Love and Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow—just published by Beacon Press!
Rev. Dr. Forrest Church, Minister of Public Theology at All Souls Church Unitarian (New York City) and author of Love and Death.
Forrest Church's "Love and Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow"
June 30, 2008
On February 4, 2008, Rev. Dr. Forrest Church, who has served All Souls Church Unitarian in New York City for more than thirty years, sent a letter to the members of his congregation, informing them that he had terminal cancer; his life would now likely be measured in months not years. In that remarkable letter, he wrote: "In more than one respect, I feel very lucky"; he went on to promise that he would sum up his thoughts on the topics that had been so pervasive in his work—love and death—in a final book.
The result of that summation is this newly-released title, Love and Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow (also available on CD read by the author), published by Beacon Press.
Church has been justly celebrated as a writer of American history, but his works of spiritual guidance have been especially valued for their insight and inspiration. As a minister, he defined religion as "our human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die." The goal of life, he tells us "is to live in such a way that our lives will prove worth dying for." This final book is imbued with ideas and exemplars for achieving that goal. The stories Forrest Church offers—drawn from his own experiences and from the lives of his friends, family, and parishioners—are both engrossing and enlightening. Forrest Church's final work may be his most lasting gift to his readers.
Eminent authors and sociologists have heaped praise on Love And Death. Cornel West, author of Race Matters, writes, "Forrest Church is one of our great prophetic intellectuals and compassionate voices. His poignant and wise words on the two ultimate realities of our journey-love and death-reveal his grand courage and vision."
Unitarian Universalist Association Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery observed, "Since he was ordained in 1975, Forrest Church has been ministering to Unitarian Universalism and far beyond. In this last book, Love and Death, he returns to the themes that have run through everything he’s ever written, talked about and, probably, thought about: love and death. To these he brings the remarkable wisdom he’s accumulated through a blessed and bumpy lifetime. And damn, he’s good!"
Last updated on Friday, July 25, 2008.
