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Failure: What Jesus Said About Sin, Mistakes and Messing Stuff Up: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2023
'A superb book on failure . . . humorous, realistic and absolutely not judgemental.'JUSTIN WELBY
In 2019, Emma Ineson wrote about ambition and what it means for Christians to be successful. And then there was a global pandemic . . . Suddenly failure began to feel very much more familiar than success.
But what is failure? What did Jesus think of it? What did he say about sin, mistakes and generally mucking things up? At the start of this wonderfully humorous and encouraging book - which will end at the cross - it's suggested that our tendency to lump all kinds of failure together could be a bit unhelpful. A more nuanced understanding of what sort of failure we're dealing with might just allow us to make friends with it and respond more appropriately. This idea leads us 'Towards an (Imperfect) Theology of Failure', based on key Christian thinking, and Emma poses the question of whether sin is an individual or corporate thing. Looking at the church, we consider, what is God's purpose for it? And in the light of key concerns such as safeguarding and racial justice, how might we re-examine concepts of success and recognize and measure failure?
As the book draws to an end, we are reminded of our calling to live life to the full, to take risks despite our fears. We are bound sometimes to fail! Yet gazing at Jesus - who looked like the greatest failure of all - we may discern in the heartache, vulnerability and humility of failure, the glory of the cross.
Failure was the 2023 Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book and Big Church Read for Lent.
In 2019, Emma Ineson wrote about ambition and what it means for Christians to be successful. And then there was a global pandemic . . . Suddenly failure began to feel very much more familiar than success.
But what is failure? What did Jesus think of it? What did he say about sin, mistakes and generally mucking things up? At the start of this wonderfully humorous and encouraging book - which will end at the cross - it's suggested that our tendency to lump all kinds of failure together could be a bit unhelpful. A more nuanced understanding of what sort of failure we're dealing with might just allow us to make friends with it and respond more appropriately. This idea leads us 'Towards an (Imperfect) Theology of Failure', based on key Christian thinking, and Emma poses the question of whether sin is an individual or corporate thing. Looking at the church, we consider, what is God's purpose for it? And in the light of key concerns such as safeguarding and racial justice, how might we re-examine concepts of success and recognize and measure failure?
As the book draws to an end, we are reminded of our calling to live life to the full, to take risks despite our fears. We are bound sometimes to fail! Yet gazing at Jesus - who looked like the greatest failure of all - we may discern in the heartache, vulnerability and humility of failure, the glory of the cross.
Failure was the 2023 Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book and Big Church Read for Lent.
205 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 15, 2022
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33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 14, 2023
If I need any reminder of why I wanted to leave the Church of England, this is it! Failure is dull, sin-obsessed, juvenile in its treatment of myth and pre-occupied with church corporate planning. What is more, you only need to look at the sheer number of references and footnotes ( more appropriate to an academic essay) to see that the author had very little to actually say. Who on earth commissioned his book? Who is its target audience?
Failure is actually a subject dear to my heart. I have struggled with it all my life. I don't want to be taken back into an unhelpful corner which is all about sin as failure is more often encountered as lack of skill, of being in the wrong place or having emotional/psychological difficulties.
Just in case you think I am a born-again atheist, I'm not . I'm a Lay minister in another Anglican Province and I have found a wonderful congregation which is open-minded, generous and life-affirming.
March 31, 2023
A brave topic
A good resource for pointers to further reading on sin. Facing up to failure in the contemporary world was always going to be a tricky one to write. For a Lent book, the end of chapter questions were too vague and too few to stimulate healthy discussion. I was reading on Kindle and only discovered a companion reading plan for groups referred to at the end.
There are a lot of references and I was stimulated to explore some of those. Finding common ground on the origin of our sinfulness across a church as wide as the Anglican Communion, let alone the worldwide church is a goal we will all ultimately fail to achieve. At least Ineson has had a go. I don’t think this is a book I will return to - hence 3 stars.
A good resource for pointers to further reading on sin. Facing up to failure in the contemporary world was always going to be a tricky one to write. For a Lent book, the end of chapter questions were too vague and too few to stimulate healthy discussion. I was reading on Kindle and only discovered a companion reading plan for groups referred to at the end.
There are a lot of references and I was stimulated to explore some of those. Finding common ground on the origin of our sinfulness across a church as wide as the Anglican Communion, let alone the worldwide church is a goal we will all ultimately fail to achieve. At least Ineson has had a go. I don’t think this is a book I will return to - hence 3 stars.
April 4, 2023
I haven’t read any theology for some time but this is a humble and timely look at the Church of England and a Christian’s life in the context of failure - there is no glorious solution or anodyne platitudes but there is a candid admission of how much the Church does fail and then an offering of redemption through accepting failure as a part of the human condition. Refreshing to read even as a post-Christian shamanic practitioner
March 12, 2023
I am reading a lot of things that have crossovers in themes and conclusions at the minute and this is one of them. I consideration of Failure and it's role in the life of individual Christains and the church, this is an accessible read with much to consider.
April 14, 2023
At times I found this hard going and perhaps more for church leaders than me. But I appreciated the thorough examination of human failure and how we can respond to it. The last chapter particularly helpful xxx
April 16, 2023
I didn’t gel with this book as much as I hoped to and it took me a fair while to finish. I think it’s something I’ll come back to again though, as there were definitely some parts that I found useful and want to reflect on more.
May 18, 2023
Some familiar discussion and some good challenges - for us as individuals and for how the Church could think about its own failures. I'll definitely come back and read this again in a few months
July 9, 2024
Enjoyable and thought provoking but not hugely memorable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews