Reading Journal 2024: The Wood Between The Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross
Author: Brian Zahnd
Beauty Will Save The World might still be where one should begin when diving into Zahnd. I contend it is his strongest and most important effort, and captures the essential conviction and thesis that runs through his larger body of work. The Wood Between the Worlds is more narrowed and specific, but proves to be one of his richest efforts.
Driving the book is the question of how something horrific becomes a symbol of the redemptive, how death becomes life, how the horrific becomes beautiful. Many want to rush past the cross, or leave it behind, precisely because of the way the cross has been used and understood within theological traditions. Zahnd wants to stop, just for a second, take a breathe, and to leave space for the cross to speak on its terms. Not to reject or impose what we might feel uncomfortable with or confused by, but to allow the cross to speak through what he calls the use of a theopoetic lens, which the different chapters assume and employ.
The book has a kind of linear movement, taking us through history and speaking to the present. It also delves into the different theological discussions surrounding the cross, particularly where it has to do with notions of atonement. As he does this, he gently challenges specific expressions on all sides by applying a grace filled use of ideas, art, writers, films, thinkers, histories, images. He never wants us to settle, rather he wants us to consider, and then reconsider again. And to allow the Spirit the space to speak in community, in our differences. From a theopoetic perspective, the key to this is keeping Christ at the center, and since Christ is love, keeping love at the center. As he contends, the cross sits at the climax of Christ’s story, and it is here that all ideas and all histories intersect in the person and ministry of Jesus. To embrace beauty, we must embrace the cross. To embrace life we must embrace the death, to embrace redemption we must embrace the horrific.
The Stories of my Life 