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A review by noahbw
Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us by Rita Nakashima Brock, Rebecca Ann Parker
5.0
That this book intentionally defies genre is part of what makes it so good. Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker alternate writing chapters, choosing to write this book together not because their professions or scholarship have so closely aligned, but because the personal and theological reflections in this book emerged out of their supportive friendship.
This book is not a memoir (or two), but it does reveal the intimacies of two women's lives. This book is not a novel, but it is captivating. This book is not a work of theology or sociology in the clinical sense, but it does tackle Christian theologies of salvation and sacrifice head on, along with violence and sexual violence, race and racism (beyond the black-white binary), family and belonging, sexism and feminism.
Because the authors take us through their personal journeys, this book feels like one of companionship and discovery. Though it was written in 2001, it never felt outdated to me -- I never felt wanting to jump in and say, "oh, we've solved that now" -- in part because we haven't, in part because I was along for the ride with them, eager to learn about their worlds of the second half of the 20th century.
This book is not a memoir (or two), but it does reveal the intimacies of two women's lives. This book is not a novel, but it is captivating. This book is not a work of theology or sociology in the clinical sense, but it does tackle Christian theologies of salvation and sacrifice head on, along with violence and sexual violence, race and racism (beyond the black-white binary), family and belonging, sexism and feminism.
Because the authors take us through their personal journeys, this book feels like one of companionship and discovery. Though it was written in 2001, it never felt outdated to me -- I never felt wanting to jump in and say, "oh, we've solved that now" -- in part because we haven't, in part because I was along for the ride with them, eager to learn about their worlds of the second half of the 20th century.