Because we are living in a bewildering time of social disruption and change, Michael Downey's reflection on the liminal space of Holy Saturday is very welcome. We are already, but not yet, resurrection people, so that despair and hope vie for control of our hearts. The Depth of God's Reach: A Spirituality of Christ's Descent offers a nuanced spirituality to support Catholic Christians in these turbulent times by sharing the rich theology of Christ's descent into hell after Good Friday.

Tethered to the Apostles’ Creed affirmation, “He descended into Hell,” the author uses Christ's descent to the dead as a springboard for explaining most of the central Catholic doctrines. The chapters flow easily from a reflective exploration of suffering and death in contemporary culture, through key theological positions about human beings and God, and end with a compelling invitation to live and pray in anticipatory resurrection hope. For example, a focal topic in the early chapters is suffering through which Downey is able to teach about human beings as enfleshed spirits with a distinctive “capacity for self-transcendence” (6), according to Rahner; to highlight von Balthasar's Trinitarian theology based on kenosis that expresses the mystery of the incarnation through which God shares in the depths of our marginalization and alienation; and to explore the tension in John's Gospel between Christ bending to wash his disciples’ feet and his being lifted up on the cross and in the resurrection. In these same chapters, he skillfully weaves in ancient and contemporary theologians, from Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa to Pope Francis and Walter Brueggemann. Chapter 5, The Death of the Incarnate God, provides a particularly succinct but pointed philosophical discussion that encompasses questions about eternity and the immutability of the divine juxtaposed with our human hope in God's generosity, which redeems our suffering in Christ's own passion.

In the second half of the book, the author's focus turns from our concerns with death to the comfort and hope that God offers us. In chapter 7, Hope for the Dead, he even tackles the thorny problems of purgatory, hell, and hope for those who have died. Drawing expertly on Karl Rahner as well as Thomas Aquinas, Downey demonstrates that hope is “an openness to God's reach, to Christ's descent even into the bottoms, to netherworld” (76). Offering Pope Benedict XIV's encyclical on the nature of Christian hope, Spe Salvi, this same chapter infuses our eschatological hope in God's salvation with an urgency to grasp the import of our lives as a fundamental option for or against God. The final two chapters offer comfort and pastoral guidance anchored in the overarching theme of God as hope.

The author's tone is thoroughly conversational, reflecting his dialogue partners across the Christian centuries. The short, effective lessons on Scripture and sacraments are engaging and accessible, intellectually anchored without being overly erudite or theoretical. He demonstrates his own scholarly and pastoral depth through poetic excerpts from Mary Oliver on loss; narrative reflections from his own life experience as an Irish American Catholic, who enjoys rich friendships with immigrant communities in the United States; and fresh retellings of New Testament parables. Readers will appreciate his style, which blends theological argumentation with spiritual reflection to share the many rich religious charisms of our day, such as those of the Dominicans, Trappists, and Franciscans.

I recommend this book for an educated parish community or an undergraduate audience with one caveat. At times the author supposes that his readers are as thoroughly versed in Catholic doctrine and history as he is. For example, he builds the whole text on a presumption that, like him, people are “vexed” with the creedal affirmation that Christ descended into hell (2). Therefore, using this volume with contemporary Catholics, who may be less “churched,” will require some contextualizing, but a skilled teacher can use this to excellent effect as an introduction to Catholicism. The author's powerful message about the “depth of God's reach” into all creation, even into the darkness of our private, existential hells, provides the hope and comfort so needed in our suffering world today.