The cross carries the polar memories of history. One memory is the terrible violence imposed on Jesus, and the other is the memory of faith in the midst of the deepest abyss in human history. A theology of the cross contextualizes the dangerous combination of these memories in the present reality of life and death. A theology of the cross is thoroughly preoccupied with the agency of God, but not in a way that deals with the systematic apologetics of the knowledge of God. It deals with the knowledge of God before it becomes knowledge. It is the matter of the living and dying of our life. This...