Karl Rahner emphasized that the entire life of a Christian should be a continuous dying to self. Rahner indicated that Christians participate in Christ's death through their own death—something that is enacted throughout their lives and is consummated in the actual death of the Christian (On the Theology of Death [Freiburg: Herder, 1961], 82). In Dying and the Virtues, Matthew Levering makes a significant contribution to the preparation for death in life through his illumination of the virtues that a Christian should practice in this life in order to experience a good death: love, hope, faith, penitence, gratitude, solidarity, humility, surrender, and courage. Levering maintains that cultivating these virtues in life will prepare people for dying. But he also recognizes that virtues cannot be “switched on” by sheer force of will at the hour of death, and so he rightly maintains that people who find themselves unprepared on their deathbed can and should beg God to give them, through the Holy Spirit, these virtues that are needed to endure the trial of death.
This book is not, however, a how-to book about living and growing in the virtues that will prepare one for death. Rather, Levering examines these nine virtues of dying by taking up numerous topics that will elucidate the understanding of death through the prism of each particular virtue of dying. In this vein, his mastery of material sheds considerable light upon the experience of dying—as well as the experience of living—if these virtues are cultivated. These important sources for the Christian understanding of death are matched with particular virtues: the book of Job with love; Joseph Pieper on death and dying, and the tradition of ars moriendi (Robert Bellarmine, Francis de Sales, and Jean-Pierre de Caussade) with hope; the examination of Gaudium et Spes’ conclusion that only faith in Christ makes death bearable with faith; the exegesis of Ezekiel 20 (Israel's history as perceived in light of its failures and God's righteous punishment), Hebrews 11 (looking back at the communal past to see what God has accomplished), and Acts 7 (Stephen's speech) with penitence; Gregory of Nyssa's account of the dying of his sister Macrina with gratitude; Jon Sobrino's emphasis on solidarity with those who suffer and the diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska with solidarity; Brant Pitre's biblical exegesis on late Second Temple's belief in the imminence of a decisive “eschatological tribulation” and Thomas Aquinas on Jesus’ dying with humility; a discussion of the use of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick with surrender; and depictions of eternal life offered by Plato, the Qur'an, and N. T. Wright with courage. These significant sources are augmented by the richness of a broad array of Scripture passages, papal voices (John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis), medical and hospice experts, and contemporary theologians.
In terms of structure, the first five chapters address the dying person's fear of annihilation, unfulfilled desires, and the process of looking back upon their life and looking forward to their future. The final four chapters address troubling and difficult questions that dying persons often have: what good can come to the dying person or anyone else from our suffering and dying (chap. 6); why the dying person suffers and dies even after Christ has conquered death (chap. 7); how Christ, through the church, prepares the person for dying (chap. 8); and whether or not life in Christ after death will be fundamentally like the present life (chap. 9).
Levering has included exhaustive notes; indeed, approximately half the book is endnotes. He has a talent for summarizing texts, making them accessible to those who might not want to wade through the primary texts themselves. In this regard, Levering's biblical summaries of material from Job and Ezekiel, his treatment of the saintly writings of Gregory of Nyssa, Robert Bellarmine, Francis de Sales, and Faustina Kowalska, and his exposition of the biblical exegesis of Brant Pitre are particular examples of his excellent scholarship.
Levering, who frequently cites Henri Nouwen in Dying and the Virtues, notes that Nouwen observes that we must “come to the deep inner knowledge—a knowledge more of the heart than of the mind—that we are born out of love and will die into love, that every part of our being is deeply rooted in love and that this love is our true Father and Mother” (11–12). In Dying and the Virtues, Levering has made a significant contribution to nurturing the deep inner knowledge of this most crucial experience for the Christian.
