Customer Reviews

Love is Stronger Than Death

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This is my favorite of all of Peter Kreeft's books, and I've read most of them. One might expect a book about death to be depressing, but this book is full of hope and joy.

Kreeft, as always, is wonderfully perceptive, and draws some really sharp insights. For instance, he notes the double meaning in saying that death is the "end" of life - both its termination, but also its consummation (or even its "goal"). "If death is not meaningful, then life, in the final analysis, is not meaning-full. For death is the final analysis...Life cannot be meaningful in the short run and meaningless in the long run, because the long run is the meaning of the short run." Wonderful.

His analogy between death and birth is especially perceptive. The child in the womb is warm and secure, and outside the womb is - he knows not what (although he might have some inklings of the "world beyond" - muffled voices and the like). Birth is a painful thing, and yet he is born into a world infinitely wider and richer than the womb, and he is infinitely freer in the "outside world" than he was in the womb. Even so, we are comfortable in this world, and at any rate, this world is all we know (although we might have inklings of a "world beyond"). Death, like birth, involves pain. Is it possible that death, like birth, brings us into a wider, richer, freer existence than we had before?

And, as the child in the womb draws his life from his mother, he cannot SEE his mother, much less KNOW her AS A PERSON until he is born. Is it possible that, just as, in this world, we can't see God, death brings us into a new relationship with Him ("then we shall see face-to-face")? Food for contemplation, perhaps.

This is a wonderful book; it points in some very profound directions.

This is a beautifully written and moving book on death-on being mortal. It is written with depth and soul that few books on death can match. Masterfully written Kreeft indicates that we go thru stages to finally appreciate the value death can have in making us whole persons. Kreeft with finesse has interwoven quotes from literature, mythology, poetry and religion.
If you read my other rreviews you will note i dont give out praise easily-but this book was written by someone divinely inspired.

KREEFT,WHO SEEMS TO ACKNOWLEDGE C.S.LEWIS AS HIS MENTOR,WRITES ON A PAR WITH C.S.(AND C.S.IS THE GREAT MIND OF THE 20TH CENTURY WHOSE WORKS HELPED ME LEAVE THE DARK).IF THERE IS ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO US THAN THE QUESTIONS OF GOD AND DEATH I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. IF THERE IS ANY BETTER TREATISE ON GOD AND DEATH THAN THIS WORK OF PETER KREEFT I ALSO DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS.LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH IS MANDATORY READING FOR EVERONE EXCEPT THOSE WHO ARE NOT GOING TO EVER DIE.

Peter Kreeft's aphorisms run from cover to cover. The beauty of his thought will captivate you as you read this book. "Love is Stronger than Death" is subtle in its apologetic, yet Kreeft comes up with profound ideas. This book makes you think about many things that we wouldn't ordinarily think of when we think about death. Usually when people think of Kreeft they think of his "Handbook" or his book "Making Sense out of Suffering". This book is just as valuable as those, only the topic is different. Kreeft does just what he intends to do here.

Death is mysterious. It is also threatening. It is important enough on its baring in life, not only for its seeming finality, but also for the way it molds our lives. Peter J. Kreeft is always very perceptive and concise to take on such a weighty topic. The confidence by which he spins the aspects of one of life's darkest realities is understandable. He concretely outlines each of Death's attributes and often personifies it, and then elaborates on the ramifications it has on our development.

The scope of psychology and religion are ably drawn from throughout. And, it is eccumenical. Although Kreeft is a devout Catholic scholar, he isn't without other related resources: He can draw from Eastern religion, the Bible, philosophy, and literature. By demystifying Death personified, he provides not only insight but healing as well. "Death where is thy sting?" is a popular quote for Christians. Kreeft doesn't take it out, and Christ Himself conquered it, but Kreeft certainly takes a lot of the fear and finality that Death often unnecessarily provides. Death unmasked isn't still harmful, but it is a lot easier to live with after this reading. One of the best tasks an author can do with death is to dethrone it and make it into a transitional tool. Here Kreeft is an expert.

Insightful and accessible, Peter Kreeft grapples with the universalities of one of life's true conundrums in a way that sets us all free. Subjectively, this is his best work, but Kreeft is prolific and this reviewer is a bit perfunctory in rendering any such judgment--just yet. Highly recommended.

I underlined half this book--each page is rich with meaning. He quotes heavily from Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, Kierkegaard and Buber. The book has great depth, and is yet easily accessible. I was intimidated by this book, but have been enriched by it.

In essence, Kreeft argues that we cannot live well if we do not have a healthy theology of death, which we spend most of our time avoiding out of fear and comfort. He then leads the reader on a journey through the five faces of death, concluding with death as a lover, arguing that we can only be complete in death, because in death we are truly alone, free to be united with another, with God.

It's a short book (~110) pages, and well worth the afternoon it will take to read. I look forward to reading this again, and to encouraging everyone else I know to read it. It strips away my fear of death, and instead shows me a path forward to a full life.

It is the best book I have read on the subject of death.For me,it makes death no longer a fearful monster.What is death for the christian,but the final part of his pilgrimage in this world?And to think that God possesses death-that death only masks the smiling face of God,to be revealed to His true children in the end,is the most insightful idea on the subject!Well done,Dr Kreeft.

I read this book in 1999. My husband, age 55, was dying from a brain tumor. I screamed and yelled at this book. Thank you for teaching me the true meaning of death. Thank you for teaching me God's Will not mine. Thank you for teaching me praying is Heaven on earth. Thank you for teaching me death is a test of faith but real faith cannot die.Thank you for the meditation from St. Augustine on the death of his dear friend for I, too, would not live halved. Of all your books, I love this one the most. I still read and meditate on it.

This is the first book by Kreeft that I have read and I find it extremely strange. First he tells us that myths all over the world assume that spirits exist, so it must be true. If this is true then Kreeft must also believe that spirits cause illness and disease. Then he uses out of body experiences to proove that life after death is a real thing. This is generally not believed in the medical world. Out of body experiences can be caused by the anesthetic Ketamine which is chemically related to phencyclidine(PCP). Without any supporting evidence Kreeft suggests that this live is an embronic stage for the next life. It is only because I am so kind that I call this speculation and not total insanity.