Additional information
by Elaine G. Siemsen (Author)
Many books on the market are designed to help us through times of suffering. They all offer answers and proposals for why we suffer, for what purpose is to be found in this experience, and for how can we go forward after our life has been shattered. Most approach the subject from the perspective of defending God. Historically the great and not-so-great thinkers of the Christian community have demanded that followers not blame God for their suffering or hold God responsible for the pain that they have experienced. Others have taught that God sends and uses pain to correct the wandering, wayward believer. I have found that the majority of these answers leave readers without hope. Through several years of teaching about suffering and a concept in Christian theology called theodicy, and through listening to the personal stories told through anger and tears, I have struggled to recover teachings that open our hearts to God's promised hope. Resistant Hope is the result of my faith journey. This book does not set out to defend God. God does not need my defense. Resistant Hope is about how God works alone and through us, to teach us to fight back when we stand at the abyss of despair. Resistant Hope is a pathway to finding hope in the midst of the pain of daily life and at the moments of greatest grief and sorrow.
Author Biography
Elaine Siemsen is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She has served congregations in Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa. She has taught at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana; Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota; and St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. She is the author of Constructing a North American Theology through the Work of Joseph Sittler: Embodied Words (2003). Her work has been published in The Lutheran, Lutheran Partners, Dialog, and Currents in Theology and Mission. Elaine and her husband, Dennis, both originally from Chicago, Illinois, live in Rochester, Minnesota.
