Philip H. Pfatteicher

The Hammer of God

Fiction

“At last the splendid concluding chapter of Bishop Bo Giertz's Hammer of God is available for English readers, and the symbolic shape of the book is complete: three parts, each divided into three chapters. This powerful historical and theological novel, set in one parish in Sweden in the years around 1810, 1870, and 1941, examines convincingly the continuing struggle against those persistent forces that would undermine and destroy the authentic faith of the Church. It is a book of profound and moving biblical theology that remains strikingly relevant to the Church in the twenty-first century, a Church that is still careless of its rich inheritance and too often ignorant of its best traditions. We discover with the curate Savronius, 'Strange, how like us the people of old were!' (96) and a devout rector reminds his curate and us, 'It is a great thing to be an inheritor' (225). Large theological doctrines are here given a local habitation in memorable individuals, each with distinctive strengths and limitations. Read this book to learn theology, to be reminded of the strength of the historical Church, to be led more deeply into prayer and devotion. The spiritual intensity of Scandinavia portrayed in this book may remind one of Ingmar Bergman, but with more faith and an ultimately more satisfying piety.”