Love & Death: My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow (Complete Works of Forrest Church) [Hardcover]

Forrest Church (Author)

Book Description

Series: Complete Works of Forrest Church | Publication Date: September 1, 2008

On a February day in 2008, Forrest Church sent a letter to the members of his congregation, informing them that he had terminal cancer; his life would now 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.

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, Church 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 last book in his impressive oeuvre is imbued with ideas and exemplars for achieving that goal. The stories he 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

As pastor of New York’s All Souls Unitarian Church, Church is perhaps most comfortable speaking in sermons, which may also be especially comforting, now that he has received a veritable death sentence via terminal cancer, to his congregants and the readers of his many books. The famously liberal minister-son of Idaho’s storied mid-twentieth-century liberal senator Frank Church here uses several sermons delivered during the span of his career to explore the bond humans have with death in relation to love, a topic he has addressed often when congregants or their loved ones have died. He concludes that to live is to love, that without love there can be no life. Thus the terms life and love become interchangeable, and life-love is a risk we all must take. Church speaks directly to the heart with a message of certain solace to virtually anyone facing the loss of a loved one. --Donna Chavez

Review

I read Love and Death as soon as it came out. The greatest gift I could give every one of you is to just tell you to go read this book.—President Bill Clinton

"Truly a gift, one that will echo in my own preaching and teaching, and in my own life as well. Like Moses gazing at the Promised Land he would not enter, Forrest Church blesses us with his eloquence, his faith, and, mostly, his love." —Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

"Love & Death is transformative. I was not prepared for the power of this splendid, soaring book. It totally captured me."—Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of Creating a Life

"In the midst of an extremity for which there is no euphemism-the prospect of his own imminent death-Forrest Church has written a book that defies the usual adjectives. It is poignant, moving, candid, and eloquent; but it is also so much more. Love & Death, a meditation on the end of life, is really a book about life-a book that shows us how to love ourselves and others, how to know God, how to live. I read it with inexpressible gratitude."—James Atlas, author of My Life in the Middle Ages

"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." —Cornel West, author of Race Matters

"Forrest Church, a deeply spiritual but always practical visionary, is a minister to us all with this moving and instructive book on the lessons of life and death. A lovely, important book."—Tom Brokaw

"This beautiful book by a matchless preacher, poet, and author is Forrest Church in his finest hour." —Senator George McGovern

"Here is one of the great confessional narratives about dying that provides profound insights into meaningful living. Forrest Church evokes the full gamut of emotions as he probes the meaning of living, dying, and loving. Nothing in this book is theoretical or inconsequential. At its center is truth that will live forever."—C. Welton Gaddy, President of the Interfaith Alliance

"Forrest Church in Love & Death, a deeply moving testament, utilizes his commitment of love to transform our fear of death into a fuller appreciation of life."—Derrick Bell, author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well

"Every Christmas Eve, for a quarter of a century, I, a confirmed skeptic 364 other days of the year, have been inspired by Forrest Church's words at All Souls. Now, on reading this magisterial meditation on his-and our-mortality, I understand at last the marvelous anomaly he has brought to my life."—James Lipton, host of "Inside the Actors Studio"

"Forrest Church has given us many gifts of illumination over the years, often using his own life experiences to disclose insights into the nature of faith and hope, but now in Love and Death he has given us the ultimate gift: a treatise on life's meaning revealed in the face of his own impending death. The book is consummate with the man: witty, eloquent, gracious, with not a touch of the maudlin. Once again, Forrest teaches us how most passionately to live." —Reverend William F. Schulz, President of the UUA 1985–1993

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807072931
• ISBN-13: 978-0807072936
• Product Dimensions: 4.7 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Practices > Unitarian Universalism

More About the Author

FORREST CHURCH is currently serving his thirtieth year as minister of All Souls Church in Manhattan. He earned his doctorate in church history at Harvard and has written or edited twenty-two books, including The Separation of Church and State. He lives in New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Meaning of Life (and Death), July 20, 2008

By 

Laura Pedersen (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love & Death: My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow (Complete Works of Forrest Church) (Hardcover)

If you are a person who reads the obituaries then this book is for you! And not because you have a morbid fascination with death, but most likely as a result of your interest in life. How long did they live? What did they accomplish? How did it end? Was it too soon?

This book is about living, or as Rev. Church says, "To live in such a way that our lives will prove worth dying for."

Having Church as a spiritual guide is not unlike going on field trip with Mark Twain, with observations such as "A proportional relationship exists between the fear of death and the fear of life" seamlessly sharing space with his great-grandfather's three major food groups (tobacco, baked beans and whiskey). When people tell him proudly that they don't believe in God, he likes to ask them to tell him a little about the God they don't believe in, for he probably doesn't believe in him either. Church has a deft touch whether he's talking about Princess Diana, civilization versus anarchy, sad movies, or Plato.

Longtime leading light in the world of Unitarian Universalism, Rev. Church has picked up his pen to tackle many subjects including the Founding Fathers, the Jefferson Bible, freedom from fear, and liberalism versus fundamentalism, but this journey of the mind, body and soul proves his best and most provocative. Though Church of course says it better: "Life is filled with danger. That's just the way it is. Finally, the Titanic always hits the iceberg. Hence this simple, if imprudent, bit of advice: Before it does, pick up the phone. Pick up the gauntlet. Do whatever it takes. Take a few chances. Dare to live before you die."

And I might add, Dare to read this book!

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone who is alive and knows they are going to die, July 20, 2008

By 

Thomas Reece (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love & Death: My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow (Complete Works of Forrest Church) (Hardcover)

Forrest Church's poignant observations on Love and Death have long been important to my understanding of what life, love, and death are all about. This book provides very meaningful clarity on the subject of love and death possibly because he wrote it within weeks after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is a must read for people who are interested in living a life worth dying for as Forrest has long encouraged.
Tom Reece

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love After Death, August 23, 2008

By 

S. Gross "Mother Gross" (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Love & Death: My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow (Complete Works of Forrest Church) (Hardcover)

This is a MUST READ for anyone fearing their own death (and who doesn't?) or dealing with the death of a loved one. Written by a Unitarian Universalist minister dealing with his own impending demise, Forrest Church (son of the late Senator Frank Church of Utah) encourages us to appreciate the fact that we are very blessed to be alive at all, given the amazing series of events leading to our births.

Rev. Church acknowledges that, while he doesn't know what - if anything - awaits us after the death of our bodies, he is grateful to be able to simply wonder about it. His writings are drawn from his previous books and many sermons addressing this subject, along with the introspective thoughts arising from his recent diagnosis of terminal cancer. Most importantly, he reminds us that the love that we give and receive in this life is immortal.

He urges us to subscribe the following mantra:

Want what you have
Do what you can
Be who you are