Captivated

Book review of Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus' Death and Resurrection, by Thabiti Anyabwile:

I recently read a simple yet profound little book by Thabiti Anyabwile, an African-American who pastors a church on Grand Cayman Island ("suffering for Jesus"!). I have followed his blog for a while, and was pleased to have an opportunity to read his new book. The book is based on a series of sermons he presented on the death and resurrection of Jesus. It has the limitations of a book translating oral sermons into written text, but is still one of the better examples of such books that I have ever read.

There were two chapters in the book in particular that stood out to me. Chapter 2 presents Psalm 22 as an in depth emotionally powerful presentation of what Jesus experienced for us in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross. I saw some things in that Psalm that I had never noticed or perceived before. Chapter 5 discussed the encounter with Jesus by two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. Anyabwile says that this story shows us that physical senses, knowing the historical facts about Jesus, and knowing the Bible are not enough for salvation without a personal revelation of Jesus to our hearts and souls. Thee two chapters alone would make this a good read.

In summary, this is not a great or classic book, but it is a good book, worth a read, to help us meditate on and be grateful for what Jesus accomplished for us on the Cross. It is well suited as an aid to meditation during the Lenten and Easter seasons.

A video trailer for the book is shown below.

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. -see my book review policy)