Gethsemane: The Transfiguring Love by Martin Israel

In this book, Martin Israel shares his wealth of understanding and wisdom. There is penetrating and sensible psychology. There is profound knowledge of the Bible, sensitively applied. There is a powerful style of exposition, the more authoritative for its simplicity. All the elements combine to offer the outline of theology of redemption which is rooted in our understanding of pain. In the dark night of Gethsemane, we learn to accept suffering, not to reject or resent it. Innocent pain can lead us closer to spiritual maturity. An important insight here – and there are many – is that the Church at its best is a community of sufferers. The Church is most at home with its true vocation when it kneels with Jesus in Gethsemane. That's never easy, either to perceive or practice. But, as Dr Israel make plain, it is fundamental to Christian faith that only the way of the Cross can lead to the perfect peace of God.