First Line Friday May 21, 2021 Featuring: Hope in the Time of Fear by Timothy Keller

Good Friday morning, Reader! It’s crazy what a solid week of good sleep can do for you. Getting up in the morning is so much easier when I don’t stay up late working on homework (or stressing about the outcome), and somehow it’s so much easier to stay calm and upbeat throughout the day when I’m not constantly drinking coffee. Who would have thought that reducing how much I have of something I enjoy so much could have such a positive effect? I know, none of this is groundbreaking, but it means so much more to actually feel it firsthand. I still feel like I’m getting over the exhaustion from last semester, and my next round of classes starts in about ten days.

I’ll talk about my summer classes in a later post, though. Today I’m joining #FirstLineFriday and sharing about one of the books I’m currently reading: Hope in Times of Fear by Timothy Keller. I tend to be skeptical of modern big-name theologians, but I’ve yet to run into anything major I disagree with in Keller’s work. This book is a deep dive into everything about the resurrection and only the resurrection, and I’m enjoying it a lot.

First Line Friday is a weekly linkup hosted at Hoarding Books. To participate, share the first line of a book of your choice, add the link to the linkup on the host’s page, and check out what others are reading and sharing!     

The First Line

“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and its aftermath, the Western world had been experiencing a growing crisis of hope.”

You really can’t argue with that, can you?

About the Book

Title: Hope in the Time of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter

Author: Timothy Keller

Genre: Nonfiction – Christian Theology

Synopsis: Hope in the Time of Fear is a book that unlocks the meaning of Jesus’s resurrection for readers. Easter is considered the most solemn and important holiday for Christians. It is a time of spiritual rebirth and a time of celebrating the physical rebirth of Jesus after three days in the tomb. For his devoted followers, nothing could prepare them for the moment they met the resurrected Jesus. Each failed to recognize him. All of them physically saw him and yet did not spiritually truly see him. It was only when Jesus reached out and invited them to see who he truly was that their eyes were open. Here the central message of the Christian faith is revealed in a way only Timothy Keller could do it–filled with unshakable belief, piercing insight, and a profound new way to look at a story you think you know. After reading this book, the true meaning of Easter will no longer be unseen.

I always find a lot of good-looking books to add to my TBR list when I peruse the FLF linkup, so don’t forget to stop by Hoarding Books for that if you’re interested!

Until the next chapter,

Jana