Through telling the true story of a series of horrendous events that befell a young boy and his family, widely respected theologian David Kelsey offers a groundbreaking exploration of the Christian concept of redemption. When the adolescent boy is stricken with a terrible illness and enters a coma only to come out emotionally changed and physically handicapped, the family undergoes incredible hardship, guilt, and sadness, which ultimately ended in death. Arguing that redemption can only be experienced in a concrete situation, he asks "What can it possibly mean to say that in Jesus Christ God 'redeems' such situations and events?" To answer the question, Kelsey interweaves this family's story with biblical narrative, theology, and the metaphorical application of secular uses of the words "redeem" and "redemption.";He suggests three ways in which to imagine redemption, suggesting how Jesus' ministry may be seen as "making up for" the world's bad performance; how Jesus' passion and crucifixion can redeem their personal identities from their bondage to distorting powers; and how Jesus' resurrection can be seen as making good on a promise that redeems the family from vicious cycles of interaction that turned their lives into living deaths.