Losing Susan: Brain Disease, the Priest's Wife, and the God Who Gives and Takes Away - Hardcover

Austin, Victor Lee

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1587433850 ISBN 13: 9781587433856

Publisher: Brazos Press, 2016

Synopsis

The Story of Brain Disease and the Priest's Wife

This is the story of Susan--a wife, mother, Christian believer, lover of children, writer of stories, and woman of extraordinary intellect. Susan was diagnosed with a brain tumor in her late thirties. Although it was successfully treated, the process led to her slow, unending decline.

In this personal story of love and loss, Victor Lee Austin shares how caring for his wife during her painful struggle with brain cancer and its aftereffects brought him face-to-face with his God and with his faith in unsettling ways. God gave Victor what his heart most desired--marriage to Susan--then God took away what he had given. Yet God never withdrew his presence. Weaving together autobiographical details and profound theological insights, this powerful narrative shows that we are called to turn to God in the face of suffering.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In this personal story of love and loss, seasoned pastor-theologian Victor Lee Austin shares how caring for his wife during her long struggle with brain cancer and its aftereffects brought him face-to-face with his God and with his faith in unsettling ways.

"In this painfully truthful book, Victor Lee Austin draws on the theological wisdom shaped by suffering and death to tell us the story of Susan's, his wife's, determination to live and love though suffering from a terminal disease of the brain. As her caregiver, he refuses to hide from himself or us how hard caring for her had been. When finished with the book, however, the reader cannot help but think: what a wonderful love story. Thank God."
--Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School; author of Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir

"An amazing book. Victor Austin has written a late-modern memoir, with the biblical God as a participant!"
--Robert W. Jenson, former senior scholar for research, Center of Theological Inquiry

"Victor Lee Austin breaks your heart without sentimentality, stretches your faith without clumsiness, brings you face-to-face with God without fear. By the end, you will know what it means to be precious, honored, and loved--by another and by God."
--Samuel Wells, vicar, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square

"This is a moving work, carefully crafted and thoughtfully honest. With lots of love and plenty of pain throughout, these pages bring to mind others who have written similarly, such as C. S. Lewis; however, Victor Austin's account of his and his family's experience in connection with his wife Susan's illness and death remains unique. I wish I had personally known Susan, and I am grateful to know Austin--and for his gift in writing."
--Tobias Winright, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University

From the Inside Flap:

This is the story of Susan--a wife, mother, Christian believer, lover of children, writer of stories, and woman of extraordinary intellect. Susan was diagnosed with a brain tumor in her late thirties. Although it was successfully treated, the process led to her slow, unending decline. In this powerful narrative, Victor Lee Austin weaves together autobiographical details and profound theological insights to show that we are called to turn to God in the face of suffering.

"Losing Susan is a theo-memoir of intricate beauty. In eloquent prose, Victor Austin testifies to the way in which God surprisingly gave him the desire of his heart through his wife, Susan, and then just as surprisingly took her away. Austin does not shy away from the rough edges and unanswered questions, but instead he brings them before God, narrating a love story not only about Victor and Susan but about God and his people in a world charged with both splendor and decay."
--J. Todd Billings, Western Theological Seminary; author of Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ

"Father Austin has written a beautiful story of love, loss, and faith, a story that at once moves the mind to reflection, the heart to sympathy, and the will to trust. It is deep but accessible and handles pain and suffering, common to us all, with uncommon intelligence, sensitivity, and humor. This book will help those who have suffered similarly and will inspire and prepare those who have not, yet. It is above all a story of true love, the love between Victor and his dear late wife, their love for God, and God's love for them."
--Stephen Hildebrand, Franciscan University of Steubenville

About this edition

• Publisher: Brazos Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1587433850
• ISBN 13: 9781587433856
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160