Rural Theology

International, Ecumenical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

ISSN: 1470-4994 (Print) 2042-1273 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yrur20

Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters

in the End

David Knight

To cite this article: David Knight (2016) Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in
the End, Rural Theology, 14:1, 69-70, DOI: 10.1080/14704994.2016.1154732

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14704994.2016.1154732

Published online: 25 Apr 2016.

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Download by: [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] Date: 09 June 2016, At: 02:53
 rural theology, Vol. 14 No. 1, May, 2016, 69–74

Book Reviews

Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in the End. By ATUL GAWANDE. London:
Wellcome Collection and Profile Books Ltd, 2015. Pp. 277 hbk. ISBN 978 1 84668 581 1.
£15.99.
Downloaded by [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] at 02:53 09 June 2016

Dr Gawande is a practising surgeon; a professor at Harvard Medical School; and a

multi-award winning writer. His Reith Lectures (BBC Radio 4 in 2014), ‘The future of medi-
cine’ were based on this book. With a deceptively gentle, narrative style (although the reader is
also left in no doubt about the author’s command of relevant research), he explores what it is
to age and die in our Western culture and raises profound challenges to the current settlement
in every chapter.
Much of the way in which we provide, as a society, for the last stage of our lives has hap-
pened by accident and as an attempt to solve purely medical problems. The author argues
that this has resulted in doctors having authority over something for which they are on
the whole untrained and unprepared. Whether the care is provided in hospital or in
nursing homes, the familiar picture is the dominance of medical priorities and medical rou-
tines. Keeping people safe becomes more important than allowing people to live any kind of
real life.
As we age into the final chapter of our personal stories, other models of care are possible.
The author explores several, including the Eden Project (filling nursing homes with animals
and plants), Assisted Living schemes (which allow for maximum independence and keep
medicine firmly in its place), as well as community self-help initiatives, and finally, the
hospice approach.
One of the great strengths of the book is that each of the eight chapters is structured to suit
the author’s desire for a different future for medicine: arguments are always made through a
first-hand exploration of real human stories, including, most movingly, the story of the
author’s father’s journey towards death.
With chapter titles of: ‘The independent self’; ‘Things fall apart’; ‘Dependence’; ‘Assistance’;
‘A better life’; ‘Letting go’; ‘Hard conversations’; and ‘Courage’, the book is a plea for medi-
cine to remember that human beings have purposes larger than themselves — things that
matter to them more than just surviving.
‘Being mortal’ is to struggle with our biology. Medical science has power to assist us
throughout our lives, but as we age and approach our deaths, it is just as likely to cause
damage when it fails to understand how finite the power of science is. Dr Gawande challenges
all medical practitioners to embrace both being human, and the insights and techniques of pal-
liative care.
These are not in themselves rare conclusions. Many of us have come to the same place in
our thinking. However, what makes all the difference is that this is a world-class doctor
making the radical points.
The epilogue describes how Dr Gawande takes his Hindu father’s ashes back to the
river Ganges and, while performing the rites prescribed, feels his father’s and his
family’s stories to be connected to an ancient story, which satisfies beyond reason. The
book ends with:

© The Rural Theology Association 2016

 70 BOOK REVIEWS

After spreading my father’s ashes, we floated silently for a while, letting the current take
us. As the sun burned away the mist, it began to warm our bones. Then we gave a signal
to the boatman, and he picked up his oars. We headed back towards the shore. (p. 263)
This book understands being human. It is comfortable with reason, unsurprisingly, but it is
just as comfortable with metaphor and things beyond reason.

DAVID KNIGHT
Mary Stevens Hospice, Stourbridge, UK
david.knight@marystevenshospice.co.uk
DOI 10.1080/14704994.2016.1154732
Downloaded by [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] at 02:53 09 June 2016

How to Read the Bible without Switching Off Your Brain. By SIMON J. TAYLOR. London: SPCK
Publishers, 2015. Pp. vii + 129 (pbk). ISBN 9 780281 073801. £9.99

How to read the Bible without switching off your brain has been written by Simon J. Taylor to
help people read the Bible in all its complexities. Simon asserts in the introduction to the book
that ‘reading the Bible is an adventure’ (p. xi) and he invites people to join the adventure and
to enter the strange new world of the Bible. The book is split into 10 chapters and within the
10 chapters there are opportunities to try out what the author has suggested in the chapter and
the author also offers opportunity for further reading.
Chapter one offers help on reading the Bible. It gives advice on how to read and how not to
read the Bible. It raises awareness of the importance of context and suggests questions that the
reader of the Bible can ask of the text. It explores different translations of the Bible and offers
helpful advice on choosing the right translation.
Chapter two asks, ‘What is the Bible?’ It reflects on the question by asking if the Bible is one
book or many and explores the canon of scripture and how different books got into the Bible.
Chapter three looks at the Bible as story. It suggests to the readers that when reading the
Bible they are joining a conversation about God and God’s people. This conversation is
played out through stories written by the people as they live out the stories. The author
draws on and reworks the former Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright’s notion of the Bible as
a play.
Chapter four looks in more detail at the story of Jesus. It explores the Gospels, their differ-
ences and similarities and raises the question of other Gospels.
Chapter five changes direction and looks at the idea of praying with the Bible, it explores
prayers taken from the Bible and looks at prayers in the Bible. In this chapter, the author gives
some practical insights into praying with the Bible.
Chapter six explores three creation stories and asks three questions, ‘What do we notice?
What kind of truth is being offered here? How successful is it?’ It looks first at the creation
story as told in Genesis chapter one. The author raises questions about the truth claims of
this story and suggests that the truth in the story is not about historical and literal accuracy,
but about truth in terms of values and themes. The second story is the Babylonian story of
creation and the author again suggests that what is important in the story are truths
around power. The final creation story is the story of contemporary science and the ‘Big
Bang’ theory as a form of creation. The author speaks of this story being a ‘snapshot’ of
the debate at this particular point in time rather than the whole truth.
The next three chapters (seven, eight, and nine) tackle three difficult subjects in the bible.
They explore the themes of money, sex, and violence in the Bible. The author explores
wealth as blessing and reward and also the idea that the poor are precious to God. The
author ends the chapter on money by looking at the generosity of God and our response to
that generosity.