aging
Each of my dyings
I’m in a stage of life where I find myself praying the same prayer again and again.
I can’t take my eyes off Jean Smart
In Hacks and Mare of Easttown, it’s thrilling to watch an aging woman on screen.
Toward a more generous way of thinking about dementia
Two very different books provide guidance for family, caregivers, and clergy.
When Jane Tompkins couldn’t move, she read
Confined by illness, the feminist literary scholar dove into the complete works of V.S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux.
My mother was my first theology teacher
Now it’s my turn to hold the memory of faith for her.
The coming-of-age novel comes of age
If old age is another country, three novelists are exploring not just the peaks and valleys but also the rough places in between.
In praise of gravity
My understanding of God has become a welcome object of gravity, as it moved from heady abstractions to my gut.
Two old friends have a lively conversation about getting old
Martha Nussbaum and Saul Levmore draw from philosophy, literature, economics, and public policy to ruminate on aging.
What does Christian vocation look like for the elderly?
God calls us to serve the world with our bodies—even when those bodies are failing.
The work that begins at retirement
Life's later decades present distinctive virtues—and vices.
Midlife happiness through the (narrow) lens of science
How can we live well after 40? asks Barbara Bradley Hagerty. She could have consulted the wisdom traditions.
Illness as hermitage: How Parkinsons became my spiritual practice
One day, as I considered my routine of pills and naps and exercises, I saw that it is not unlike praying the hours.
Perfume for my father: A lavish gift
I have given my father many presents. The small bottle of fragrant bath essence I gave him last Christmas may be the most important one.
The presence of absence: Grieving and believing
Without the rudder of memory, my father seemed adrift in a tiny boat on a wild, infinite sea, yet unconcerned with finding a way back to shore.