In God's Hands

March 9, 2015
The book is small, the print large, and the white space plentiful, but the message is not negligible. The alternately gritty and soothing content nourishes the reader. Tutu (Made for Goodness) weaves the vicious years of South Africa's apartheid throughout this meditation. He deftly balances past with present, drawing from history and the Bible, lacing his message with characteristic humor at human folly and righteous indignation at injustice. In the first part of the book, Tutu addresses the subversiveness of the Bible, the "complementarity" of family, and a God eternally biased toward love, love itself, and grace; he titles the last chapter, "In the Beginning, God; at the End, God." Each chapter ends with discussion questions. Attentive readers will find playful language and rich metaphor that links common language and biblical imagery. For example, he suggests that if humans, God's stewards, do not care for the planet, "it will be curtains for us," but, later, he recalls the biblical "curtain in the temple." Part two is a 2014 interview with Tutu. The archbishop's thoughts are, as ever, simply rendered but profound.

March 1, 2015

Few figures command more respect in religious circles, and international circles generally, than retired Anglican bishop and outspoken opponent of apartheid Desmond Tutu. The tradition of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book is less familiar. This now-annual series highlights Christian writers (not usually the archbishop) whose ideas and approach are deemed especially suitable for the reflection and contemplation that accompany the season of Lent in the Christian church. Tutu's book rests on the richness of his experience of both injustice and hope and focuses not on history or the struggle against apartheid, but on the notion that each of us is a vessel of God and that God is the beginning and the end and "will be all in all." This is a true devotional treatise, written with careful simplicity. VERDICT Tutu's remarkable place in history renders anything he writes of interest to many; however, this book is a valuable achievement in its own right and should be of interest to many.

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