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The Last Chapter of the Book: Who Is the Author? Christian Reflections on Assisted Suicide

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Abstract

In this paper the author argues that a narrative approach to understanding assisted suicide has been compromised by the notion that all narratives must be both coherent and unified. He asks what we are to do with those narratives that cannot seem to cohere or be other than full of disunity? Is suicide the only way to make meaning out of suffering? He then proposes that the narrative found in the Gospel of Mark leads Christians to a life in hope and compassion in spite of apparent incoherence and disunity and threats of abandonment and suffering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia Theological Seminary, and Clinical Medical Ethicist, Georgia Baptist Medical Center, Atlanta, Georgia

    Brian H. Childs

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  1. Brian H. Childs
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Childs, B.H. The Last Chapter of the Book: Who Is the Author? Christian Reflections on Assisted Suicide. Journal of Medical Humanities 18, 21–28 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025606625525

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025606625525

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