God as Our Daily Portion
A Feature Review of
Rest: A Theological Account
Euntaek David Shin
Hardcover: Baylor University Press, 2024
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Reviewed by Benjamin A. Simpson
Restlessness abounds. In recent times, a pandemic and post-pandemic consequences have reshaped life and society. Political upheaval, not only in the United States but across the globe, generates angst. Rapidly advancing technologies continue to change the way we work, play, and relate to one another. Nostalgia for a romanticized past, anxiety in an unstable present, and uncertainty about the future detach us from our most vital source of rest, the life of the triune God.
Saint Augustine famously wrote, “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Euntaek David Shin believes Augustine was right. In Rest: A Theological Account, Shin describes the problem of restlessness, examines select domains where restlessness is experienced, and provides an account of how human beings can enter and experience God’s rest. Methodologically, this is a work of constructive theology, confessional in approach, biblical in orientation, and clearly Augustinian.
This is not a book about sabbath, differing from John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Ruth Haley Barton’s Embracing Rhythms of Works and Rest, or A.J. Swoboda’s Subversive Sabbath. This book addresses the problem of restlessness, which Shin defines as “not remaining in God” (7). I mentioned contemporary sources of restlessness, crises that exacerbate our feeling of dis-ease. Shin explores a deeper, existential problem that has been with us since we stepped foot east of Eden: alienation from God. He offers a solution that includes Christian spiritual practices but transcends them, the experience of divine grace given through Jesus Christ and received by the power of the Holy Spirit—fellowship with the Trinity.
Despite our abundant experiences of distraction, boredom, malaise, and torpor, God hasn’t abandoned us to restlessness and its underlying cause. Shin invites us to consider ways God has offered us the gift of and invitation to rest. He argues that “restfulness,” or the state of remaining in God, can be experienced psychologically and physiologically, affecting both the mind and body. Shin’s theological solution rests on the interrelationship between two variables, “the economy of the triune God” and “human finitude.” These variables are examined within four “domains:” place, activities, time, and God—the final domain being the one upon which the first three depend.
Shin’s main idea is that “a restful life flows from living in sync with the triune God’s economy.” He claims that when we are “attuned” to God’s person and corresponding ways of interaction with the created world, we experience restfulness, no matter what we are doing. Shin brings together realities described in John 15, 1 Corinthians 13, and elsewhere, arguing that we can live an abiding, Spirit-filled, and fruit-bearing life, grounded in and expressed through the theological virtues. Shin writes, “When we remain in God, we remain in the triune God’s economy through the Son and the Spirit who shape human finitude, setting the conditions for restful living. We respond to God’s economy and its ensuing human finitude through faith, hope, and love” (3).
There are many works of practical Christianity that diagnose causes of our modern disorientation and prescribe sabbath-keeping and other spiritual disciplines which can address our experience of “hurry, noise, and crowds” (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline), “time sickness” (Andrew Root, The Congregation in a Secular Age: Keeping Sacred Time against the Speed of Modern Life), “holy discontent” (Jennie Allen, Restless: Because You Were Made for More), “running on empty” (Brian Croft and Ronnie Martin, The Unhurried Pastor: Redefining Productivity for a More Sustainable Ministry), or “soul fatigue” (Casey Tygrett, The Gift of Restlessness: A Spirituality for Unsettled Seasons). Shin’s approach adds to the conversation. This is not a program or a step-by-step guide. Rather, Shin provides a fresh expression of Augustinian theology and a conceptual account of the sanctified life.
Shin’s vision for life with God, his framework for undertaking work as it can be understood through the biblical and theological concept of a daily “portion,” and his soteriological approach to the healing, preservation, and continuance of memory offer possibilities to experience joy, contentment, and celebration in communion with the divine. God’s work in and through us occurs in the time and place God has appointed, through the activities he has prepared, and within a narrative structure which we, by grace, partake of in fellowship with the Trinity. Remaining in God’s rest—in place, activity, and memory—depends on the beatific vision, which Shin turns to in his final chapter. Ultimate rest is entered by those whose hearts are purified by God’s love, possess hopeful confidence in God’s future, and participate daily (in grand and quotidian realities) in God’s coming kingdom.
Shin’s theological vision could be seen as based on an overly optimistic eschatology or an understanding of sanctification that does not adequately account for the burden of sin. How is one to remain restful when they are up all night with a sick child, navigating long-term unemployment, or battling severe illness? What about instances where societal ills, economic instability, and unjust governing structures demean, degrade, and destroy those dominated by such systems? Can rest then be realized? Can restfulness be received?
If Shin’s account is true, then yes. Truth is not contingent on circumstance. In Augustinian theology, while the city of man remains, the city of God is accessible and arriving. Christian history contains accounts of saints that evidenced this kind of divine life. And the Scriptures provide examples of godly persons of peace, assailed and surrounded by chaos yet standing firm, focused on God and things above.
As with most theological exposition, the reasoning can be compelling, elegant, sound, and beautiful. It is the outworking of these concepts that is difficult and daunting. This is the way of discipleship. The easy yoke remains a yoke. We take on the yoke with Christ, who makes our burden light. He imparts strength by the Spirit. What was formerly impossible becomes suddenly possible. The resources of God have become available to us, and the work of God is accomplished in and through us.
Practical introductions to Christian spiritual disciplines, explanations of how they work, and recommendations for how they can be integrated in the life of faith are wonderful but not wholly sufficient. Shin’s Rest provides a necessary theological account of the reality underlying our life in God. By receiving and participating in the life of the triune God, Christians experience true freedom and are bolstered by everlasting hope. Pairing Shin’s theological description of restfulness in God with the daily practices of discipleship has the potential to yield a faithful, humble, and joyful witness to the liberating, transformative power available to those who have fellowship with God in Jesus Christ.
Benjamin A. Simpson
Benjamin A. Simpson serves as the Associate Director of Spiritual Formation at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary. You can read his work online: www.benjaminasimpson.com.
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