Abstract
The announcement of his high school class’ fiftieth year reunion prompted the author to read a short story and an essay he had written in high school. He discovered considerable continuity between the themes with which the boy was preoccupied (especially hope but also wisdom and love) and his adult vocational interests and writings. Invoking John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1956) the author concludes that the high school boy who lives inside of him has been his faithful companion throughout the years. He also observes that the short story has proven prophetic because it tells about an old man in search of a young boy who appears to have found what both are searching for.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Nathan Carlin and I discuss the theme of Christ’s descent into limbo as a symbol of hope in our forthcoming book Living in Limbo (Capps and Carlin 2010).
In a scrapbook compiled in 1948 (when I was nine years old) there is a typed list of 37 dates to remember, most relating to the births of U.S. Presidents. But two entries stand out—one indicates that National Child Health Day is May 1, the other notes that the first orphanage in the United States opened on August 7, 1727.
References
Baker, R. (Ed.). (1986). The Norton book of light verse. New York: W. W. Norton.
Bunyan, J. (1957). The pilgrim’s progress. New York: Washington Square. Original published in 1678.
Capps, D. (1998). Living stories. Minneapolis: Fortress.
Capps, D. (2000). Deadly sins and saving virtues. Eugene: Wipf & Stock.
Capps, D. (2001). Agents of hope. Eugene: Wipf & Stock.
Capps, D. (2002). Life cycle theory and pastoral care. Eugene: Wipf & Stock.
Capps, D. (2003). Biblical approaches to pastoral counseling. Eugene: Wipf & Stock.
Capps, D. (2005a). Nervous laughter: Lament, death anxiety, and humor. In S. A. Brown & P. D. Miller (Eds.), Lament (pp. 70–79). Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Capps, D. (2005b). A time to laugh: The religion of humor. New York: Continuum.
Capps, D. (2006). Desire faileth not. The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, 60, 161–164.
Capps, D., & Carlin, N. (2010). Living in limbo. Eugene: Wipf & Stock.
Emerson, R. W. (1983). Emerson: Essays and lectures. New York: The Library of America.
Le Goff, J. (1984). The birth of purgatory. A. Goldhammer (Trans.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Lynch, W. F. (1965). Images of hope: Imagination as healer of the hopeless. New York: Mentor-Omega Books.
Riesman, D. (1950). The lonely crowd. With R. Denney and N. Glazier. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ryken, L. (1992). Words of delight: A literary introduction to the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.