HOPE THAT ENDURES: How Puritan Wisdom Challenges the Modern Soul
By Emily Lucas
Christian Focus. 110 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 527 114 180
Here is a book which provides both hope and practical help for anyone struggling with the tension that exists between being simultaneously a redeemed but still fallen human being.
Emily Lucas has written a wise, humble, challenging book. She identifies four 21st-century ills: discontentment; shame; distraction; pressure to conform to the world; and concludes with a chapter on choices.
Her chosen weapon to combat these snares is theology, and Puritan theology in particular. She writes from her own experience, from finding herself helpless in the grip of a worldly solution to a personal problem to experiencing the liberation found in following a godly path.
Each problem identified is dealt with according to the wisdom found in a sermon from, respectively, Burroughs, Sibbes, Watson, Gurnall, and the much-loved Pilgrim’s Progress by Bunyan.
Each chapter is structured in the same way: the problem is identified; a short biography of the preacher is given; a summary of the Biblical way to address the problem is provided; followed by a prayer taken from the Valley of Vision collection of Puritan prayers. Questions to help the reader apply the wisdom personally are then asked, and suggestions for further reading conclude.
The need to look to Christ and the help of the Holy Spirit are pervasive themes in the book. This means it is full of hope, expectancy and joy. There is so much that is packed into the relatively short format. The personal nature of the challenges tackled mean that the book will be most usefully read by individuals, married couples or long-term prayer partners. This is an engaging introduction to Puritan theology which is well-written and accessible, and will doubtless whet the appetite for exploration of the original texts.
