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In this powerful and challenging book, David W. Smith identifies a crisis at the heart of the church. It is the crisis of triumphalism - the tendency to avoid honest engagement with brokenness and suffering, privileging victory while rejecting the practice of lament. This imbalance, Smith argues, threatens to undermine the credibility of faith for a watching world, alienating those experiencing hardship and oppression; those wrestling with doubt, uncertainty, and loss.
In Stumbling toward Zion, Smith reclaims the importance of lament throughout Scripture - from the Old Testament to the gospel narratives and Paul's letters - and explores the history and impact of its loss within certain church traditions. World Christianity, with its heartlands in contexts of poverty, war and persecution, has a crucial role to play in recovering an understanding of God's love for a suffering creation capable of restoring the credibility of Christian witness in the midst of our brokenness. Containing practical application for church life and mission, Smith offers an opportunity to reengage with biblical lament, rediscover neglected aspects of Christian faith, and reawaken to God's heart for a suffering world.
About the author
DAVID W. SMITH began ministry in Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge, UK, before moving as a missionary to Southeast Nigeria. He taught at International Christian College, Glasgow, UK, served as principal of Northumbria Bible College, and was co-director of Whitefield Institute, Oxford, UK. He has a PhD from the University of Aberdeen, UK, and is currently retired, spending his time engaged in an international teaching ministry and writing on mission and world Christianity.
