“Through God’s redemptive plan, memory transforms from a millstone to a milestone.” That is how author Matt Rehrer begins and concludes his book, Redeeming Memory. Rehrer has provided an encouraging resource for believers as they process and interpret memories.

He begins by observing that biblical memory is a neglected topic in current Christian literature. The operative word is “current.” Rehrer’s research has drawn from past Christian reflections on the topic of memory including stalwarts John Bunyan, Richard Sibbes, Anthony Burgess, Thomas Watson, Charles Spurgeon, and C.S. Lewis. He also mines the Scriptures for its spiritual wealth concerning the place and use of memories under the spiritual disciplines of meditation, reflection, and remembering God’s redemptive work in the past and God’s promises of hope for the future to encourage the believer in the present.

Rehrer organizes his book by following the Bible’s redemptive storyline. He begins the first section by considering memory from a scientific perspective, describing the anatomy of the brain in relation to its ability to encode, store, and retrieve information.

He also underscores the theological foundation for memory by examining God’s perfect memory through the lens of the nature of God’s simplicity. Furthermore, Rehrer observes the creation account whereby God, as self-rememberer, created humankind according to his image with the ability to remember their Creator and His work so that they might worship Him.

Secondly, the author examines the impact of the Fall and sin’s corruption upon human memory leading to its brokenness and distortion. Thirdly, he traces God’s redemption of human memory through the obedient work of Christ’s perfect memory, the forsakenness of Christ at the cross (a type of forgetting), and the remembrance of Christ at the resurrection, and His remembrance of His children in His glorification (pp. 65-80).

Because of God’s redemptive work in Christ, Christ has provided provisions and promises of the Spirit to help transform memory through prayer and Scripture-meditation with the assurance of redemption (pp. 85-88). Fourthly, he closes the book, considering the place of a glorified memory in the New Creation by observing the promises of Scripture for the Church in the presence of Christ.

As to the character and tone of Redeeming Memory, Matt Rehrer draws from his rich experiences in the medical field. His illustrations are filled with colorful analogies drawn from God’s providential care for the animal kingdom to weighty anecdotes that recount numerous experiences with his patients in the ICU.

He has sprinkled every chapter with gripping stories, current documentaries, and fun-facts of God’s creation that provide vivid connections to each theme. In the effort of stimulating the reader’s appetite: Rehrer describes the ecological interdependence of trees in the mutual support of one another, recounts the odd biological characteristics of particular fish in the ocean, and connects Psalm 22 to the crimson blood-worm that sacrifices her life on a tree to be devoured by her young while marked for her life with her crimson blood. (Sorry to steal the thunder; the crimson worm account was gripping.)

Furthermore, our author recounts the details of patients healing from scarred memories and vividly personalizes his writing by recounting the loss of his own father, mother, and sisters in a devastating car wreck. As he leads his readers through the topics of memory’s foundation (God’s perfect memory reflected in the creation of humankind), the memory’s corruption through the Fall and sin, memory’s remedy, sanctification, and redemption, and finally, memory’s future remembrance in the New Creation, the author applies each principle to his own healing with regard to the death of his family.