Grief & Bereavement, Death & Grief, Spiritual Growth, Parenting & Relationships, Religion & Spirituality, Death, Philosophy, Religion, Nonfiction, Catholic, Christianity, Theology 

Kreeft downplays theology by casting his book in the form of "thought experiments"--i.e., if, for the sake of argument, we grant the truth of Christianity, what insights do we gain? From this hypothetical standpoint he looks at five aspects of death: death as an enemy, as a stranger, as a friend, as a mother, and as a lover. For each of these personifications Kreeft offers a series of tightly organized, pithily phrased, and sometimes quite moving reflections. For his chapter on death as a stranger, for instance, he builds on the notion that the pre-Christian mind was death-accepting (fatalistic), the Christian mind death-defying (because of faith in the resurrection), and the post-Christian mind death-denying. Modern society--and many of its Christian members--cannot come to terms with death bemuse it gives the lie to so many cherished cultural myths: the pursuit of happiness, the narcosis of collectivism, the technological conquest of nature, etc. Christianity cannot simply welcome death as a friend (since it violates our humanity), nor reject it as an enemy (since it leads to a fuller life), so it follows a painful but fruitful dialectic that synthesizes both approaches. Kreeft is not an original thinker, but he's sensitive, fresh, and exceptionally well-read. He writes dense, driving prose that blends vivid exposition and confessional intensity. And he's not afraid of jolting the reader with violent imagery: "Our old body is our hymen; God is the phallic sword; and our body succumbs to death bemuse we are ravished by our Lover." 

Peter Kreeft is a Catholic apologist, professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College, and author of over 45 books including Fundamentals of the Faith , Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven, and Back to Virtue . Some consider him the best Catholic philosopher currently residing in the United States. His ideas draw heavily from religious and philosophical tradition, especially Thomas Aquinas, Socrates, G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis. Kreeft has writings on Socratic logic, the sea, Jesus Christ, the Summa Theologica, angels, Blaise Pascal, and Heaven, as well as his work on the Problem of Evil, for which he was interviewed by Lee Strobel in his bestseller, The Case for Faith .