Living Well and Dying Faithfully: Christian Practices for End-of-Life Care

by John Swinton (Editor), Richard Payne (Editor), Stanley Hauerwas (Foreword by)

Overview

Living Well and Dying Faithfully explores how Christian practices — love, prayer, lament, compassion, and so on — can contribute to the process of dying well. Working on the premise that one dies the way one lives, the book is unique in its constructive dialogue between theology and medicine as offering two complementary modes of care.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802863393
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/10/2009
Pages:	311
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

John Swinton is professor of practical theology and pastoral care at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and founding director of Aberdeen's Centre for Spirituality, Health, and Disability. He worked as a nurse for sixteen years within the fields of mental health and learning disabilities and later also as a community mental health chaplain.


Richard Payne is professor of medicine and divinity at DukeDivinity School and director of the Duke Institute on Careat the End of Life.


Stanley Hauerwas is Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law at Duke University. Among his many books are Resident Aliens, A Community of Character, Living Gently in a Violent World, and A Cross-Shattered Church.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments x

Foreword Stanley Hauerwas xii

Introduction: Christian Practices and the Art of Dying Faithfully John Swinton Richard Payne xv

Practices of Living to Die Well

1 Practicing the Presence of God: Earthly Practices in Heavenly Perspective John Swinton 3

2 Dying Well Amy Plantinga Pauw 17

3 "Make Love Your Aim": Ecclesial Practices of Care at the End of Life Karen D. Scheib 30

Practices of Faithful Suffering

4 Suffering in Communion with Christ: Sacraments, Dying Faithfully, and End-of-Life Care M. Therese Lysaught 59

5 The Practice of Prayer and Care for the Dying Allen Verhey 86

6 "Why Me, Lord?": Practicing Lament at the Foot of the Cross John Swinton 107

7 Practicing Compassion for Dying Children Tonya D. Armstrong 139

Practices of Healing and Hope

8 Healing in the Midst of Dying: A Collaborative Approach to End-of-Life Care Abigail Rian Evans 165

9 Compassion: A Critical Component of Caring and Healing Christina M. Puchalski 188

10 Hope in the Face of Terminal Illness Richard Payne 205

11 More than Sparrows, Less than the Angels: The Christian Meaning of Death with Dignity Daniel P. Sulmasy 226

12 Embracing and Resisting Death: A Theology of Justice and Hope for Care at the End of Life Esther E. Acolatse 246

Conclusion: Attending to God in Suffering: Re-Imagining End-of-Life Care John Swinton Richard Payne 272

Contributors 277

Index 282