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Reviewed by Shane Raynor, a certified United Methodist lay speaker and the publisher of WesleyReport.com 24 Hours That Changed the World by Adam Hamilton Abingdon Press, 2009 Companion products: Kit with book, DVD, and devotional guide, 843504011673 Devotional book, 40 Days of Reflections, 9781426700316 Abingdon's Adam Hamilton franchise has become a steady source of solid study materials for mainline churches over the last few years. With the publication of 24 Hours That Changed the World, Hamilton provides yet another well-researched multi-purpose piece for the local congregation. In his newest book, he brings his middle-of-the-road evangelical perspective to Holy Week, more specifically, the last day in the life of Jesus. The book actually takes readers from Thursday through Sunday, but the focus is indeed on the time leading up to the Crucifixion. The copy on the back cover encourages readers to experience the final events of Jesus along with him, and 24 Hours certainly offers that. Hamilton pulls this off with a good balance of background information, commentary on the biblical text itself, and just enough questions to nudge readers to participate in this experience with him. And the questions really do make you think. Some of them even get personal. For example, when Jesus is arrested, Hamilton asks readers whether or not they think Judas ultimately receives forgiveness for his betrayal. I imagine some lively small group discussions will be triggered by that question alone. Adam weaves in his travel experiences to the Holy Land, often to great effect. His description of walking on the stairs from lower Jerusalem to upper Jerusalem barefoot (the same stairs Jesus walked on) really stuck with me. His account of hearing a rooster crow while sitting on the Mount of Olives thinking about Peter's denial of Christ also painted a vivid mental picture for me as I was reading. The companion DVD (sold separately) featuring Adam on-location in Jerusalem provides supplementary videos for study groups wanting to follow Christ's footsteps and experience accounts from the book visually. Hamilton is the king of "what if," and he asks some fascinating questions. For example, what if only two or three members of the 71 member Sanhedrin had spoken up and questioned whether putting Jesus to death was truly the right thing to do? I'm sure I've wondered that myself on some level, but 24 Hours sparked my imagination and had me thinking of how things would have been different had that been the case. And with the author, I too wondered whether I might have gone along with the Sanhedrin had I been in their situation. And along those lines, which prisoner would I have freed, Jesus or Barabbas? It's easy to make the right decision from our modern-day vantage point, but it might not have seemed so clear had we been the actual people in the Biblical accounts. In 24 Hours, Hamilton makes readers imagine themselves as the ocharacters in the stories, and he confronts them with some tough decisions. In the chapter dealing with the torture and humiliation of Christ, Hamilton states what should be obvious to Christians but isn't pleasant to think about: There's something deeply wrong with us. And considering some of the atrocities of the 20th Century (and really modern examples like the torture that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison) we realize that the old Virginia Slims ad got it wrong. We haven't come a long way, baby. In fact, left unchecked, human beings are still capable of all kinds of evil. With 24 Hours, Adam Hamilton continues to demonstrate why he has been successful in ministry at the Church of the Resurrection. His teaching is thoughtful, he engages Christians and seekers on both an intellectual and a spiritual level, and he shows why the Bible is relevant to 21st century believers. And like his previous books, this one will work well in congregations across the theological spectrum. 
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