There are lots of books about the cross. The author of this book even wrote one. There are, however, relatively few books about the resurrection. That niche is relatively vacant. This work fills a need for such books.
McKinley is a Baptist pastor in Virginia. This book, like his other one, is adapted from a series of sermons preached to his congregation. Lot's of pastors do the same thing, and it can be good or bad for their readers. When done well, this method adds a degree of easy readability to hard and difficult subjects, and/or create a feeling of intimacy between author and reader. When done badly, sermons adapted to books are not easy to read. After all, speaking styles and writing styles are necessarily different forms of communication. This book falls into the well done category.
The thesis of the book is that the story of our lives, the meme the that makes sense of our existence, is formed by the story of Christ. That story doesn't end with a crucified, dead Savior, but with victory over death, the final enemy. He says: "The resurrection turns everything we know on its head. Death leads to life, weakness and suffering give way to glory, crushed dreams give way to living hope." I found it interesting that he also says Christ's fulfillment of his promise to rise again, guarantees that he will keep all of his other promises to us.
Each chapter of the book ends with the lyrics of a poem or hymn dealing with the them of that chapter. This feature adds a devotional quality to the book.
I recommend this book as a short, easy to read, yet informative and inspiring, exposition of the meaning of Christ's resurrection for the daily life of believers.
Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes. See my Book Review Policy.
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