Risking Truth

Widespread attention to the practice of lament in the Bible is no doubt a measure of the sense of loss, hurt, and fear that mark our historical moment. Amid that widespread attention, Scott Ellington brings a peculiarly alert theological sensibility to the subject. He goes well beyond conventional critical approaches to see what is at stake in the practice of faith and what is at risk in the human enterprise of truth-telling, even when truth-telling shatters and jeopardizes old certitudes. The force of Ellington's exposition is further enhanced by his readiness to carry his study into the New Testament, there to find, amid the good news, the reality of loss and the hope for newness that only comes with truth-telling. This book merits wide and sustained attention from those who care about the quality of faith and the health of our common humanness.



-Walter Brueggemann

author of Praying the Psalms, 2nd ed.





In Risking Truth, Scott Ellington continues the important work of exploring the topic of lament in Scripture. While he stands firmly on the shoulders of the great scholars who have studied the lament tradition in the past, his work offers a timeliness and accessibility to the subject that is rare in scholarly works and much-needed in the twenty-first century.



-Nancy L. deClaisse-Walford

author of Introduction to the Psalms





In the Old Testament and in the New, real prayer involves real courage. It involves facing facts and owning them. It involves the risk of facing God with them and considering replacing old familiar convictions with new ones. It involves thinking about God in new ways. It is easier not to do any of that, but in this book Scott Ellington shows how the risk is worthwhile.



-John Goldingay

author of Israel's Faith