In this luminous new collection of poems, Franz Wright expands on the spiritual joy he found in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Walking to Martha’s Vineyard. Wright, whom we know as a poet of exquisite miniatures, opens God’s Silence with “East Boston, 1996,” a powerful long poem that looks back at the darker moments in the formation of his sensibility. He shares his private rules for bus riding (“No eye contact: the eyes of the terrified / terrify”), and recalls, among other experiences, his first encounter with a shotgun, as an eight-year-old boy (“In a clearing in the cornstalks . . . it was suggested / that I fire / on that muttering family of crows”). Throughout this volume, Wright continues his penetrating study of his own and our collective soul. He reaches a new level of acceptance as he intones the paradox “I have heard God’s silence like the sun,” and marvels at our presumptions:We speak of Heaven who have not yet accomplishedeven this, the holiness of things precisely as they are, and never will!Though Wright often seeks forgiveness in these poems, his black wit and self-deprecation are reliably present, and he delights in reminding us that “literature will lose, sunlight will win, don’t worry.”But in this book, literature wins as well. God’s Silence is a deeply felt celebration of what poetry (and its silences) can do for us.

He Speaks in the Silence is about Diane Comer’s search for the kind of intimacy with God every woman longs for. It is a story of trying to be a good girl, of following the rules, of longing for a satisfaction that eludes us. Disappointed with all Diane had been told was supposed to fulfill her, she begged God in desperation to give her more. And He did. But first He took her through a trial so debilitating it almost destroyed what little faith she had. He let her go deaf. Using vivid parallels between her deafness and every woman’s struggle to hear God, this book shows women not only how Diane, as a deaf woman, hears in everyday life, but also how she can learn to listen to God in the midst of her own loud life, finding intimacy with God and the deep soul satisfaction she longs for.

An honest, soul-searching pursuit of biblical answers to one of Christianity's most challenging questions: What do you do when God meets your prayers with silence? Many of us have struggled with prayers that seem to go unanswered, and Pete Greig has been down that difficult road of doubt. This book is both intensely personal and deeply theological—a book born out of his wife Sammy's fight for her life after a horrifying diagnosis. The acclaimed author of Red Moon Rising wrestles with the hard side of prayer, how to respond when there seem to be no answers, and how to cope with those who seek to interpret our experience for us. For those struggling with prayer, God on Mute brings a message of hope and comfort, but also a better understanding of how we communicate with our Creator. Using the timeline of Holy Week (from Maundy Thursday through Easter Sunday) as a template, Greig explores four main questions about prayer from all angles: How am I going to get through this? Why aren't my prayers being answered? Where is God when he seems silent? When every prayer is answered...what does that mean? Silence in response to our most heart-felt prayers is the hardest thing for a person of faith to wrestle with. The world collapses. Then all goes quiet. Words can't explain what we're going through. People avoid you and don't know what to say. So you turn to Him and you pray. You need Him more than ever before. But somehow even God Himself seems on mute. And this sinks into us with a sense of futility... But even in this crushing silence, there is a way forward. Here is a story of faith, hope, and love beyond all understanding. Includes guide for group discussion.

Christianity Today Book Award Much of our faith and practice is about words—preaching, teaching, talking with others. Yet all of these words are not enough to take us into the real presence of God where we can hear his voice. This book is an invitation to you to meet God deeply and fully outside the demands and noise of daily life. It is an invitation to solitude and silence. The beauty of a true invitation is that we really do have a choice about embarking on this adventure. God extends the invitation, but he honors our freedom and will not push himself where he is not wanted. Instead, he waits for us to respond from the depths of our desire. Will you say yes? This expanded edition includes a guide for groups to use both in discussing the book content and in learning to practice silence together.

As a custodian of the gods was handed down to him by his father, Papa is popular and powerful, feared and revered as the most potent priest in the village of Adiembra; builds confidence in himself; and believes there is no power above his gods. However, there is a problem that tears him apart: his last wife is unable to bear him a child. Papa consults a god in the North who makes his last wife conceive, with a condition to make a sacrifice every new moon. During labor, she struggles to live but dies. Papa soon forgets the pain and hurt of death as the beautiful baby girl grows. Papa forgets to perform the sacrifice on a few occasions as the god of the North asked. The god strikes, bringing punishment on the little girl with an abscess that causes her to decay till death. Papas boys rebel and elope, turning against him and his gods. In anger, Papa beats up wives and sends them away to their families, living his life alone. He makes love to a prostitute during a visit to his friend. An ant falls from his penis; he bleeds until his health deteriorates. Papa loses connection with the gods and his family and consequently commits suicide.

God has provided a way for all people, not just scholars, to know that the Bible is the Word of God. John Piper has devoted his life to showing us that the glory of God is object of the soul’s happiness. Now, his burden in this book is to demonstrate that this same glory is the ground of the mind’s certainty. God’s peculiar glory shines through his Word. The Spirit of God enlightens the eyes of our hearts. And in one self-authenticating sight, our minds are sure and our hearts are satisfied. Justified certainty and solid joy meet in the peculiar glory of God.

Like the biblical Job, many people suffer under the silence of God. This book shows that it is enlightening to retrace the origins of the concept of divine speech and silence in the ancient Near East and Greece.