I regularly read from the (mostly) Catholic journal First Things. Although I am not Catholic, I find that the Catholic thinkers have done some wonderful work. In this article, Michael Gemignani wrote about hospice care in an an American setting (http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2012/01/the-role-of-hospice-in-assisting-a-good-death): In a previous article, I offered as a possible slogan for hospice, “A good life…
Category Archives: Death
Dallas Willard
There are some in the Christian intellectual community that speak more vividly and deeply than others. One was Dallas Willard who died yesterday after a battle with cancer. I loved this quote from Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. on Willard (from http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/): The first thing to do is to trust our Christian friends who have died with…
Lamenting a friend’s passing
Are you watching the Bible movie just out? I haven’t seen any of it yet, and I’ve heard varied reports. Good text and incredible stories, but so challenging to present in film. Paul Johnson wrote “A History of Christianity” almost 50 years ago and I’m just giving it a second reading. A much better way…
It’s a big deal
According to Hilaire Belloc, the non-Jewish world in the B.C. era held a lower view of the value of human life than what we currently understand. He backed up his assertion by describing the ease and broadness of killing in these kingdoms. They applied their understanding of human value when they tortured insubordinate slaves, and…
Hanging on
In The Forgotten 500, Gregory Freeman recounts the stories of the many WWII airmen shot down over Yugoslavia. It is one of the not-well-known POW stories, but no less dramatic than any I have heard. One of these guys, a turret gunner tucked in a plexiglass ball under a B-24, had to furiously hand-crank his…
Real Power
N.T. Wright likes to point out that the message of the New Testament is that real power is in weakness, and real change, real goodness, comes when we are weak enough to ask for help. Examples are Mother Teresa, the Apostle Peter, Muthama Ghandi, William Wilberforce, and, most notable and most powerfully, the Nazarene. The…
Angola State Prison Hospice
I visited Angola State Prison in Louisiana last month and I have to say it was one of the most interesting days I’ve ever experienced. I want to write about the hospice they run there, but before I do, let me tell you about this most interesting place. First of all, you have to know…
Guns, Germs, and Steel
If you are like me you make sure the next book you pick up is worth your time reading it. I’ve found that searching the best-seller Kindle lists is helpful for finding worthy texts. That is how I came across Jared Diamond’s, “Guns, Germs and Steel,” a 1997 Pulitzer Prize winner. Diamond is a University…
Bonhoeffer
Wouldn’t it have been great if Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his anti-Nazi organizers had successfully assassinated Hitler? I would bet most people would agree. Eric Metaxas’ “Bonhoeffer” is the first comprehensive biography on the young theologian’s life, which was cut short by Hitler’s hangmen just two weeks before the allies entered and freed German captives. In…
Something new, and old
It has been almost two months since I last posted. After writing about 100 blogs over a three-year span, I believe I had run out of things to say, and I didn’t want to keep re-writing the same stories and themes. Frankly, I’m surprised that anyone would want to read this blog . . ….
