches on the tendency of some (me) to take for granted the sacrifice of Jesus and not enter into his suffering. Since Jesus is God, what he sacrificed can't have been that bad. Father Neuhaus correctly identifies this gnostic tendency and warns that this would reduce the crucifixion to playacting. The mystery of Christ's kenosis, his divine will not subsuming his human will are things that help us enter into the mystery of the cross in a way that doesn't cheapen his sacrifice.
Having said this, Fr. Neuhaus's prose is circulocutory and tangential. Yes, he always returns to where he started, but I frequently wondered when this would happen. He is erudite and quotes a good many authors and philosophers that I don't claim to have such familiarity with. Still, I prefer a more direct approach.
Finally, his chapter, "Judge Not" treads too close to universalism for my taste. If all men are saved, the cross loses its power in spite of all that Neuhaus has said to the contrary. If hell is good enough for the demons who rejected God, why do we think that of all humanity there will be none who reject him? Yes, God wills all men to be saved, but it is no diminishment of his will to respect and honor the free will of one of his creatures. I think Fr. Neuhaus' intention was to stamp out self righteousness of those who presume they are saved, but this can not be done at the expense of the truth. It is best to hope and pray for all those we know to be saved, while not denying the possibility that hell exists and is populated. It's a great mystery.
Having said this, Fr. Neuhaus's prose is circulocutory and tangential. Yes, he always returns to where he started, but I frequently wondered when this would happen. He is erudite and quotes a good many authors and philosophers that I don't claim to have such familiarity with. Still, I prefer a more direct approach.
Finally, his chapter, "Judge Not" treads too close to universalism for my taste. If all men are saved, the cross loses its power in spite of all that Neuhaus has said to the contrary. If hell is good enough for the demons who rejected God, why do we think that of all humanity there will be none who reject him? Yes, God wills all men to be saved, but it is no diminishment of his will to respect and honor the free will of one of his creatures. I think Fr. Neuhaus' intention was to stamp out self righteousness of those who presume they are saved, but this can not be done at the expense of the truth. It is best to hope and pray for all those we know to be saved, while not denying the possibility that hell exists and is populated. It's a great mystery.
March 20, 2024
I read this book for Lent this year. Each chapter is a meandering meditation on one of the seven last "words" of Jesus from the cross. They are really statements, not words: 1) "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 2) "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." 3) "Woman, behold, your son!" / "Behold, your mother!" 4) "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 5) "I thirst." 6) "It is finished." 7) "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."
I particularly enjoyed his take on universalism in the second chapter. He basically said that we know that hell is real, but we should hope and pray that it is empty. He backed it up with a good bit of scripture, too. I wasn't expecting that from this Catholic priest and was pleasantly surprised. The first chapter "coming to our senses" about the state of the world and our need for justice was also really excellent. I found a good balance here of an understanding of sin and brokenness and our need for justice, but a radical and extreme emphasis on God's sacrificial Love for all. Not all chapters resonated with me, particularly the one on Mary and the immaculate conception fell flat for me as a Protestant.
Neuhaus went on and on about a semi-autobiographical novel by Peter De Vries titled "The Lamb of God" and it was so profound and compelling that I bought that book as well!
Would definitely recommend this book for Lent or Holy Week, with the caveat that sometimes he goes off on tangents and each chapter is about 40-50 pages long and meandering.
I particularly enjoyed his take on universalism in the second chapter. He basically said that we know that hell is real, but we should hope and pray that it is empty. He backed it up with a good bit of scripture, too. I wasn't expecting that from this Catholic priest and was pleasantly surprised. The first chapter "coming to our senses" about the state of the world and our need for justice was also really excellent. I found a good balance here of an understanding of sin and brokenness and our need for justice, but a radical and extreme emphasis on God's sacrificial Love for all. Not all chapters resonated with me, particularly the one on Mary and the immaculate conception fell flat for me as a Protestant.
Neuhaus went on and on about a semi-autobiographical novel by Peter De Vries titled "The Lamb of God" and it was so profound and compelling that I bought that book as well!
Would definitely recommend this book for Lent or Holy Week, with the caveat that sometimes he goes off on tangents and each chapter is about 40-50 pages long and meandering.
April 19, 2022
I’m someone who grew up in a branch of Protestantism that didn’t practice many liturgies and is now attending a liturgical church. So, this Lent was my very first, and some friends and I decided to read this book and meet weekly to discuss it. I don’t really read a ton of religious writings, but I truly enjoyed this one. Neuhaus is clearly a very deep thinker, and the book at times felt complicated and hard to understand. Sometimes it feels like he’s taking you down a rabbit trail and you get lost from the main point, but somehow he always manages to circle back to it in a way that makes you go “Ohhhh, NOW I get it.” Don’t expect to sit and read through this quickly—it takes time to process. But, I really enjoyed how Neuhaus presented so many different ideas about theology and religion, never really saying “This one is better than the other,” but rather presenting them all as thought experiments and things to meditate on. I learned a lot from Neuhaus, and could definitely imagine this being something I return to in the future.
May 19, 2025
Nice title for a mystery, but it's actually thoughts on Jesus' last seven words when he was crucified. And it wasn't really seven words, but the last seven phrases he uttered before death overcame him. Neuhaus does a good job of presenting, not just his own thoughts, but those of other philosophers through the ages, that might disagree with his views.
It's a book that requires time and contemplation to be fully understood. If your interested in Jesus' death I recommend it.
It's a book that requires time and contemplation to be fully understood. If your interested in Jesus' death I recommend it.
May 5, 2018
This book challenged me a lot, in terms of my understanding of my faith and what it requires of me. I like how the author did not try to sugarcoat reality, nor did he go the usual way of positive thinking and feel-good approach. Quite the contrary, I was quite surprised and challenged at the propositions he gave. A very good read for someone who would really like to grow in faith.
July 5, 2019
An absolutely beautiful and punchy meditation on the Seven Last Words of Christ. Neuhaus has a sledgehammer style which is fairly unusual in meditative works, but highly effective when reviewing the Passion of Christ. Excited to read other books by him and to follow up on references he made in this work. Highly recommend.
March 18, 2025
A beautiful meditation about a day that is hard to grok. Beautiful, horrible, full of the greatest promise and the deepest despair. I am glad to have read this during lent. Unfortunately, the 2000s era culture warrior pablum was as turgid and exhausting now as it was when this was written and soiled an otherwise beautiful, and necessary book.
October 27, 2017
Great first chapter
The first chapter was excellent then he went down hill. He promoted universalism and the immaculate conception in chapters 2-3. I liked his work with other sources and use of the English language. Good introduction too.
The first chapter was excellent then he went down hill. He promoted universalism and the immaculate conception in chapters 2-3. I liked his work with other sources and use of the English language. Good introduction too.
March 29, 2023
This was a beautiful meditation on the last words of Jesus from the cross. A Lutheran should expect to disagree with Neuhaus in places, but a Lutheran can also find much fruit in these chapters. I highly recommend this as a devotional read during Lent/Passiontide/Holy Week.
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April 22, 2023Read it just for a specific chapter, as I'd seen it quoted somewhere. That chapter (2) was interesting. Chapter 1 I tried slogging through and didnt make it. So, try 2 and another before fully investing. Have other things on my shelf to read, so putting this one aside
August 11, 2024
This took me almost 2 years to finish. Overall, I found this book to be mostly rambling with a few bits and pieces of insight and thoughtfulness surrounding the last few words of Christ on the cross. I felt the author veered very far away from Christs words and filled the pages with whatever thoughts he had- relating to Christs statements or not.
March 29, 2018
I’ve been blogging some thoughts on this book while reading it at the end of lent and heading into Good Friday. There is a lot to say.
It’s very good. A good meditation on the last words of Jesus.
It’s very good. A good meditation on the last words of Jesus.
April 20, 2019
Superb! I read this two years ago and I will read it yet again. Fantastic for Lent or Holy Week.
June 25, 2019
Some very powerful thoughts that are scripture-based.
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December 22, 2020Transformational book. Must be read 2x.
April 17, 2021
Food for thought throughout the season of fasting.
May 3, 2022
An eye-opener for hearing the voice of God during Lent or anytime.
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