From the back cover:
A tortured prophet travels the American continent in the 1860s, witness to the twin catastrophes of the U.S.-Dakota War and the American Civil War. He hears the woes of the Dakota people who are suffering under the advance of white oppression. He is present on the day of their uprising and the destruction of the town of Redwood Ferry on the Minnesota River. He ministers to the dying on the fields of Chattanooga. He finds his own home town in ruins. As his heart fills with visions of broken societies and broken humanity, the reverend’s faith in divine justice steadily abandons him. The universal tragedy of his country’s darkest years force him to finally challenge the God he thought he had known. Will his faith – and his soul – survive?
At its heart, the story of the reverend Clinch is a narrative midrash on the biblical prophet Habakkuk. From an ancient and equally disastrous reality Habakkuk cries his famous lament: “How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and you will not hear?” All of history’s displaced are forced to live in the world of that question, but be warned – only the brave and desperate can bear it when God answers.
From the author:
While told in the form of a moving story of war, friendship, and doubt, Watchfires Against The Lord also engages the ethical and religious concerns of the dominant culture’s treatment of oppressed minority communities. The current struggle for our nation’s soul has deep roots in our history and theology, and this novel is meant to give a voice to some of the historical issues that still shape us today.
With the prophet Habakkuk, this novel also gives voice to those who dare challenge the justice of God, not only on charges of the widespread injustice and violence prevalent in history, but also through accusations of indifference on the part of the deity. If God is really just, shouldn’t the world reflect it? If his favor is toward the righteous, shouldn’t they prosper? If he is really loving, shouldn’t he find better ways to show it? These are some of humanity’s oldest questions, and many readers might be surprised that the Bible itself gives them such a central place. Beyond the Bible, those questions are still just as relevant today as they were when Habakkuk prophesied almost 3 millennia ago.
By encountering the book of Habakkuk in novel form and setting it in a period of history familiar to the reader, Watchfires forces us to engage questions of theodicy and come to a new understanding of God’s work in the world. Yet this open struggle between faith and doubt does not lead the reader by the hand to a predetermined conclusion, or offer shallow-yet-uplifting answers to these ancient questions. We are all called upon to struggle for ourselves in a brutal world, and with any grace we might leave the battlefield with a new but terrifying understanding of God and his sovereignty.
A tortured prophet travels the American continent in the 1860s, witness to the twin catastrophes of the U.S.-Dakota War and the American Civil War. He hears the woes of the Dakota people who are suffering under the advance of white oppression. He is present on the day of their uprising and the destruction of the town of Redwood Ferry on the Minnesota River. He ministers to the dying on the fields of Chattanooga. He finds his own home town in ruins. As his heart fills with visions of broken societies and broken humanity, the reverend’s faith in divine justice steadily abandons him. The universal tragedy of his country’s darkest years force him to finally challenge the God he thought he had known. Will his faith – and his soul – survive?
At its heart, the story of the reverend Clinch is a narrative midrash on the biblical prophet Habakkuk. From an ancient and equally disastrous reality Habakkuk cries his famous lament: “How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and you will not hear?” All of history’s displaced are forced to live in the world of that question, but be warned – only the brave and desperate can bear it when God answers.
From the author:
While told in the form of a moving story of war, friendship, and doubt, Watchfires Against The Lord also engages the ethical and religious concerns of the dominant culture’s treatment of oppressed minority communities. The current struggle for our nation’s soul has deep roots in our history and theology, and this novel is meant to give a voice to some of the historical issues that still shape us today.
With the prophet Habakkuk, this novel also gives voice to those who dare challenge the justice of God, not only on charges of the widespread injustice and violence prevalent in history, but also through accusations of indifference on the part of the deity. If God is really just, shouldn’t the world reflect it? If his favor is toward the righteous, shouldn’t they prosper? If he is really loving, shouldn’t he find better ways to show it? These are some of humanity’s oldest questions, and many readers might be surprised that the Bible itself gives them such a central place. Beyond the Bible, those questions are still just as relevant today as they were when Habakkuk prophesied almost 3 millennia ago.
By encountering the book of Habakkuk in novel form and setting it in a period of history familiar to the reader, Watchfires forces us to engage questions of theodicy and come to a new understanding of God’s work in the world. Yet this open struggle between faith and doubt does not lead the reader by the hand to a predetermined conclusion, or offer shallow-yet-uplifting answers to these ancient questions. We are all called upon to struggle for ourselves in a brutal world, and with any grace we might leave the battlefield with a new but terrifying understanding of God and his sovereignty.
