Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering

Too often the Christian attitude toward suffering is characterized by a detached academic appeal to God’s sovereignty, as if suffering were a game or a math problem. Or maybe we expect that since God is good, everything will just work out all right somehow. But where then is honest lament? Aren’t we shortchanging believers of the riches of the Christian teaching about suffering?

In Embodied Hope, Kelly Kapic invites us to consider the example of our Lord Jesus. Only because Jesus has taken on our embodied existence, suffered alongside us, died, and been raised again can we find any hope from the depths of our own dark valleys of pain. As we look to Jesus, we are invited to participate not only in his sufferings, but also in the church, which calls us out of isolation and into the encouragement and consolation of the communal life of Christ.

Drawing on his own family’s experience with prolonged physical pain, Kapic reshapes our understanding of suffering into the image of Jesus, and brings us to a renewed understanding of―and participation in―our embodied hope.

Kelly M. Kapic is a professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, where he has taught since 2001.

He has written and edited over fifteen books, including You're Only Human, which won the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in Theology (Popular) and the Southwestern Journal of Theology 2022 Book of the Year Award (Applied Theology/Ethics) and Embodied Hope (IVP Academic, 2017), which won the Book of the Year Award from Christianity Today in the category of Theology and Ethics and World Magazine’s Short List award for Accessible Theology Book of the year. Some of his other work includes the widely used text A Little Book for New Theologians and two volumes with the economist Brian Fikkert: Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty isn’t the American Dream and A Field Guide to Becoming Whole: Principles for Poverty Alleviation Ministries. He received the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year Finalist Award.

An active speaker and collaborator, Kapic has also worked on research teams funded by the John Templeton Foundation and has written for various academic journals and popular magazines, including serving on the Board of editorial consultants for the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care.

Kelly and his wife Tabitha have two adult children, Jonathan and Margot.