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Remember Death: The Surprising Path to Living Hope
The Best Way to Find Meaning in Life Is to Get Honest About Death
Life expectancy worldwide is twice what it was a hundred years ago. And because of modern medicine, many of us don’t often see death up close. That makes it easy to live as if death is someone else’s problem. Ignoring the certainty of death doesn’t protect us from feeling its effects throughout the lives we’re living now—but it does hold us back from experiencing the powerful, everyday relevance of Jesus’s promises to us. So long as death remains remote and unreal, Jesus’s promises will too. But honesty about death brings hope to life. That’s the ironic claim at the heart of this book. Cultivating death awareness helps us bring the promises of Jesus from the hazy clouds of some other world into the everyday realities of our world, where they belong.
Insightful and Draws from many sources, including research from science and psychology, and examples from literature, pop culture, theology, and Scripture Christ-Centered Encouragement for Life and Teaching what the Bible says about identity, futility, and grief, McCullough offers hope that is tied to the promises of God Replaces ISBN 978-1-4335-6053-8
Life expectancy worldwide is twice what it was a hundred years ago. And because of modern medicine, many of us don’t often see death up close. That makes it easy to live as if death is someone else’s problem. Ignoring the certainty of death doesn’t protect us from feeling its effects throughout the lives we’re living now—but it does hold us back from experiencing the powerful, everyday relevance of Jesus’s promises to us. So long as death remains remote and unreal, Jesus’s promises will too. But honesty about death brings hope to life. That’s the ironic claim at the heart of this book. Cultivating death awareness helps us bring the promises of Jesus from the hazy clouds of some other world into the everyday realities of our world, where they belong.
Insightful and Draws from many sources, including research from science and psychology, and examples from literature, pop culture, theology, and Scripture Christ-Centered Encouragement for Life and Teaching what the Bible says about identity, futility, and grief, McCullough offers hope that is tied to the promises of God Replaces ISBN 978-1-4335-6053-8
197 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 10, 2025
112 people are currently reading
964 people want to read
About the author
Matthew McCullough
8 books20 followersMatthew McCullough (PhD, Vanderbilt University) serves as pastor of Trinity Church in Nashville, Tennessee, which he helped plant. He is the author of The Cross of War and writes occasionally for 9Marks and the Gospel Coalition.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
January 10, 2019
McCullough says early on this is a book for those who never think about death, but I kept reading anyway. I think young Christians in particular should read this in late high school or early college, alongside Piper's *Don't Waste Your Life* maybe.
September 6, 2019
A theology of death is not something I've thought much about before. For that matter, I was worried this book would only increase my existential dread, and while there was definitely some of that, I also came across a perspective-shifting view of our sin-shaped world that was challenging and filled with hope.
We will all share in the experience of death. Not only that, but death steals everything we have and love. Our lives around us are all in the process of deteriorating because of the depreciating effects of sin and God (even) gifts man with death to remove us from the sin-causing futility of the world around us unto a resurrected world where death can no longer kill and destroy and the futility of our toil becomes everlasting ease. A world where Jesus doesn't resurrect from the dead becomes, well, it becomes the setting of McCarthy's "The Road"--a bleak, desolate wasteland heading toward nothingness where we cling to our loved ones with no future hope, as long as death will allow.
We will all share in the experience of death. Not only that, but death steals everything we have and love. Our lives around us are all in the process of deteriorating because of the depreciating effects of sin and God (even) gifts man with death to remove us from the sin-causing futility of the world around us unto a resurrected world where death can no longer kill and destroy and the futility of our toil becomes everlasting ease. A world where Jesus doesn't resurrect from the dead becomes, well, it becomes the setting of McCarthy's "The Road"--a bleak, desolate wasteland heading toward nothingness where we cling to our loved ones with no future hope, as long as death will allow.
January 14, 2023
A truly remarkable book for my soul. There may be other books I’ve read that are more scholarly or more capital-I Important, but no other book has burrowed as deeply into my heart.
In early 2022, a dear friend died suddenly and unexpectedly. Navigating all the questions whirling around that event has been a challenge to say the least. Increasing what this author calls my “death-awareness” has been a very, very helpful start.
This isn’t necessarily a book for older brothers and sisters who are nearing death. Or a book for those grieving a recently lost loved one. It’s really a book for average people who go through life functionally ignoring the biggest problem underneath every broken part of this world.
In early 2022, a dear friend died suddenly and unexpectedly. Navigating all the questions whirling around that event has been a challenge to say the least. Increasing what this author calls my “death-awareness” has been a very, very helpful start.
This isn’t necessarily a book for older brothers and sisters who are nearing death. Or a book for those grieving a recently lost loved one. It’s really a book for average people who go through life functionally ignoring the biggest problem underneath every broken part of this world.
August 7, 2025
One of my top reads in this last year !!! Encouraging for any believer no matter the age :) one of the few I bought a hard copy of to read again soon. Highly recommended ❤️❤️🥰
October 7, 2025
Hands down my favorite and best non fiction book written in the past 10 years. Easily in the top five of the best books I have ever read (and probably the only modern book to get that high on my list). This is my second time reading through the book and my plan is to make it an annual read.
The book is an extended meditation on death and how only through reckoning seriously and soberly with our own mortality can we truly understand Jesus Christ and the Christian message. The book isn’t long, but it is incredibly profound and thought provoking, as well as having broad applications to almost every aspect of one’s life. I particularly appreciate the contrasting of the Christian answer to death with other honest attempts for humans to reckon with it.
In short, if you are a Christian, this book is a must read.
If you are not, this book is a crystal clear exposition of what Christian’s believe about life and death, about who Jesus is and what he did, and why Jesus having a literal physical resurrection is so important.
Truth: 5/5
This book is the absolute antithesis of the prosperity gospel and many aspects of individualistic American Christianity in general. I did not find myself disagreeing with the author on many points.
Beauty/Form/Structure: 4/5
The book is an accessible length and doesn’t have a lot of filler, which I appreciate. There is a chapter that highlights why death is such a big issue and why modern Americans ignore it. Then, the book goes through several chapters showing particular areas death targets (our identity, our work, our enjoyment of things, etc.) before showing how the Gospel addresses and answers each. Finally, the book concludes on a brief but sublime meditation on how death, grief, and hope relate.
My only complaint structurally is the author can occasionally repeat himself a bit too often for my taste. Additionally, the middle chapters could be split into two shorter chapters to aid readability.
Usefulness/applicability to your life: 5/5
A truly life changing book in the sense that it will cause you to think about life differently in light of death. More importantly, you will be more attuned to descriptions of Jesus and the gospel that trivialize or misrepresent the Christian message to be primarily about earthly blessing.
The book is an extended meditation on death and how only through reckoning seriously and soberly with our own mortality can we truly understand Jesus Christ and the Christian message. The book isn’t long, but it is incredibly profound and thought provoking, as well as having broad applications to almost every aspect of one’s life. I particularly appreciate the contrasting of the Christian answer to death with other honest attempts for humans to reckon with it.
In short, if you are a Christian, this book is a must read.
If you are not, this book is a crystal clear exposition of what Christian’s believe about life and death, about who Jesus is and what he did, and why Jesus having a literal physical resurrection is so important.
Truth: 5/5
This book is the absolute antithesis of the prosperity gospel and many aspects of individualistic American Christianity in general. I did not find myself disagreeing with the author on many points.
Beauty/Form/Structure: 4/5
The book is an accessible length and doesn’t have a lot of filler, which I appreciate. There is a chapter that highlights why death is such a big issue and why modern Americans ignore it. Then, the book goes through several chapters showing particular areas death targets (our identity, our work, our enjoyment of things, etc.) before showing how the Gospel addresses and answers each. Finally, the book concludes on a brief but sublime meditation on how death, grief, and hope relate.
My only complaint structurally is the author can occasionally repeat himself a bit too often for my taste. Additionally, the middle chapters could be split into two shorter chapters to aid readability.
Usefulness/applicability to your life: 5/5
A truly life changing book in the sense that it will cause you to think about life differently in light of death. More importantly, you will be more attuned to descriptions of Jesus and the gospel that trivialize or misrepresent the Christian message to be primarily about earthly blessing.
July 24, 2025
In my selfish nature, I wish I had written this book. It is that good. I had high expectations for this piece, and it did not disappoint.
Talking about death seems insensitive. To say you are one month or one year closer to death is deemed morbid. Yet, no one is exempt, though we think we are somehow the exception. Death is a theme I look for in books: When Breath becomes Air, Tuesdays with Morrie, Myth of Sisyphus, to name a few. It reminds me of my finitude and my smallness. Death reminds me I will be forgotten.
For the Christian, we know the only one who concurred death. Our lives are as a vapor, here for a little while before it vanishes away.
If you do not have time to read this book - ok. But you have to read the forward by Russell Moore. It is gold.
“Memento Mori”
Talking about death seems insensitive. To say you are one month or one year closer to death is deemed morbid. Yet, no one is exempt, though we think we are somehow the exception. Death is a theme I look for in books: When Breath becomes Air, Tuesdays with Morrie, Myth of Sisyphus, to name a few. It reminds me of my finitude and my smallness. Death reminds me I will be forgotten.
For the Christian, we know the only one who concurred death. Our lives are as a vapor, here for a little while before it vanishes away.
If you do not have time to read this book - ok. But you have to read the forward by Russell Moore. It is gold.
“Memento Mori”
August 25, 2019
One of the best books I’ve read all year. It almost feels too hard to describe but it’s worth an attempt. Basically death is all around us. In the obvious- loss of friends and family- in the passing of time- my babies aren’t babies anymore!- and in the everyday- the new car that just got scratched, the vacation that ended. The more we are aware of death in our everyday, the more our hearts can hope and trust in The Resurrection and The Life, Jesus. Seriously, so good. And even ends with a very practical chapter on how death awareness is the road to battling discontentment and anxiety.
August 16, 2025
I loved this book. So helpful for showing the value of “death-awareness” for our spiritual lives and for gently correcting false or incomplete attitudes toward death among Christians and in the broader culture. Matt is an excellent writer, especially masterful at illustrating his ideas.
June 30, 2019
A superb book on the need to live this life with a “death awareness.” This certainly doesn’t come easily in our culture, but would make a world of difference in our emotional/mental/spiritual well being.
So many quotes to choose from, but I’ll list this as a key to the book in reference to John 6: “John shows us why clear-eyed honesty about what death does to what we love is the path to full-hearted longing for the life of Jesus promises.”
At times the book felt like an unstoppable locomotive of sobering (depressing) reality, but though each chapter starts there, it moves through that to the reality and source of real hope.
So many quotes to choose from, but I’ll list this as a key to the book in reference to John 6: “John shows us why clear-eyed honesty about what death does to what we love is the path to full-hearted longing for the life of Jesus promises.”
At times the book felt like an unstoppable locomotive of sobering (depressing) reality, but though each chapter starts there, it moves through that to the reality and source of real hope.
November 7, 2018
Beautiful truth communicated through beautiful prose. This book is remarkable. Easily one of the best I’ve read all year.
December 15, 2025
Wow! Amazing ! I think this is probably the best book I read this year. It Inspired me to think biblically about death in a way that I don’t think I have before. Given the morbid nature of the topic, you would think the result of reading this book will be depression over death but surprisingly it led to a renewed thankfulness and appreciation for eternal life in Christ and a different picture of the beauty of the cross. Definitely plan to reread this and think through some of the points some more. Highly recommend!
December 30, 2025
Wonderful book.
“Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibalism or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”
- John G. Paton
“Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibalism or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”
- John G. Paton
June 3, 2019
The irony is that a book on death can be so hopeful. Incredibly wise, McCullough speaks not only to the loss we experience due to physical death, but also to the death of anything pleasurable in life, and why those losses point us to the reality that we were made for unending love & relationships. That’s why we ache and experience nostalgia when seasons of life pass by us. We long for a permanence death robs us of. Living under the shadow of death in this life can actually illuminate proper hope as we realize our only hope in life and death—Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life.
August 27, 2019
An excellent book! I found it so helpful.
“When the reality of death is far from our minds, the promises of Jesus often seem detached from our lives.... So we must learn to see the shadow of death behind the problems of life before we can recognize the powerful relevance of Jesus to every obstacle we face. This is a book about death because it is a book about Jesus.”
“When the reality of death is far from our minds, the promises of Jesus often seem detached from our lives.... So we must learn to see the shadow of death behind the problems of life before we can recognize the powerful relevance of Jesus to every obstacle we face. This is a book about death because it is a book about Jesus.”
February 6, 2023
3.7 One of my pastors recently said “if I thought about death everyday I’d probably be a better man.” This book helps Christian’s become aware of death and hold more tightly to Christ.
May 22, 2025
An important premise
July 22, 2025
10/10. Jesus saves the best wine for last!
October 23, 2025
Review posted soon!
March 12, 2025
Freshman and sophomore year of college I was overly concerned with death. Then I wasn’t thinking about it so much. Then, in grad school, three close family members died within two years. This book is a good reset for my mind.
May 26, 2022
A sobering yet hopeful book about death that made me want to hold my family and Jesus tighter.
October 2, 2024
This book was a beautiful meditation on death and how essential it is to think about during all stages of life. No, not as morbid as it sounds - quite cheerful actually!
Some quotes:
"Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote to a friend, 'it is only when one loves life and the earth so much that without them everything seems to be over that one may believe in the resurrection and a new world.' This perspective fits perfectly with what Jesus has promised and nothing we've said about about death awareness changes anything. Jesus draws our attention to the grave to break our attachment to foolish hope in false gods, but not to pull us back from joy. He would rather return the good things of life to their proper place in our minds and hearts: they are gifts, not gods. We can fully enjoy them, knowing we'll lose them, precisely because we know we don't have to have them. We can open our hearts to temporary pleasures precisely because we don't give our hearts to temporary pleasures. We can only love them for what they are, not preoccupied by what they're not, when we love them not for their own sake but for the true fountain of joy from which they flow. They are wonderful conduits to joy in God, to be loved for God's sake for as long as we have them."
This quote from Augustine sums it up well too "To enlighten and enable us, the whole temporal dispensation was set up by divine providence for our salvation. We must make use of this, not with a permanent love and enjoyment of it, but with a transient love and enjoyment of our journey, or of our conveyances, so to speak, or any other expedients whatsoever ..., so that we love the means of transport only because of our destination."
"We sometimes judge the plausibility of God's promises to us in light of what we're experiencing now. We are tempted to believe that if God is allowing us to suffer as we are, we can't trust him to deliver on his promise of redemption, resurrection, and an eternal life of joy with him. We can view his promises as an upgrade to an already-comfortable life, icing on the cake of the pleasant ease that is our baseline expectation. But this is not how his promises come to us in Scripture ... If his promises are no more to us than icing on the cake of good lives now, then those promises will always seem irrelevant and otherworldly when we suffer.
"... this honesty about death then prepares me for what is truly surprising: that God the Son subjected himself to the imitations, brokenness, and death that are normal for us."
Some quotes:
"Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote to a friend, 'it is only when one loves life and the earth so much that without them everything seems to be over that one may believe in the resurrection and a new world.' This perspective fits perfectly with what Jesus has promised and nothing we've said about about death awareness changes anything. Jesus draws our attention to the grave to break our attachment to foolish hope in false gods, but not to pull us back from joy. He would rather return the good things of life to their proper place in our minds and hearts: they are gifts, not gods. We can fully enjoy them, knowing we'll lose them, precisely because we know we don't have to have them. We can open our hearts to temporary pleasures precisely because we don't give our hearts to temporary pleasures. We can only love them for what they are, not preoccupied by what they're not, when we love them not for their own sake but for the true fountain of joy from which they flow. They are wonderful conduits to joy in God, to be loved for God's sake for as long as we have them."
This quote from Augustine sums it up well too "To enlighten and enable us, the whole temporal dispensation was set up by divine providence for our salvation. We must make use of this, not with a permanent love and enjoyment of it, but with a transient love and enjoyment of our journey, or of our conveyances, so to speak, or any other expedients whatsoever ..., so that we love the means of transport only because of our destination."
"We sometimes judge the plausibility of God's promises to us in light of what we're experiencing now. We are tempted to believe that if God is allowing us to suffer as we are, we can't trust him to deliver on his promise of redemption, resurrection, and an eternal life of joy with him. We can view his promises as an upgrade to an already-comfortable life, icing on the cake of the pleasant ease that is our baseline expectation. But this is not how his promises come to us in Scripture ... If his promises are no more to us than icing on the cake of good lives now, then those promises will always seem irrelevant and otherworldly when we suffer.
"... this honesty about death then prepares me for what is truly surprising: that God the Son subjected himself to the imitations, brokenness, and death that are normal for us."
September 6, 2019
With its black cover and white 1/2 dust jacket, Remember Death makes a statement before it ever invites its reader inside. It is a small book at less than 200 pages, but it proceeds with the power of concentrated strength. I was surprised how long it took me to read but I'm glad that I did. What looks like a grim book from the outset, was, in fact, a study of much more than death. I remarked more than a few times as I read that for the title, Remember Death was as uplifting a book as there is. The author, Matthew McCullough takes the reader through the theology of death and how it will lead us to praise God and live differently in death's shadow. Full of informative footnotes, this book was as full of information as well as heart. He talks about our modern culture's inability to deal with the reality of death and what that does to us. All the while, setting a necessary and encouraging perspective about death. I highly recommend.
February 9, 2022
Given to me by our pastor after referencing it a few times in a sermon series of Ecc. This book brings to light how important death awareness is in our life and how far away we are from that in our current culture. Death awareness allows us to grieve for what is lost because it was never how God intended it to be. Grief leads to hope knowing what a Jesus brings us eternal life.
I underlined the crap out of this book because it was so well written: both in illustrations in explaining concepts, stories that illustrated these points, well research on all the views of death both philosophical and as a Christian and wonderful biblical interpretation. Wish I could just hand out a copy of this book to everyone I know.
I underlined the crap out of this book because it was so well written: both in illustrations in explaining concepts, stories that illustrated these points, well research on all the views of death both philosophical and as a Christian and wonderful biblical interpretation. Wish I could just hand out a copy of this book to everyone I know.
July 31, 2021
I avoided this book for two years. What a strange title! “Remember Death.” It sounds morbid and nothing a twenty four year old wants to do.
But for some reason, I finally picked it up. And once I started reading, it was hard to put it down. McCullough writes with an honesty about death that was quite jarring at first. But it was deeply needed.
This book it titled remember death, but don’t misunderstand. It’s all about Jesus.
“By avoiding the truth about death, we’re avoiding the truth about Jesus.”
But for some reason, I finally picked it up. And once I started reading, it was hard to put it down. McCullough writes with an honesty about death that was quite jarring at first. But it was deeply needed.
This book it titled remember death, but don’t misunderstand. It’s all about Jesus.
“By avoiding the truth about death, we’re avoiding the truth about Jesus.”
December 12, 2020
Outstanding book from cover to cover. I think McCullough delivers a message that would free it’s readers from the tyranny of death and ignite hope in the resurrection and it’s benefits. The details and examples of how we avoid death are almost shocking, yet not surprising at the same time. This book personally helped me process some of my own fears and gave the greatest remedy to those fears. In a season like 2020, this book should be read, meditated upon, applied, and shared.
January 23, 2024
I’m not just giving this book a 5 star rating because Matt is my pastor. This book provided such a rich perspective on life and the truth about what fuels our lasting hope in life AND death. Matt speaks to how pivotal the resurrection of Jesus is to this hope, and that we ought to treat death like it is the chief, unavoidable problem that every life faces. I’m grateful for this book and Matt’s ministry.
November 5, 2025
I read this book during the start of COVID in 2020 based on a footnote in another book that kept referencing it. I couldn’t put it down. It seems like reminding yourself that you’re going to die one day during a global pandemic is a pretty fear-inducing move, but it couldn’t have been more freeing to be reminded that my days matter and to make the most of it while on this side of Heaven.
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
July 23, 2025
McCullough orients the reader to discover how an increased awareness of the reality and inevitably of death and the impermanence of the things of this world can result in a deeper hope in and attachment to Christ.
March 15, 2021
Clear and biblical vision for living as those who will die. One to reread.
September 12, 2023
I wish I could give this more stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews