The gods of this world are sick unto death. . . . And where are they now? They are dying, dying, and their twilight thickens into night. Where is the security that they promised? Where is the peace? The terrible truth is that the gods of this world are no more worthy of our ultimate trust than are the men who created them.
—Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat
In my late 20s I received an email from a friend I hadn’t seen in ten years. “Do you remember me?” she asked. “Do you remember Death and the Maiden and Dvorak’s American?”
