In a post-modern world leery of abstracted theology, might the answers to the deep question of why Jesus died on the cross be found, not in theology textbooks, but in the stories of the Bible? What if the playing out of one Hebrew word, hesed, tells us who we are, who God is, and what Jesus' life and death were all about? Embraced: Prodigals at the Cross tells the story of hesed, God's steadfast love, as it weaves its way from our creation for relationship, through our rejection of that relationship, to God's centuries-long pursuit of reconciliation. The story ends in embrace, the embrace of a good father who runs to his prodigal son, and a loving God who takes on human flesh to reach out to us on the cross. This book is God's story. This book is our story. ""In a superbly-crafted, poignant, and powerful gift, Steve Sherwood portrays the profoundly simple message of Christ's redemption through the genre of story. In counterpoint to the traditional Western theology channeled through predominantly guilt-oriented legal metaphors, he picks up on the relational biblical themes of reconciliation, covenant commitment, grace, forgiveness, and restoration. He incarnates these in profound stories of estrangement and restoration in a kaleidoscope of transformingly beautiful art and stories of God's love. Sherwood presents a timely gift of a fresh interpersonal perspective long distorted by exclusively legal atonement categories."" --R. Larry Shelton Professor of Theology George Fox Evangelical Seminary ""Steve Sherwood has learned from the Master's storytelling skills. These echoes of the Atonement are wry and raw, passionate and poignant. Theology depends upon such refreshing and rekindling. Bravo!"" --Craig Detweiler Center for Entertainment, Media, and Culture Pepperdine University Steve Sherwood is Assistant Professor of Christian Ministries at George Fox University and a twenty-five year veteran of ministry to young people in Young Life. He lives, with his wife and two daughters, in Newberg, Oregon.