Death and Life

by Helmut Thielicke

TOGETHER WITH A LETTER TO A SOLDIER ABOUT DEATH

230 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1970

Reviews

[Mmetevelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear examination of death and dying from a theological perspective. Thielicke effectively argues against secular and philosophic techniques of death denial and transcendence and makes a strong case for a theological view of dying which is not afraid to confront the reality of the matter. The first part deals with the "divided I" of human death denial which attempts to find a sacrosanct "intrinsic" part of the ego that death cannot touch. He details this urge in Plato, Nietzche, Hegel, Kant, and Goethe's Faust. All this division of the I amounts to a denial of the biblical disclosure of truth about human life - that each life is particular and valued and the "sting" of death threatens to cut it off. Thielicke in the second part explicates this Biblical view and discusses Luther's view of the matter, the nature of Biblical versus "secular" time, and the distinction between security and peace before examining just how the gospel may be at work in the midst of death and dying.

I've worked as a hospice chaplain for years and have found this work entirely helpful in understanding death from a law/gospel context, and understanding just what the proclamation of the resurrection is. I would recommend this for all students of philosophy and theology.