In Embraced: Many Stories, One Destiny, Mark Buchanan creatively uses the art of storytelling to illustrate the theology of Jurgen Moltmann. Pastor Buchanan beckons us to engage with the stories and be drawn into a future beyond what we could imagine or create. We are invited to walk with an orphan, a disheartened young adult, a sorrowful community, a frustrated parent, and others, to encounter our own emptiness and indifference and eventually discover that ""in the end, a beginning lies hidden."" God's boundless resolve to comfort the suffering, gather the lost, bring hope to the despairing, and share life that rises out of death is artfully expressed.
Mark Buchanan captures common human experiences and compassionately takes us on the journey from hopelessness into hopefulness. He invites us into the embrace of God that sets us free and unites our story with God's story. As a practical application of Jurgen Moltmann's theology, Embraced: Many Stories, One Destiny introduces us to a shared life with God that is inclusive, hopeful, and creative.
""If you read Embraced, you will be captured by the engaging and poignant stories that Mark Buchanan tells. They are stories of weakness and strength, pain and joy, despair and hope. You will sense that you too can find life and hope in the embrace of God. I cannot recommend this incisive and spiritually deep book too enthusiastically.""
--Stephen T. Davis, Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College
""Drawing on decades of pastoral experience, Mark Buchanan offers a creative doorway into the theological work of Jurgen Moltmann. Simultaneously challenging and inspiring, this book displays the theological depth of the stories that animate our lives.""
--Matthew D. Lundberg, Associate Professor of Theology, Department of Religion, Calvin College
""Mark Buchanan has written a beautiful book that bridges the gap between the hopeful theology of Jurgen Moltmann and real life experiences. Embraced is not an abstract theological work for scholars; it is a raw and authentic reflection for pilgrims 'on the way' who, like Buchanan and like Moltmann himself, are seeking to walk with Jesus on the way to His future and our universal future in Him.""
--Ben Merritt, Blogger, moltmanniac.com
""From the first day Pastor Mark walked into my graduate seminar on Moltmann's theology a few years ago, I could tell how deep his appreciation and passion for the German Theological Master's thought is. From the first page of the manuscript draft he gave me to read, I could tell how skillfully and creatively he is able to weave constructive theological ideas into the fabric of every day pastoral narratives. What a feast this book is!""
--Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary; Docent of Ecumenics, University of Helsinki
Mark French Buchanan is a Presbyterian pastor specializing in multicultural ministry in the Los Angeles area. He has been an enthusiastic student of Jurgen Moltmann's theology since encountering Dr. Moltmann as a seminarian at Princeton Seminary. He writes using engaging real life stories to illustrate and bring to life the central tenets of Dr. Moltmann's theology. He currently resides in Pasadena, California, with his wife and children.
