Abstract
The Epistle to the Hebrews states that the Son became incarnate and died precisely in order to “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage” (2:15). The Christian thus faces a paradox: death is rightly feared and yet death has been conquered by Christ.
In Dying and the Virtues, Matthew Levering, a professor at Mundelein Seminary and author or editor of over fifty books, highlights nine virtues (love, hope, faith, penitence, gratitude, solidarity, humility, surrender, and courage) that should mark the journey from confronting the fear of annihilation, to reflecting on one’s past and future, and, finally, to surrendering trustingly to God. His main points—death must be seen through the lens of Christ’s own dying and rising, and death is a communal-ecclesial and not simply individual reality—are sound.
Two chapters exemplify L.’s method and insights. “Gratitude” weaves together the insights of the atheist physician Sherwin Nuland and Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Saint Macrina. Nuland’s vision of death with dignity, L. argues, finds its fullness in Macrina’s life of praise. Both Nuland and Macrina affirm the necessity of thanksgiving, but the former’s retrospective glance at one’s own achievements needs the latter’s prospective hope in Christ’s resurrection. “Courage” similarly explores the tensions between continuist (Plato, Qur’an, N.T. Wright, Richard Middleton) and discontinuist (Paul Griffiths) conceptions of the relationship between earthly and eternal life; L. holds that we need courage to let go of this present world and to embrace the unknown one to come.
The chief virtue of this book is its humility. L. generously lets others speak (occasionally at too great of a length) and irenically gleans whatever insights he can, even from sometimes problematic texts. It would have been good, though, to hear more of his own voice, perhaps in a concluding constructive proposal.
Intelligent, clear, and well documented (135 pages of notes for 169 pages of text), L.’s book is suitable for an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate class on death or moral theology. Its comprehensive bibliography will be useful for students and teachers alike who seek to go deeper into the mystery of dying and rising in Christ.