Naked Before God: The Return of a Broken Disciple [Hardcover]

Bill Williams (Author), Martha Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1998

Written from the perspective of Nathaniel, an imaginary disciple of Jesus, this cystic fibrosis patient wanders through the Gospel narratives revisiting a theology of suffering from his own unique perspective. Arguing with Jesus and the other disciples, Nathaniel seeks healing for his soul even as his body fails apart. In painfully honest language, he demands to understand grace, suffering, and forgiveness and seeks to know the reality of God's love for him.

This is no theoretical theology, but a new-lived theology that arises from experience and struggle, rather than from a textbook. Fearless in his search for answers, Williams takes on questions of life and death and faith, while maintaining an extraordinary sense of humor His poetic prose, the sharpness of his wit, and the profound nature of his struggle will capture any reader who has struggled with questions of evil, pain, and suffering.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... extraordinarily successful work ... fictional reality of uncommon depth and imaginative power even while offering a nuanced Christian apologetic. -- Anglican Theological Review, Catherine Wallace, author of Motherhood in the Balance

... no other book with the toughness, the intelligence, the sadness, and the wit, faith and love of this one. -- Arthur W. Frank, for the Christian Century Magazine

Never before had the gospel been so assaulted... so life-giving. -- Sabbath Rest

Never before have I read a book of theology that I could not put down... -- David Rhoads, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology

No church library should be without it. -- Raymond B. Knudsen, The Counselor newsletter

This is [the disciple, Nathaniel's] journal and this is how gospel can still be done. -- John Dominic Crossan

What Williams knew is this: God is good. Life is really hard... a book I wish every Christian could read. -- Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, author, as printed in Episcopal Life

From the Publisher

In this remarkably forthright journal of lived theology, a 20th-century disciple of Christ demands to understand grace, forgiveness, and the reality of God's love in the midst of suffering and loss. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 327 pages
• Publisher: Morehouse Pub Co (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819217395
• ISBN-13: 978-0819217394
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,012,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An utterly honest book, March 6, 2002

By 

Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Naked Before God: The Return of a Broken Disciple (Hardcover)

I've read Bill William's *Naked Before God* a couple of times. It's an incredibly painful chore, because the book is as honest an account of spiritual searching and physical suffering as I've ever encountered. Williams' ultimate concern is the problem of innocent suffering, sometimes referred to by theologians as the problem of evil. In a nutshell, the problem is this: how is belief in an all-loving God compatible with the presence of undeserved suffering in the world? It's the question raised by Job. It's a question that millions of people ask themselves in their everyday sufferings. And it's a question on which more than one person's faith has been broken.

Bill Williams faces the problem headon in a mode that I suppose can be called autobiographical-imaginative-theology. Weaving in stories of his own struggle with cystic fibrosis, fictional ruminations of walking and talking with Jesus as a disciple named Nathaniel, and scriptural/theological reflections on the problem of innocent suffering, Williams presents us with a one-of-a-kind meditation on what it means to be a fragile, suffering, frightened, but also occasionally angry, defiant, and hopeful human being. He pulls no punches in the book. At times his anger, his sense of unfairness, is overpowering. At other times, his gratitude for the slightest of blessings, the most trivial (to our jaded eyes) gifts, is equally overpowering. Ultimately, Williams awakens to the suffering God who loves, who knows what it's like to be a broken pot (p. 299), who lost hope in the depts of His suffering, and who still, in a mysterious way that even He, perhaps, doesn't understand, overcame.

There are few books that make me laugh out loud when I read them, and fewer still that make me weep. This one did both. It's not a feel-good book. But it is one that will touch your deepest core, and in the process move you closer, perhaps, to an embrace of the mystery of God and suffering. Bill Williams died shortly after *Naked Before God* was published. I remember him with gratitude each morning in my prayers.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars jesus Made Real for the Faith Challenged, July 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Naked Before God: The Return of a Broken Disciple (Hardcover)

This is the best book of theology I have ever read. God is present, loving and accessible. Bill Williams' broken body is representative of all the shame, guilt and abandonment that I have felt. I also learned a lot about cystic fibrosis and the difficulties and impossibilities it brings. I wish I could have met him. I wish there were going to be more books from him. I wish he could have been my pastor. An amazing book filled with wisdom and insight. Recommended for those who are questioning their Sunday School education, grappling with faith issues and those who want to know jesus (sic) as their savior and mentor. Although God is referred to by male pronouns (Williams explains his rationale in the introduction), this is a beautiful read for feminist theologians.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It could change your life, November 23, 2000

By 

S. SANTANA (Port Orchard, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Naked Before God: The Return of a Broken Disciple (Hardcover)

This book is unique in that it carries on a conversation between Jesus, the disciples, etc. with the author of the book in present time. The author has cystic fibrosis and diabetes in real life and is a character in the book as well. He is also a theologian and physicist which makes for an absolutely riviting book. He holds nothing back when questioning pain and misery on earth. The dialogue between all of these people - it will stretch your mind, and you will look at life differently. For the better. I have purchased this book to give as a Christmas gift. I wish I had enough money to send out dozens of copies to friends. It's that good.