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Go Gentle into the Good Night
Go Gentle Into That Good Night is not a book about death. It is a book about living life to the hilt. A book filled with hope and promise-charting a path to a brighter existence with God's guidance, where the joy of living, in all its glory, reigns supreme.
Reverend Malcolm Boyd views life and death as one long, beautiful continuum, a sweet journey from now into the hereafter...and beyond. He uses graceful prose and accessible, common-sense anecdotes and parables to help unfold the mysteries of life, the wonder and majesty of death, and the strength and power of man's faith in God. In these pages, the troubled reader will find not mere platitudes, but concrete steps for dealing with death - whether it is the imagined death in a distant future, the loss of a loved one, or a looming, imminent crisis. But this is not a sad book. On the contrary. It is brimming with solid advice, warmth and wisdom, and even laughter.
Reverend Malcolm Boyd views life and death as one long, beautiful continuum, a sweet journey from now into the hereafter...and beyond. He uses graceful prose and accessible, common-sense anecdotes and parables to help unfold the mysteries of life, the wonder and majesty of death, and the strength and power of man's faith in God. In these pages, the troubled reader will find not mere platitudes, but concrete steps for dealing with death - whether it is the imagined death in a distant future, the loss of a loved one, or a looming, imminent crisis. But this is not a sad book. On the contrary. It is brimming with solid advice, warmth and wisdom, and even laughter.
139 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1998
6 people want to read
About the author
Malcolm Boyd
29 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
Malcolm Boyd was an American Episcopal priest and author. He was one of the prominent white clergymen in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 60s as well as the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 1977 Boyd came out of the closet, becoming the most prominent gay clergy person to come out. In the 1980s Boyd met the gay activist and author Mark Thompson, who would become his long-time partner. He is the author of more than 30 books.
Crisis in Communication (Doubleday, 1957)
Christ and Celebrity Gods (Seabury, 1958)
Focus: Rethinking the Meaning of Our Evangelism (Morehouse-Barlow, 1960)
If I Go Down to Hell (Morehouse-Barlow, 1962)
The Hunger, the Thirst (Morehouse-Barlow, 1964)
Are You Running with Me, Jesus? (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965/40th anniversary edition, 2005), became a bestseller
Free to Live, Free to Die (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1967)
Malcolm Boyd's Book of Days (Random House, 1968)
The Fantasy Worlds of Peter Stone and Other Fables (Harper & Row, 1969)
As I Live and Breathe (Random House, 1969)
My Fellow Americans (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970)
Human Like Me, Jesus (Simon and Schuster, 1971)
The Lover (Word Books, 1972)
The Runner (Word Books, 1974)
The Alleluia Affair (Word Books, 1975)
Christian: Its Meanings in an Age of Future Shock (Hawthorn, 1975)
Am I Running with You, God? (Doubleday, 1977)
Take Off the Masks (Doubleday, 1978; rev. ed. HarperCollins 1993, White Crane Books 2008)
Look Back in Joy (Gay Sunshine Press, 1981; rev. ed. Alyson, 1990)
Half Laughing, Half Crying (St. Martin's Press, 1986)
Gay Priest: An Inner Journey (St. Martin's Press, 1986)
Edges, Boundaries and Connections (Broken Moon Press, 1992)
Rich with Years: Daily Meditations on Growing Older (HarperCollins, 1994)
Go Gentle Into That Good Night (Genesis Press, 1998)
Simple Grace: A Mentor's Guide to Growing Older (Westminster John Knox, 2001)
Prayers for the Later Years (Augsburg, 2002)
A Prophet in His Own Land: The Malcolm Boyd Reader (edited by Bo Young/Dan Vera) (White Crane Books, 2008)
Edited by Malcolm Boyd
On the Battle Lines: A Manifesto for Our Times (Morehouse-Barlow, 1964)
The Underground Church (Sheed & Ward, 1968)
When in the Course of Human Events (with Paul Conrad, Sheed & Ward, 1973)
Amazing Grace: Stories of Lesbian and Gay Faith (with Nancy L. Wilson, Crossing Press, 1991)
Race & Prayer: Collected Voices, Many Dreams (w/Chester Talton, Morehouse, 2003)
In Times Like These…How We Pray (with J. Jon Bruno, Seabury, 2005)
Malcolm Boyd was an American Episcopal priest and author. He was one of the prominent white clergymen in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 60s as well as the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 1977 Boyd came out of the closet, becoming the most prominent gay clergy person to come out. In the 1980s Boyd met the gay activist and author Mark Thompson, who would become his long-time partner. He is the author of more than 30 books.
Crisis in Communication (Doubleday, 1957)
Christ and Celebrity Gods (Seabury, 1958)
Focus: Rethinking the Meaning of Our Evangelism (Morehouse-Barlow, 1960)
If I Go Down to Hell (Morehouse-Barlow, 1962)
The Hunger, the Thirst (Morehouse-Barlow, 1964)
Are You Running with Me, Jesus? (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965/40th anniversary edition, 2005), became a bestseller
Free to Live, Free to Die (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1967)
Malcolm Boyd's Book of Days (Random House, 1968)
The Fantasy Worlds of Peter Stone and Other Fables (Harper & Row, 1969)
As I Live and Breathe (Random House, 1969)
My Fellow Americans (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970)
Human Like Me, Jesus (Simon and Schuster, 1971)
The Lover (Word Books, 1972)
The Runner (Word Books, 1974)
The Alleluia Affair (Word Books, 1975)
Christian: Its Meanings in an Age of Future Shock (Hawthorn, 1975)
Am I Running with You, God? (Doubleday, 1977)
Take Off the Masks (Doubleday, 1978; rev. ed. HarperCollins 1993, White Crane Books 2008)
Look Back in Joy (Gay Sunshine Press, 1981; rev. ed. Alyson, 1990)
Half Laughing, Half Crying (St. Martin's Press, 1986)
Gay Priest: An Inner Journey (St. Martin's Press, 1986)
Edges, Boundaries and Connections (Broken Moon Press, 1992)
Rich with Years: Daily Meditations on Growing Older (HarperCollins, 1994)
Go Gentle Into That Good Night (Genesis Press, 1998)
Simple Grace: A Mentor's Guide to Growing Older (Westminster John Knox, 2001)
Prayers for the Later Years (Augsburg, 2002)
A Prophet in His Own Land: The Malcolm Boyd Reader (edited by Bo Young/Dan Vera) (White Crane Books, 2008)
Edited by Malcolm Boyd
On the Battle Lines: A Manifesto for Our Times (Morehouse-Barlow, 1964)
The Underground Church (Sheed & Ward, 1968)
When in the Course of Human Events (with Paul Conrad, Sheed & Ward, 1973)
Amazing Grace: Stories of Lesbian and Gay Faith (with Nancy L. Wilson, Crossing Press, 1991)
Race & Prayer: Collected Voices, Many Dreams (w/Chester Talton, Morehouse, 2003)
In Times Like These…How We Pray (with J. Jon Bruno, Seabury, 2005)
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 13, 2016
Malcolm Boyd writes as if you were sitting next to him chatting together over a cup of coffee in a cafe. His writing is accessible, memorable and also inspirational.
I first came across the writings of Revd Malcolm Boyd just after his death in 2015 and I wished I could have met him. Malcolm Boyd lived what he believed through his activism, priesthood, writing, speaking, pastoral work and campaigning, and he models for me exactly what a priest should be.
He was also bold and courageous coming out as gay during the seventies even though he knew it would be met with criticism and censure from the Episcopal Church. He is and was my kind of guy.
Thankfully we have his writings and reflections. In this easy to read volume Malcolm Boyd reflects on death. He seeks to encourage us to prepare for death by drawing close to it but not by becoming obsessed with it or by being fearful or maudlin. Malcolm shows us that the way to approach death is by living well and by living our lives fully.
'.....it occurs to me that we can make our peace with death if we make our peace with life. Since death is a part of life, why demonize it? If we learn to live honestly, openly, creatively, and hopefully, there is no reason we cannot die the same way.'
Death is very much a taboo subject. We kind of skirt around it in our churches even though we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, lives of the saint etc etc. We don't actually focus on our own deaths. Death is something that is pushed to the background, not that it should be in the foreground like some dark malevolent cloud but it should be viewed as another stage, another change, prehaps another adventure. Malcolm shows us that before we can view death in this way we need to address our fears and we need to embrace life. This isn't something easy but it is possible.
I really value the way he takes stories and anecdotes from his own life to convey his thoughts and I feel this is definitely a book that I will com back to.
This book was just so easy to read like all Malcolm's books and there is deep wisdom within it. Wisdom and comfort. I really take comfort and encouragement from the way Malcolm opens up his life to others through his writing so that we can learn from him.
A phenomenal man with such a deep spirituality that continues to inspire and feed my own vision, activism and faith.
Well worth reading. Well worth reflecting upon.
I first came across the writings of Revd Malcolm Boyd just after his death in 2015 and I wished I could have met him. Malcolm Boyd lived what he believed through his activism, priesthood, writing, speaking, pastoral work and campaigning, and he models for me exactly what a priest should be.
He was also bold and courageous coming out as gay during the seventies even though he knew it would be met with criticism and censure from the Episcopal Church. He is and was my kind of guy.
Thankfully we have his writings and reflections. In this easy to read volume Malcolm Boyd reflects on death. He seeks to encourage us to prepare for death by drawing close to it but not by becoming obsessed with it or by being fearful or maudlin. Malcolm shows us that the way to approach death is by living well and by living our lives fully.
'.....it occurs to me that we can make our peace with death if we make our peace with life. Since death is a part of life, why demonize it? If we learn to live honestly, openly, creatively, and hopefully, there is no reason we cannot die the same way.'
Death is very much a taboo subject. We kind of skirt around it in our churches even though we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, lives of the saint etc etc. We don't actually focus on our own deaths. Death is something that is pushed to the background, not that it should be in the foreground like some dark malevolent cloud but it should be viewed as another stage, another change, prehaps another adventure. Malcolm shows us that before we can view death in this way we need to address our fears and we need to embrace life. This isn't something easy but it is possible.
I really value the way he takes stories and anecdotes from his own life to convey his thoughts and I feel this is definitely a book that I will com back to.
This book was just so easy to read like all Malcolm's books and there is deep wisdom within it. Wisdom and comfort. I really take comfort and encouragement from the way Malcolm opens up his life to others through his writing so that we can learn from him.
A phenomenal man with such a deep spirituality that continues to inspire and feed my own vision, activism and faith.
Well worth reading. Well worth reflecting upon.
Displaying 1 of 1 review