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A Time for Holy Disatisfaction

After six decades of ministry, an eminent churchman assesses the health of the body of Christ.

After six decades of ministry, an eminent churchman assesses the health of the body of Christ.

David Elton Trueblood was born, as he likes to say, "in the last month of the last century" (December, 1900). That tells you something about his mind; it is always taking note of things others miss. He has a ready explanation for why he retired from teaching philosophy at Earlham College promptly at age sixty-five: "So people wouldn't ask me why I didn't." Other octogenarians in Richmond, Indiana, may have trouble remembering their Zip Code (47374), but not Trueblood: it is, he notes, a palindrome.

He has decided not to write any more books; thirty-two is enough. They include such notables as The Predicament of Modern Man, The Company of the Committed, and The Incendiary Fellowship. But these later years are not for reposing; he is still the active president of Yokefellows International, his beloved order of laity and clergy who commit themselves to interior discipline and exterior ministry in ...

March
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