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Earlier generations of Christians studied manuals on the art of dying to help them face and embrace mortality. In The Art of Dying and Living, Kerry Walters explores the connection between living and dying well by recounting the stories or nine exemplary men and women or our time and the particular virtues they embodied.
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction. An Ars Moriendi for Today xiii
"I don't know how to do this" xiii
Learning to Die xvi
1 Living toward a Good Death 1
The Night at Arzamas 1
Death-fear and Death-denial 3
Our Neighbor Death 6
Virtues for Living Well 8
Virtues for Dying Well 12
From the Abstract to the Concrete 17
2 Trust Joseph Bernardin 18
A Somber Press Conference 18
The Virtue of Trust 21
"God was calling me, and I had to listen" 27
A Mid-life Conversion 29
"I never felt more alone" 32
Cancer 35
The End of the Play 39
Bernardin's Legacy 42
3 Love Thea Bowman 44
A Born Troubadour 44
The Virtue of Love 46
An Old Folks' Child 52
Becoming Fully Functional 58
Practicing Love 63
"I want to love until I die" 68
As Strong as Death 71
4 Gratitude Etty Hillesum 74
"We left the camp singing" 74
The Virtue of Gratitude 77
The Family Madhouse 83
"Something is happening to me" 86
The Girl Who Knelt 89
Westerbork 94
Gratitude and Mortality 102
5 Obedience Jonathan Daniels 103
Murder in Alabama 103
The Meaning of Obedience 105
Groping toward Obedience 109
From Harvard to the Magnificat 114
"That freedom which is holy obedience" 121
Obedience unto Death 126
"The mightiest Wind in the world at my back" 128
6 Courage Dietrich Bonhoeffer 131
A Death on the Gallows 131
The Virtue of Courage 133
Death and the Outsider 137
Two Journeys to America 141
Ultimate Necessities 150
Courage and "God's guiding hand" 157
7 Patience John Paul II 160
Death of a Pope 160
The Virtue of Patience 162
A Long Training in Patience 167
The Bullet That Missed 174
Salvifici Doloris 178
"I offer my sufferings" 181
A Divine Promise 188
8 Christing Caryll Houselander 190
"Christ in them all" 190
Christing as a Virtue 192
"I had to be healed of myself" 199
Stretching Christ 206
Loving into Life 210
These Things Must Come 214
We Fall and We Rise 217
Conclusion: The Great Test 219
Notes 227
Index 245
Overview
Earlier generations of Christians studied manuals on the art of dying to help them face and embrace mortality. In The Art of Dying and Living, Kerry Walters explores the connection between living and dying well by recounting the stories or nine exemplary men and women or our time and the particular virtues they embodied.