Theologian and writer David Cunningham draws from novels, poems, and plays to give a resource for humans who face suffering, death, and new life. He provides a religious reading of important literary texts, with three studies for each of the three themes--drawn together by the weekly sequence of Friday-Saturday-Sunday and the events of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. These reflections on universal experiences are enriched by Cunningham's presentations of Christian perspectives which are significant resources for dealing with grief and pain, separation and absence, and transformation and renewal.

David S. Cunningham is Professor of Religion and Director of the CrossRoads Project at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He holds degrees in Communication Studies from Northwestern University, and in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge (England) and Duke University. He has published widely in the areas of Christian theology and ethics, including 'Faithful Persuasion: In Aid of a Rhetoric of Christian Theology' (Notre Dame, 1992) and 'These Three Are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology' (Blackwell, 1998). His most recent book, 'Reading is Believing: The Christian Faith Through Literature and Film' (Brazos, 2002) explores the central beliefs of Christianity through novels, plays, short stories, and films.