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Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers, and Hope, By Albert Y. Hsu alt

Grieving a Suicide

A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers, and Hope

Revised and Expanded Edition

by Albert Y. Hsu

Grieving a Suicide
Ebook
  • Length: 224 pages
  • Published: July 04, 2017
  • Imprint: IVP
  • ISBN: 9780830883974
Other Formats:
  • A 2003 Finalist in the United Kingdom Christian Book Awards

Every seventeen minutes, someone in the United States dies by suicide. It is one of the most serious public health crises of modern times, claiming over one million lives worldwide every year.

Those who have lost a loved one to suicide experience tremendous shock and trauma, with a confusing mix of emotions--anger, guilt, grief and despair. Suicide also raises heartrending questions: Why did this happen? Why didn't we see it coming? Many also wonder if those who choose suicide are doomed to an eternity separated from God and loved ones. Some may even start asking whether life is worth living at all.

After his father's death by suicide, Albert Hsu wrestled with the intense emotional and spiritual questions surrounding suicide. While acknowledging that there are no easy answers, Hsu draws on the resources of the Christian faith to point suicide survivors to the God who offers comfort in our grief and hope for the future.

If you have lost a loved one to suicide or provide pastoral care to those left behind, this book is an essential companion for the journey toward healing.

REVIEWS

"In Grieving a Suicide, Al Hsu has done what few can do. He has created a thoughtful, empathic, spiritually ennobling and practically helpful account of his response to the loss of his father by suicide. Al's journey shows how suffering, when we know the Lord, can mature us. I started merely to scan the book just before leaving for a trip, and drawn into the narrative, I read it straight through by the time my flight was finished. Wow!"
"Grieving a Suicide is one of the most helpful books I read after our son, Matthew, died by suicide. I scribbled notes and comments to myself on nearly every page of this revised and expanded edition, and I found Al Hsu's compassionate and practical words even more beneficial than before. He has walked this painful path and knows firsthand how to give hope and comfort to grieving people. Grieving a Suicide is on my list of must-read books for survivors of suicide loss."
"My family, maybe like yours, has been touched by suicide. Answers are often sparse and the questions linger. In the midst of the pain, we mourn and we grieve. In this unique and helpful book, Al Hsu helps us to grieve well in the midst of the hurt."
"I think the material in this book will be a godsend. . . . It is a solid handbook to propel the reader through the anguish that suicide brings on. This is unlike any other book on this particular subject and will prove to be a must-read for counselors, as well as stricken families."
"Having lost my brother to suicide, I am often asked by other survivors for recommendations of helpful resources. Al Hsu's Grieving a Suicide will now be the first I recommend. It is comprehensive without being clinical, practical without offering easy answers. And while Hsu's book is tremendously hopeful, it does not flinch at this bald fact: suicide is turmoil and trauma."
"Al Hsu has updated Grieving a Suicide, an already-valued resource that I recommend to every Christian grieving a suicide. This book is an honest and authentic telling of Al's story of grappling with his father's suicide. It's a story that desperately needs expression in the church, to bring suicide out of the shadows. The bonus gift of the book is listening in on Al's theological and practical reflections on the gut-wrenching complexities of suicide."
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CONTENTS

Introduction: For Survivors--the Other Victims of Suicide

Part 1: When Suicide Strikes
1. Shock
2. Turmoil
3. Lament
4. Relinquishment
5. Remembrance

Part 2: The Lingering Questions
6. Why Did This Happen?
7. Is Suicide the Unforgivable Sin?
8. Where Is God When It Hurts?

Part 3: Life After Suicide
9. The Spirituality of Grief
10. The Healing Community
11.The Lessons of Suicide

Epilogue: Going On

Acknowldegements

Appendix: Resources for Suicide Survivors and Suicide Prevention

Notes

Index

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ABOUT Albert Y. Hsu

Albert Y. Hsu

Albert Y. Hsu (pronounced "shee") is associate editorial director (trade) at InterVarsity Press, where he acquires and develops books in such areas as church, culture, ministry, and mission. He earned his PhD in educational studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Al is the author of Grieving a Suicide, Singles at the Crossroads, and The Suburban Christian. He has been a writer and columnist for Christianity Today and served as seniorwarden on the vestry of Church of the Savior in Wheaton, Illinois. He and his wife, Ellen, have two sons and live in the western suburbs of Chicago.

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