Review in: Theology 2012 115: 357
Review door: H.A. ThomasGevonden op: http://tjx.sagepub.com/content/115/5/357.full.pdf+html
Leslie C.
Allen, A
Liturgy of Grief: A Pastoral Commentary on Lamentations,
Baker Academic:
Grand Rapids, 2011; 208 pp.: 9780801039607, £13.99/$21.99, (pbk)
This is an
extraordinary commentary. The recent upsurge of interest in the biblical book
of Lamentations is a result, it seems, of its ability to speak to pain and
suffering. In a world that faces both with alarming regularity the resource of
Lamentations is like water to a thirsty land. Allen draws deep from the well
and offers it to all who will drink. The book begins with an introduction from
Nicholas Wolterstorff, who characterizes Allen’s work as ‘a book to be savored’
(p. vii), and this is a suitable description of the experience afforded the
careful reader. As a ‘pastoral’ commentary, the volume enables its readers
(especially pastors, counsellors or chaplains) to access Lamentations as a tool
for what Allen calls ‘caregiving’: dealing compassionately with those who
grieve (pp. 25–9).
Allen himself
balances the roles of an academic professor and a chaplain, and his role as a
chaplain comes through in powerful ways, most notably the maturity of insight
on delicate subjects of suffering as well as anecdotal stories from his own
chaplaincy that help to illustrate his discussion. The introduction (pp. 1–29)
is aware of current critical discussion on the book and yet does not get bogged
down into the minutiae of detail. Rather, it brings the scholarly discussion to
bear on what he sees as the central themes of Lamentations: (1) the
articulation of grief, guilt and prayer (esp. in Lam. 1—2); (2) the significant
role of the wounded healer of Lamentations 3 who, in his pain, becomes a
‘caregiver’ for the community of sufferers; (3) the persistence of grief and
the hope that it will end (Lam. 4); and (4) the community’s voicing of grief
that marks a turning point in the poetry (Lam. 5). Allen suggests that
Lamentations 5 is such a turning point because it is here that the community
begins to process the grief that was expressed previously by Zion and the man
in Lamentations 1—4. The communal articulation of grief, according to Allen,
marks a positive movement in the processing of the pain of exile. It is in the
fifth poem that all of the other themes are brought together and offered up to
God in prayer.
The commentary
proceeds in a linear fashion through the poems. The exegesis is helped by a
section of ‘translation notes’, which provide rationale for some of the
translation decisions Allen has made (pp. 171–9). A useful bibliography, both
for Lamentations study, grief study, and pastoral care, resides in the back of
the book (pp. 180–90) along with a scriptural index. All told, this is a
valuable book for those who need a good word, healing balm and instruction for
those who grieve. Highly recommended.
H. A. Thomas
Southeastern Seminary,
Wake Forest, North Carolina
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