Where Do Broken Hearts Go? : An Integrative, Participational Theology of Grief

Grounded in the narrative of the loss of his own wife, Ross Hastings seeks to provide insight into the universal human condition of loss and grief . . . and speaks comfort. All kinds of losses produce grief--loss of jobs, homes, friendships, health, losses through divorce, and loss through death of parents, children, and spouses--and we are often unprepared for it. Applicable to all who go through loss, this book will also offer skills for pastors, pastors-in-training, and friends seeking to offer comfort to grieving people. It will weave together first-order theological, as well as integrated psychological insights that relate to loss and grieving, interspersed with personal stories. The ultimately redemptive nature of grief is highlighted, with sensitivity to the grieving process. It offers comfort for the grieving found in fresh awareness of the orientation and action of the triune God who is for us, who invites us to participate in his life and love, and gathers up our grief, and in Christ, suffers with us. It beckons us towards spiritual attentiveness, permission for emotional honesty, normalization of the grief process, practices that enable coping and redemptive transformation in the present, and hope grounded in future resurrection reality.

""Ross Hastings has written a truly profound book. That is because Ross Hastings is a truly profound human being. God shapes some people to be theologians, some to be scientists, some to be psychologists, some to be pastors. Once in a while God takes hold of a human being and shapes a person to be, all in one, a theologian-scientist-pyschologist-pastor. Through sharing with us his own excruciating journey in grief, and through taking us deep into the human soul and deep into the soul of the triune God, Ross brings us to the final place where all grief is finally healed. After reading this book, I can more authentically embrace in my grief Jesus' 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.'""
--Darrell Johnson, Author; Teaching Fellow, Regent College, Vancouver, BC; Director for the Centre of Preaching at Carey Theological College, Vancouver, BC

""In this psychologically informed and theologically compelling book, Dr. Ross Hastings sensitively articulates the experiences of feeling lost, broken-hearted, and disoriented that accompany the loss of a loved one. This book will bring consolation to those who are grieving and it will provide mature wisdom and fresh insight for caregivers who are called to accompany persons in grief through their 'vale of tears.'""
--Phil C. Zylla, Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, ON

Ross Hastings (PhD, chemistry; PhD, theology) is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Regent College, Vancouver. He has served churches in Canada for twenty years, including eleven years as the lead pastor of Peace Portal Alliance in White Rock, British Columbia.