Speaking of Dying

by Craddock, Fred B.; Goldsmith, Dale; Goldsmith, Joy V.

• ISBN13: 9781587433238
• ISBN10: 1587433230
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-07-01
• Publisher: Brazos Pr

Summary

This book reminds the church of its considerable resources when it ministers to the terminally ill. Typically, a terminal diagnosis triggers denial of impending death and a full-scale resort to the techniques and resources of modern medicine. If a cure is not forthcoming, the patient and his or her loved ones experience a sense of failure and bitter disappointment. Here the authors show what is lost when the church abdicates its own resources of faith in the face of dying. They outline a practical theological response to terminal illness and the event of dying, showing how the liturgy--particularly baptism--prepares Christians to die and how the Eucharist sustains us in our dying. They also discuss how to talk to a dying person and how to preach on death and dying. Thus this is not a book on grief or even on death so much as it is on the process of dying and how the church can more faithfully and effectively engage those who are dying. The book includes a foreword by Stanley Hauerwas.

Author Biography

Fred Craddock (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is a widely acclaimed preacher and author, selected by Newsweek as one of the twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. Dale Goldsmith (PhD, University of Chicago) taught for several years at McPherson College and at the Baptist Seminary of Mexico. Joy V. Goldsmith (PhD, University of Oklahoma) is associate professor and chair in communications studies at Young Harris College.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. viii
Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xvii
The Dying Pastor: Everybody Knew, but No One "Would Talk about It	p. 1
Victims of the Wrong Story	p. 21
Jesus Christ: Lord of the Living and the Dead-and the Dying	p. 53
The Difference Jesus's Dying Makes	p. 79
What Do You Say to Someone Who Is Dying?	p. 107
Preaching on Death and Dying	p. 129
Facing Dying Faithfully: A Small Cloud of Witnesses	p. 139
A Good Dying	p. 163
Notes	p. 195
Subject Index	p. 211
Author Index	p. 215
Scripture Index	p. 219
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