Be Not Afraid - by Johann Christoph Arnold (Paperback)

About the Book

This best-selling volume addresses fears every human faces vulnerability, illness, aging, and dying. Yet at its core this book is more about living than dying. Arnold says living for a cause greater than ourselves enables us to face eternity with the strength that comes from faith. Drawing on stories of people he has known and counseled as pastor, relative, or friend, Arnold shows how suffering can be given meaning, and despair overcome. He offers the assurance that even today, in our culture of isolation and death, there is hope. As you read, youll meet individuals who lived life to the fullest by serving others and found a love that, as John says, casts out fear.

Book Synopsis

Fear of accidents or acts of terror, illness or dying, loneliness or grief - if you're like most people such anxieties may be robbing you of the peace that could be yours.

In Be Not Afraid, Johann Christoph Arnold, a seasoned pastoral counselor who has accompanied many people to death's door, tells how ordinary men, women and children found the strength to conquer their deepest fears. Drawing on stories of people he has known as pastor, relative or friend, Arnold shows how suffering can be given meaning, and despair overcome. Interspersed with anecdotes from such wise teachers as Mother Teresa, Henri Nouwen, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Arnold's words offer the assurance that even in an age of anxiety, you can live life to the full and meet death with confidence.

Review Quotes

"Arnold's book movingly shows people coming to grasp the power of Christian hope in their encounter with death. It prepares us for that same encounter."

"Fans of Arnold's perceptive, bold and profoundly spiritual writing will not be disappointed in this book, which dares to ask why humans are so afraid of death...The writing here is superb and the emotions fiercely real."

"I have read many books about dying, but this is the one I would give to someone approaching death or facing bereavement. From start to finish it shines with hope."

"This is a beautiful book of surpassing dignity and tenderness. Although written with great simplicity of style, it is nonetheless a work of moral mystery...a small treasure, unpretentious and transcendent."