Just a year ago (a year ago tomorrow, to be exact) I posted about him following an excellent post by Deirdre Good.
I have been grieving him for several weeks already, sensing that I would not see him alive again. This is a death I have been dreading for years. Bishop Stendahl is dying in the fullness of years, but this is someone who has been a true spiritual father to me and there will never be anyone like him again.
I pray for him, ask for your prayers for him, for his wife and partner Brita, and for their children and family.
I can't find a photo of him on the web, except for a not very good one. The link to a photo on the link above is broken (the link to my post does work fine, though) and all the photos seem to have disappeared.
When the obits are out (they will be everywhere, he is world famous) there will be photographs, I am sure. Meanwhile we wait and pray and give thanks
P.S. I found one of the photos I was looking for. This one is of Brita and Krister Stendahl in the audience at a lecture at Harvard Divinity School (HDS). Both are in their eighties.
(To Brita and Krister's left --to their right in the photo-- is noted scholar of religion and ecology Mary Evelyn Tucker. To her left is HDS professor Kimberly Patton, my Guilford colleague Eric Mortensen's mentor and friend. In the row above them you can see emeritus professor Gordon Kaufman and next to him, Mary Evelyn Tucker's husband John Grim, also a noted scholar of religion and ecology.)
8 comments:
I will definitely keep him and his family, and you, in my prayers.
I've never read any of his work, but I'm well aware of his influence from my time in the ELCA. His shadow looms large, for sure.
Have a look at the link to my post of a year ago. It has a link to an article about the Bible that is well worth a read. Thanks for your prayers.
May he pass in peace and love abound.
I know him only by the outlines of his work: all good, though I have a audiotape of one of his lectures for some answer.
Prayers for him and his friends, including his family.
Many prayers for him and his family. I have read your post from last year and bookmarked some of the links, which I will read later.
"...that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and that asleep that we may rest in His peace."
May Krister rest in that peace when it comes.
Jane, I'm sorry to hear of your impending loss; I'll try to lob some love-bombs your/his/their way, though my aim has been lousy of late.
The passing of a mentor involves the passing of a spiritual baton. I suspect that your words and works will do much to keep Krister's spirit present in the world.
May God bless you and guide you in everything you do.
Prayers for him, and all who love him.
Linda Clader tells a story about being at some symposium or other where he was teaching. He began his presentation with, "Dear God, tell us a story, for it soon will be time to go to bed."
Thanks, TCR and all. I just took a walk to clear my head (it's a writing afternoon and my concentration isn't grea) and it got me closer to the deep grief I feel. Thank you for your words about my work. They are more important than you know.
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