Arise, O Lord: A Christian Guide to Cursing with God
What does it mean to cry, “Arise, O LORD, in your anger?” And why should Christians pray for God to break the teeth and arm of the wicked? In his book, Arise, O Lord: A Christian Guide to Cursing with God, Trevor Laurence examines the imprecatory psalms to show why the church must sing the Psalter, as given to us. These vengeance petitions are speech from God for God.
Laurence's book seeks to understand the imprecatory psalms as prayers, not curses, that plead for an end to violence and seek justice for the righteous. Rather than asserting human cruelty, the imprecatory psalms ask God to do what He has already promised to do.
Arise, O Lord addresses chief features of imprecatory psalms, such as how they fit into the Bible's story or bear witness to Jesus or whether praying such psalms can accomplish anything in history, and the book also includes a Question and Answer section.
What Others are Saying:
"Like the best writers on imprecatory Psalms (James Adams, John Day, Steffen Jenkins), Trevor Laurence expounds the deep biblical wellsprings of these Psalms, which reach back to Eden and ahead to the final judgment. He explains why we should curse with God, and why we should want to do it. Also like the best writers on imprecations, Trevor doesn’t want to tame them but to display them in all their wild glory."
~ From the Foreword by Peter J. Leithart, Author and President of Theopolis Institute
About the Author
Trevor Laurence (PhD, University of Exeter) serves as Theologian-in-Residence at Trinity Church (PCA) in Winston-Salem, NC. He is the Executive Director of the Cateclesia Institute, a Research Associate with the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, and the author of Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer.
About Theopolis Explorations
The Theopolis Explorations Series builds on the four volumes of the Theopolis Fundamentals Series. Each Explorations volume brings the Theopolitan vision to bear on a particular biblical, liturgical, cultural, or missional topic. Theopolis Explorations are well-researched but not academic, elegantly but not popularly written, thorough but not exhaustive. The authors do not claim to speak the final word on the issues they examine, but aspire to offer a helpful word to strengthen and embolden the church as she carries on the mission of King Jesus in today’s world. For more information about Theopolis, visit our website, TheopolisInstitute.com.