Suffer the Children

The stories in Suffer the Children dramatize a generation's mingled faith and doubt. "Suffer the Children," the title novella, follows the divergent faith journeys of three baby boomers raised in the same Presbyterian church through pivotal moments in their lives until they converge at a funeral. In "Simple Gifts," a childless and recently fatherless man questions the nature of charity on a church mission to Kenya. Two unlikely friends, one Christian and one Jewish, pursue an interfaith discussion in "The Disputation" in the context of graduate school, which poses its own challenges to their identity. "The Last Miracle: Incident at Nain" recounts a New Testament story from a fresh perspective. In "The Rapture," a pastor questions whether the non-attending spouse of one of his members can be saved--or whether, since he seems so happy, he needs to be saved. A college campus is the setting of "The Recommendation," the story of a student and a perplexing professor who seems to hold, or rather withhold, the answers to life's big questions. "The Passenger" follows the experience of a spiritual seeker led by an enigmatic dream to consider a new life in the church.