Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday

The first comprehensive theology of Holy Saturday ever written, Between Cross and Resurrection shows that at the center of the biblical story and the church's creed lies a three-day narrative. Lewis explores the meaning of Holy Saturday -- the restless day of burial and waiting -- from the perspectives of narrative (hearing the story), doctrine (thinking the story), and ethics (living the story). Along the way he visits as many spiritual themes as possible in order to demonstrate the range of topics that take on fresh meaning when viewed from the vantage point of Holy Saturday. Between Cross and Resurrection is not only incisive and elegantly written, but it is also a uniquely moving work deeply rooted in Christian experience. While writing this book Lewis experienced his own Holy Saturday in suffering from and finally succumbing to cancer. He considered Between Cross and Resurrection to be the culmination of his life's work.

Review :
Daniel L. Migliore "In this major study Alan Lewis offers a profound meditation on 'Holy Saturday, ' the day between Good Friday and Easter when Christ lay dead and buried in the tomb and his followers experienced the absence and silence of God. Lewis challenges all triumphalist distortions of the biblical message and summons the church to hear anew, ponder well, and live out the story of the Son of God's passage to victory through suffering, abyss, death, and burial. This exploration of the 'Holy Saturday' theme in its theological, ethical, liturgical, and personal dimensions has few if any peers." The Cresset "This is a beautiful, sublime, and provocative meditation on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We are in debt not only to Lewis himself, but also to his colleagues, friends, and family who brought this manuscript to publication. Lewis's book is a powerful invitation to a theology of Holy Saturday, which ought to have lasting importance and should be consulted again and again for intellectual, spiritual, and ethical insight and nourishment." Douglas John Hall "In this splendid, lucid, and refreshingly original work Alan Lewis does for Christian scholarship and faith what Ernest Becker in The Denial of Death did for social psychology: evoking what is best in the received tradition, he makes it speak to the life-and-death realities of the human condition here and now. One feels that it is not accidental that both Becker and Lewis were conscious of writing their seminal studies in the valley of the shadow of death. Such combinations of wisdom and courage are seldom achieved elsewhere. Between Cross and Resurrection is a 'must' for all who sense in the tradition Luther named theologia cruces a viable and timely alternative both to the cynicism and one-dimensionality of contemporary worldliness and to the outmoded triumphalism of a languishing religiosity. With his imaginative use of the symbol of Easter Saturday, Lewis describes a wonderfully nuanced gospel that never asks the reader to suppress the negating aspects of creaturely existence in order to affirm the essential goodness of a world beloved of its Creator." Colin Gunton " It is wonderful to see the publication of Alan Lewis's study of a topic that was for him -- and therefore will also be for us -- so truly a life-and-death concern. This book serves as a fine tribute and memorial." Publishers Weekly (Religion Notes) "This is an original interpretation of a relatively unmined topic, a rare achievement in Christian theology." Theological Studies "Theologians rarely write with an elegant style. Alan Lewis is an exception. His is a beautiful book reflecting on the meaning of Holy Saturday, the hiatus between Good Friday and Easter Sunday when Jesus lay dead in the tomb and his disciples experienced the absence of God. In an original work, Lewis does for Christian theology what Ernest Becker did for social psychology in The Denial of Death (1973)." Theology Today "A stunning volume. . . Few works of contemporary theology so wonderfully combine great learning, stylistic eloquence, and moving depth of insight. This is an important book." Duncan B. Forrester "Lewis had a remarkable gift for incisive and elegant preparation of a profound theological argument." Thomas F. Torrance "This is the most remarkable and moving book I have ever read. Every page was written by a dying, saintly theologian who stood in the very presence of God, before whom readers too will find themselves hushed in continuous prayer and deep meditation. As we turn over each page, we are led by the late Alan Lewis on a profound and moving theological pilgrimage from the foot of the cross to the garden tomb and through the darkness of Holy Saturday to the wonderful light of Easter morning. This is a superb book of rich dogmatic and liturgical theology that will bring readers to their knees and lift them up again into the audible presence of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus and the communion of the Holy Trinity. . . Between Cross and Resurrection is a book every theological student and every minister of the gospel should study, use, and cherish" The Christian Century "Lewis's theology of Holy Saturday is a theology of the cross, a challenge to any version of Easter faith that would ignore the awful silence of God as encountered in the cancer ward, or at the bedside of a dying child, or in the killing fields and extermination camps. . . In this masterful book . . . he speaks with elegance, honesty, and passion about the heart of the faith."