Customer Reviews

The Suffering of Love: Christ's Descent Into the Hell of Human Hopelessness

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Despite the weight of the material within, this book is most difficult to put down. Martin offers an insight into the mystery of Holy Saturday that could well be one of the most profound meditations I've come accross. Martin handles art and theology as they should be handled, as two visions of the same truth. It is an excellent book for spiritual reading during Lent. Dr. Martin is a fine scholar. I highly recommend it to all.

Martin succeeds in his brave effort to explore the depths of the kenosis to which Christ dove in order to complete the Redemptive act. Dr. Martin's extensive documentation and the wise manner in which he stands on the shoulders of great theologians, poets and other literary masters provides for an uncommonly moving and profound piece of scholarship.

This book is breathtaking, one of the most inpirational books I have read in many years.

Martin has a style it takes time to get used to. He makes very heavy use of quotations and includes many footnotes. He really just puts together all the best material he has discovered on the topic at hand. But he has read both widely and deeply and what he selects to include is almost always worthwhile. My first contact with Martin came from watching "Franciscan University Presents" on EWTN. He is very impressive on that show, coming across as a devout, knowledgable, and articulate Catholic scholar. If you can adjust to his writing style, his books are well worth reading; and this book is probably his best.

The text is unique in its comparison of Christ's sufferings with the Holocaust experience of the Jews and particular Jews. I found it inspikring and at times embarrassing for myself as a Catholic....for the blindness and ignorance of one of the worst, if not the worst, expression of human violence and prejudice.

I would recommend this book for anyone to whom the following words apply: abandonment, despair, suffering.

And for whom the following words would be happily applied, if they could but reconcile their current issues with God: hope, love, faith and confidence in God.

As someone who has experienced the former words, I feel a lot closer to experiencing the latter ones due to the insights presented in this book.

I can't recommend this book enough! Dr. Martin was my teacher in college at Franciscan, and I am now trying to relocate my notes from his class, as I am remembering how insightful and deep this Catholic thinker can be.

I am a book worm and read a lot of books, but the title to this book was misleading. I didn't like the book at all, in fact, I only read 2 chapters and disgarded it entirely. It was very negative and didn't offer much hope in the world. The writer is obviously very jaded and pessimistic. I had thought that the book would be about Christ descending into Hell after he was crucified and about the rich man and Lazarus; sharing more insight into what happened while Christ had freed the spirits in prison. Such was not the case.

I'm not one to give negative feed back, and I would have never left this message if Amazon had not asked for my opinion.