Imagining redemption

the long version

"In this book, theologian David Kelsey offers a discussion of Christian redemption by exploring the story of a series of horrendous events that befell a boy, eight-year-old Sam, and his family in the aftermath of his devastating illness. In the face of such extraordinary suffering, Kelsey asks, "What can it possibly mean to say that in Jesus Christ God redeems such situations and events?"" "In answer, he interweaves this family's story with biblical narrative, theology, and the metaphorical application of secular uses of the words redeem and redemption. He identifies three ways in which to imagine redemption: suggesting how Jesus' ministry may be seen as "making up for" the world's bad performance; how Jesus' passion and crucifixion can reclaim one's personal identity from bondage to distorting powers; and how Jesus' resurrection can be seen as making good on a promise that redeems the family from vicious cycles of interaction that turned their lives into living deaths."--BOOK JACKET.