This post contains affiliate links
Last year was one filled with death and thus, grief, for our family. The year began with my miscarriage and was followed by me learning of a former student who passed away at an early age due to an undetected medical issue. The day I learned of my current pregnancy, I also learned about a younger friend who lost her life to covid. Then the year ended with my family attending three funerals in three months. Encountering so much death up close left me reeling.
I was scared and often thought about measures I could take to preserve my physical life when it dawned on me that perhaps more than life preservation methods, what I truly needed was a robust theology of death. When I came across Matthew McCullough’s book, Remember Death: The Surprising Path to Living Hope, I had to obtain a copy.
The book begins on a more philosophical level which isn’t generally the genre that I read but I found McCullough’s observations about death intriguing. I appreciated that he began the book by drawing from various sources to demonstrate how the world views death. It set the book up for an interesting and hopeful contrast as the rest of the book explored how God views death, especially of His children.
For someone who has encountered death closely, even in her own body, I found the following words particularly encouraging, “The fact of Christ’s resurrection shows that this sequence is set in motion, and nothing can stop its force. It depends on us for nothing. Christ does it all. He has made death his final enemy, and he has crushed its power,” (pg. 111). I really enjoyed and have been greatly encouraged by Remember Death. If you are struggling with grief after loss or hoping to develop a solid theology of death, I highly recommend purchasing a copy.
I received Remember Death compliments of Crossway in exchange for my honest review.
