Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Literary Meditations on Suffering, Death, and New Life

Theological Studies, Dec, 2007 by Ronald D. Witherup

FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY: LITERARY MEDITATIONS ON SUFFERING, DEATH, AND NEW LIFE. By David S. Cunningham. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007. Pp. xvii + 188. $19.95.

Cunningham's book is difficult to categorize. It is neither a systematic treatise nor a series of independent essays. In many respects it is a retreat built around the three Christian holy days of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, yet there is also profound philosophical and theological content interwoven in the text. The subtitle describes the enterprise well. C. expertly and seamlessly blends theological and pastoral insights, often offering fresh interpretations of familiar biblical passages. His intriguing literary illustrations come from a broad array of sources, ancient and modern, such as Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, C. S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and T. S. Eliot.

The book's three parts are titled "Suffering Rightly," "Descending Deeply," and "Rising Graciously." The annual triduum, C. insists, should deeply impact the rest of our year. Properly understood, the annual Christian celebration of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection can help us cope with modern life and orient us better toward an appreciation of community. One of the book's strengths is its emphasis on the communal dimension of Christian faith that all too often is eclipsed by an overemphasis on individual salvation, especially in the United States.

As interesting and well written as the book is, there is a limitation, most apparent from a Catholic perspective. C.'s definition of the "triduum" ignores the ancient sequence of Holy Thursday to Holy Saturday, beginning with the Mass of the Lord's Supper (Holy Thursday) and culminating in the Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday). C.'s analysis lacks a critical eucharistic perspective that Roman Catholics assume to be central to the mystery of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, and critical to contemporary faith. Nonetheless, anyone who engages this creative and original book will deepen her or his perspective on the paschal mystery, and preachers may find useful illustrations and stories for their ministry.

RONALD D. WITHERUP, S.S.

Sulpician Provincial House,

Baltimore, Md.