Resurrecting Beauty: A Portrait of Jesus Christ

Resurrecting Beauty: A Portrait of Jesus Christ

Truth has a hard time making its way to the heart without the assistance of beauty. That is why the Gospel stories are written the way they are – full of beauty. Unfortunately our focus on truth has often excluded beauty, leaving many of us half-hearted creatures, full of knowledge that has not made its way to the heart, disrupting worship and growth. Without sacrificing truth, this “portrait" of Jesus re-tells the death and resurrection accounts with the staggering beauty of the Savior front and center and everything else faded into the background. The aim of this book is not to inform, apply, or prove anything, but to display the beauty of Jesus in a way that moves truth from head to heart. Its ultimate aim, in other words, is worship. David Elston has given the church a beautiful and moving devotional on Christ's passion and resurrection. Elston draws upon his long counseling experience and his deep theological learning to give us a portrait of Jesus that is at once deeply personal and firmly rooted in the Scripture. The reader will find here both the reality of suffering and the deeper reality of joy, challenge and comfort in equal measure. I highly recommend this fine book. - Sean McDonough , Professor of New Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, author of Christ as Creator and co-editor of A Time for Sorrow: Recovering the Practice of Lament in the Life of the Church David Elston has an imagination—a baptized imagination. In his portrait of Christ, David uses that imagination to make explicit what the gospels imply. He opens our eyes to details we easily pass over, and even helps us see the beauty of Jesus in unexpected places, such as his cleansing the Temple in anger. True to the gospels, David portrays a Christ we can't ignore, a Christ worthy to worship and follow. What better purpose could a book serve? - Kris Lungaard, author of The Enemy Within: Straight Talk about the Power and Defeat of Sin and Through the Looking Glass: Reflections on Christ That Change Us