Staring at Dementia by Danny E. Akin and Tension by Gerald L. Borchert are the latest releases from Nurturing Faith books, the publishing imprint of Good Faith Media.
A tender journal recollection of the author’s time spent with his mother during the last decade of her life, Staring at Dementia: Lessons from Mother chronicles and reflects on their many visits together.
Akin offers personal reflections on the toll dementia takes on both the patient and the caregiver, sharing both the successes and failures of maintaining a close relationship with an elderly family member in decline.
“As I look back and remember my feelings of frustration, there are times when I regret my anger – even when I tried to see the humor,” Akin says. “Wise advice from other writers prompted me to look for the self, the person that remained of the mother I loved. Often, I found it in her kindness and even, at times, in her words.”
Akin retired after 37 years as a research microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including stints as a visiting scientist in the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. He lives in Athens, Georgia, and his family includes his wife, Rebecca, a grown son and daughter, and two granddaughters.
The very nature of choice is a source of tension, and all humans are confronted daily with choices that can have significant impacts on themselves and those around them, Borchert observes in Tension: Empowering Christian Thought and Life.
Because choice is a source of tension, the book explores what it means to live with freedom and to engage with our choices in a meaningful way.
“I think we need repeatedly to ask: Is our theology ready to deal better with old tensions and accept the fact that new tensions loom in the future?” Borchert says. “Perhaps, seeing the incredible power that is present in dealing more effectively with both sides of tensions may be more productive.”
Borchert is emeritus professor and thesis director at the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies, holding an honors doctorate from Princeton, and is an elected member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas.
Staring at Dementia and Tension are each available in paperback for $18 (with free shipping) from GFM’s bookstore.
An e-book for each will be available on Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (Nook) within a few weeks.
Reflection and resources at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.
