Theologian Tries to Make Sense of Son’s Death

Nearly eight years ago, professor Richard Lischer got a call on his cell phone that would tear at his heart and test his faith.

It was his grown son, a successful lawyer, telling him his cancer had returned.

The ensuing 95 days in which Lischer — a man used to offering pastoral advice to others — stood by his son, Adam Ewers Lischer, as he lost his battle to cancer is now the subject of an eloquent memoir, Stations of the Heart.

Grief as the subject of memoir is now commonplace. But this volume, written by a professor of preaching at Duke Divinity School, conveys not only the anguish of grieving families, but also offers testimony to a faith that is tested but survives.