Covering a rich landscape of literary, theological and cultural creativity, the authors explore the astonishing variety of interpretations inspired by Lamentations, one of the shortest books in the Bible.

• Features a wealth of reactions - covering two and a half millennia - to this ancient text's influential and unflinching account of the devastation wreaked by war
• Explores a kaleidoscope of examples ranging from the Dead Sea Scrolls; Yehudah Halevy; John Calvin; and composer, Thomas Tallis; through to the startling interpretations of Marc Chagall; contemporary novelist, Cynthia Ozick; and Zimbabwean junk sculpture
• Deploys "reception exegesis", a new genre of commentary that creatively blends reception history and biblical exegesis
• Offers sensitive treatment of challenging theological and psychological responses to one of the most disturbing books of the Hebrew Bible
• Widely relevant, with nuanced reflections - both religious and secular - on human suffering and the disasters of war