The End of the Christian Life Lenten Study Companion

Through a reflection on the seven weeks of Lent, beginning with the half-week that starts on Ash Wednesday, readers will have an opportunity to draw on themes from The End of the Christian Life, which includes a psalm to orient our lives and our practices within the Word of God, a brief reflection, a prompt for prayer, and suggestions for daily and weekly practices. As the introduction notes, “This guide is a journey from darkness to light, culminating in the God of life revealed in the crucified and resurrected Christ. It brings readers on a pilgrimage to cultivate true Easter hope.”

“Lent is a season of fasting and repentance that reminds us, in an embodied way, that we have not yet reached the promised land.”

This study guide draws themes from the book The End of the Christian Life, written by Dr. J. Todd Billings. In this book, Billings “calls us to embrace our mortality in our daily life and faith. This is the journey of genuine discipleship, following the crucified and resurrected Lord in a world of distraction and false hopes.” Billings draws on his experience as a professor and father living with incurable cancer to offer a personal yet deeply theological account of the gospel’s expansive hope for small, mortal creatures. James K. A. Smith, Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University, shares that this book is “An invitation to find life in the embrace of our mortality.”