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The Undoing of Death
The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus comprise the two-part event at the heart of the Christian story. Because of its unique meaning and the intense emotions it invokes, Holy Week brings high expectations on the part of congregations and places unusual demands on those who deliver the messages. It takes a specially gifted preacher to communicate the profundity of Christ's Passion and its supreme relevance for our contemporary world.
Fleming Rutledge is just such a preacher. Heralded by congregations and peers alike as one of today's most compelling and powerful Christian voices, Mrs. Rutledge is also a best-selling author whose previous collections of sermons have touched readers deeply. This new volume, representing twenty-five years of Holy Week and Easter preaching, offers a wide-ranging vision of the Cross and Resurrection that will inform and inspire committed believers and serious seekers alike.
Divided into seven sections that progress through Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter and on through Eastertide, these sermons incorporate the biblical themes of sacrifice for sin, vicarious suffering, victory over evil and death, and the new creation arising out of eternal love. Many of these sermons are brand-new; others -- especially those for Good Friday -- have been rethought and reworked over a period of years. None have ever been published before. All of them consistently display Mrs. Rutledge's startling ability to bridge the message of the ancient biblical texts with the distinct needs of modern people.
Intellectually engaging, pastorally wise, and beautifully written, The Undoing of Death is accented with thirty-three artistic masterpieces depicting the events of Holy Week, making it a feast for the eye as well as the soul.
Fleming Rutledge is just such a preacher. Heralded by congregations and peers alike as one of today's most compelling and powerful Christian voices, Mrs. Rutledge is also a best-selling author whose previous collections of sermons have touched readers deeply. This new volume, representing twenty-five years of Holy Week and Easter preaching, offers a wide-ranging vision of the Cross and Resurrection that will inform and inspire committed believers and serious seekers alike.
Divided into seven sections that progress through Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter and on through Eastertide, these sermons incorporate the biblical themes of sacrifice for sin, vicarious suffering, victory over evil and death, and the new creation arising out of eternal love. Many of these sermons are brand-new; others -- especially those for Good Friday -- have been rethought and reworked over a period of years. None have ever been published before. All of them consistently display Mrs. Rutledge's startling ability to bridge the message of the ancient biblical texts with the distinct needs of modern people.
Intellectually engaging, pastorally wise, and beautifully written, The Undoing of Death is accented with thirty-three artistic masterpieces depicting the events of Holy Week, making it a feast for the eye as well as the soul.
382 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 3, 2025
Read this through the Lenten season. Very strong. Rutledge is one of the best.
April 7, 2021
This in the third Fleming Rutledge book I've read in basically half a year and not a single time I find it disappointing or boring. This is a compilation of sermons that really moved and forced me to think and munch each word little by little, devouring God's words from a preacher that has preached for decades, in mainline church, with evangelical zeal. You can see in her sermons, her grasp of orthodoxy yet colored with social concerns and attention to the contemporary events at her time.
The Undoing of Death is a compilation of sermons for the period of Holy Week untuk the Eastertide, a period for the church to lament and ponder on the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who died, or in a stronger word, killed on the Cross, in a state-sanctioned Crucifixion, finding the deepest gate of Death, only to defeat it and rise at the third day, and strengthened the disciples who found His power so strong that they cannot stop from spreading the Good News to the decaying world that needs Savior.
Also deep in love of Episcopal liturgical traditions, I also learned a lot about it, and also her favor on King James Version of the Bible. Through her sermons we can also see her love of arts, songs, and classical stories and theatricals, seeping through her understanding of beautiful and righteous God.
My favorite part is her sermon titled "Undoing of Death", a sermon that speaks so much to the heart that desires for Death to be killed, who is tired of seeing the world dominated by Death and its manifests everywhere, and in deep waiting of the complete consummation of Christ in the end, yet already fulfilled through Crucifixion and Resurrection.
This book has helped my contemplation of Easter, in a time when I was, and still am, disappointed with myself and everything around me. A glimmer of hope can be found even in the darkest, in the promise that He who has risen is the one Undoing the Death.
The Undoing of Death is a compilation of sermons for the period of Holy Week untuk the Eastertide, a period for the church to lament and ponder on the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who died, or in a stronger word, killed on the Cross, in a state-sanctioned Crucifixion, finding the deepest gate of Death, only to defeat it and rise at the third day, and strengthened the disciples who found His power so strong that they cannot stop from spreading the Good News to the decaying world that needs Savior.
Also deep in love of Episcopal liturgical traditions, I also learned a lot about it, and also her favor on King James Version of the Bible. Through her sermons we can also see her love of arts, songs, and classical stories and theatricals, seeping through her understanding of beautiful and righteous God.
My favorite part is her sermon titled "Undoing of Death", a sermon that speaks so much to the heart that desires for Death to be killed, who is tired of seeing the world dominated by Death and its manifests everywhere, and in deep waiting of the complete consummation of Christ in the end, yet already fulfilled through Crucifixion and Resurrection.
This book has helped my contemplation of Easter, in a time when I was, and still am, disappointed with myself and everything around me. A glimmer of hope can be found even in the darkest, in the promise that He who has risen is the one Undoing the Death.
June 27, 2017
I don't usually read collections of sermons; there must be many of them that their authors thought worth saving, but the only ones that I'm aware of are John Donne's famous sermons, which I admit I haven't read. I read this collection of Holy Week homilies by a Episcopal minister, I think, on the basis of a COMMONWEAL magazine. recommendation, although I'm not sure of that.
I read them as I would read essays, the subject being the death of Christ. His resurrection is a part of that death, of course, but Rutledge has little patience with the view, vaguely held by many Christians, that his resurrection is all a part of a natural vegetation myth. After all, Easter comes in springtime when the earth is rejuvenating itself, and this sentiment is at the heart of most Easter cards with their ubiquitous flowers and bunnies, not to Easter egg hunts.
She points out that dying and rising gods were a dime a dozen in the Middle East, but that none of them were actual historical figures such as Christ. None of Christ's disciples had absolutely any expectations of seeing a risen Jesus. Yet, the tomb was empty, and the first explanation was a perfectly rational one - his body had been stolen.
Rutledge writes in her introduction that her emphasis is not on any "rational" explanation as there is none. Rather her intention is "to provide a rich variety of interpretations . . the emphasis is on metaphors and images rather than rationalistic 'theories'. Atonement for sin, Christ's sacrificial self-offering, and the price God paid for our redemption are stressed, but so are the motifs of deliverance from oppression, victory over death, and Jesus' solidarity with the outcast and wretched of the earth."
If there is any one organizing principle behind these interpretations, it is that of faith. Faith, in letting oneself believe in what happened with Christ's death and resurrection, and faith in one's actions being in some way by Christ. Perhaps her best contemporary example of a man moved by such a moral force was Nelson Mandela, "a man imprisoned for no crime but his convictions, emerging after 27 years of incarceration without a trace of bitterness or vengefulness. . ." A course most people could not follow, but they lack faith. Without it, such actions appear foolish.
In some ways, Christ could be considered a holy fool who mocked the pretensions and folly of the world, as evidenced by his being "crowned" and identified as the "king" of the Jews.
After reading these sermons, composed and delivered over a period of years, have I become a reader of sermons? No, but sometime I may yet get around to John Donne's efforts.
I read them as I would read essays, the subject being the death of Christ. His resurrection is a part of that death, of course, but Rutledge has little patience with the view, vaguely held by many Christians, that his resurrection is all a part of a natural vegetation myth. After all, Easter comes in springtime when the earth is rejuvenating itself, and this sentiment is at the heart of most Easter cards with their ubiquitous flowers and bunnies, not to Easter egg hunts.
She points out that dying and rising gods were a dime a dozen in the Middle East, but that none of them were actual historical figures such as Christ. None of Christ's disciples had absolutely any expectations of seeing a risen Jesus. Yet, the tomb was empty, and the first explanation was a perfectly rational one - his body had been stolen.
Rutledge writes in her introduction that her emphasis is not on any "rational" explanation as there is none. Rather her intention is "to provide a rich variety of interpretations . . the emphasis is on metaphors and images rather than rationalistic 'theories'. Atonement for sin, Christ's sacrificial self-offering, and the price God paid for our redemption are stressed, but so are the motifs of deliverance from oppression, victory over death, and Jesus' solidarity with the outcast and wretched of the earth."
If there is any one organizing principle behind these interpretations, it is that of faith. Faith, in letting oneself believe in what happened with Christ's death and resurrection, and faith in one's actions being in some way by Christ. Perhaps her best contemporary example of a man moved by such a moral force was Nelson Mandela, "a man imprisoned for no crime but his convictions, emerging after 27 years of incarceration without a trace of bitterness or vengefulness. . ." A course most people could not follow, but they lack faith. Without it, such actions appear foolish.
In some ways, Christ could be considered a holy fool who mocked the pretensions and folly of the world, as evidenced by his being "crowned" and identified as the "king" of the Jews.
After reading these sermons, composed and delivered over a period of years, have I become a reader of sermons? No, but sometime I may yet get around to John Donne's efforts.
August 31, 2016
Excellent book, well thought out. It is a number of sermons Rev Rutledge has preached over the years centered around Easter time. Not sentimental nor shallow but rather a serious look at death and resurrection both of Christ and the individual. A pity the Episcopal church has fled so far from this standard.
May 6, 2019
Such a tremendous book to read through during Christ's Passion: His week of Suffering from Palm/Passion Sunday, through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Resurrection Sunday, and into Eastertide.
Fleming Rutledge's works are both theologically deep and sound. The reader must grapple with ideas that take one's breath away, and yet fills the reader with delight and profound gratitude at what Almighty God has done for us.
In addition to her writings (taken from sermons and homilies from Rutledge's rich years in Ministry), the author includes a vast amount of artwork from the Masters that reflect their musings on the book's subjects. These pieces are a wonderful addition to an already masterful work.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Fleming Rutledge's works are both theologically deep and sound. The reader must grapple with ideas that take one's breath away, and yet fills the reader with delight and profound gratitude at what Almighty God has done for us.
In addition to her writings (taken from sermons and homilies from Rutledge's rich years in Ministry), the author includes a vast amount of artwork from the Masters that reflect their musings on the book's subjects. These pieces are a wonderful addition to an already masterful work.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND
February 1, 2020
Rutledge has put together a host of sermons she has preached through Holy Week and Easter. As anyone who has done a similar thing knows - there is more than enough day by day to avoid too much repetition (compare her 'Advent' book). However these occasions are generally for the core of a church's congregation - with the exception of Easter Sunday itself. She regularly commends those listening for being there, and commiserates at one time there the crowds have not come!
I would not count many of these as great sermons, written. They may have been more powerful when spoken. She is of course theologically orthodox and very rooted in her location and current affairs. She apparently keeps a great collection of 'cuttings'. For my money the most affecting sermons were the last two when she speaks of two Christians who were not intimidated by their own disability or mortality.
I would not count many of these as great sermons, written. They may have been more powerful when spoken. She is of course theologically orthodox and very rooted in her location and current affairs. She apparently keeps a great collection of 'cuttings'. For my money the most affecting sermons were the last two when she speaks of two Christians who were not intimidated by their own disability or mortality.
December 15, 2018
The Holy Week sermons collected here are a powerful reflection on the relevance and timelessness of Holy Week in our lives as Christians. Rutledge's use of language is beautiful and impactful.
The book works on multiple levels. Personally, I read it as a devotional text, but it could also be read as a theological work or to gain insight into preaching Scripture during Holy Week.
The book works on multiple levels. Personally, I read it as a devotional text, but it could also be read as a theological work or to gain insight into preaching Scripture during Holy Week.
April 29, 2022
A deeply researched and considered series of sermons with a focus on Lent’s Holy Week and the subsequent Easter season. Read slowly as a form of lectio divina, each meditation is a deeply spiritual guide to the life of a Christian truly engaged in prayer and social action.
June 6, 2024
This is a collection of sermons and meditations given around Good Friday and Easter season. Because of that, you’ll find a lot of repetitiveness if you just read the book straight through. But many of these are wonderfully well done homilies.
April 19, 2019
Fleming Rutledge is a guilt pleasure of mine. I think I have now read everything that she has published to date. This book is a great companion to Holy Week.
May 7, 2019
Great yearly read during Holy Week!
March 23, 2013
Rutledge's sermons are articulate and theologically sound. Her style is fresh and still matches her position as an older preacher. Throughout the book there are classical pieces of artwork depicting the events of Holy Week along with her descriptions of each painting.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews