The Facets of Death by James Rondinone explores many questions people have about death. The author jumps into the topic of death by studying God’s involvement in death. James Rondinone looks at whether God prevents some people from dying and why God allows others to die. The author talks about his experience with a death in his family and shares his questions after the bereavement. This sets the book up well as it shows the reader that the author is another person on an investigatory journey.

The author looks at the death of Abel from the Bible. He discusses why God did not prevent his brother, Cain, from murdering Abel. James Rondinone then uses this example to look at the topic of free will. However, the author does not stop there. The author discusses complex issues like God’s role in allowing masses of people to die and uses the example of Noah and the flood. These situations are hard to grapple with, yet James Rondinone’s thoughts on the issues are well explained.

One of the most interesting things about the book is that although it was written from a Christian perspective, the author wrote it so that anyone grappling with the topic of death could read it and gain nuggets along the way.

Before picking up the book, I decided it would be a challenging and depressing read. On the contrary, the author wrote the book from a compelling point of view. He tackled a topic from an intellectual level instead of purely an emotional level. This allows the reader to look at death from a broader point of view and gain a bigger perspective. Even though the chapters are short, parts of the book felt slow, making me want to move on to the next section.

The Facets of Death is a thought-provoking book written for people from various walks of life. It contains numerous references from the Bible and deals with a tricky topic well. Even with the Christian references, the intellectual look at the topic makes this book a great resource for anyone looking for a different take on death and grief.

Pages: 130 | ASIN : B09TQ61M37

Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/04/the-facets-of-death/