The Goodness of God's Fallen Creatures

Published on by D. G. Hart

I had only heard David Rakoff a couple times on This American Life, so I was not prepared to be as moved as I was by the news of his death yesterday, at the age of 47, after a quick bout with cancer (ironically the result of radiation for an earlier form of lymphoma). I (all about me) happened to be on the road today thanks to responsibilities to chauffeur the Mrs. to the Detroit Airport. This gave me a chance to hear the noon broadcast of Terry Gross’ Fresh Air show. She replayed excerpts from interviews she had done with Rakoff in 2001 and 2010. Rakoff was obviously funny, dark, and clever, which explains his winning the James Thurber Prize for American Humor last year. But he was also thoughtful as the excerpts he reads on these interviews attest. I highly recommend the show. (Beware, the show is not 2k.)

Listeners should also know that Rakoff was anything but a believer. He was at best (near as I can tell) an agnostic, though of Jewish descent, outspokenly homosexual, and almost always irreverent. Despite these attributes, he was a tribute to the maker he did not acknowledge. Rakoff demonstrated so many of those remarkable qualities that separate human beings from the rest of creation. As such he also showed how great God’s creatures can be even in a willfully fallen state. Creation suffers when we lose such talented creatures.

8 thoughts on “The Goodness of God's Fallen Creatures”

  1. Thank you, Darryl for this post. I don’t know of David Rakoff. And it has been years since I have listened to Fresh Air, which I used to do as I spent a lot of time driving. Yes, there is so much good that God has given graciously to humanity… to creation, though it be now fallen. I’m humbled by it all, but not humbled enough.

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  2. I was also sad to hear about Rakoff’s passing. I read “Half Empty” last summer and always appreciated his stories on This American Life (e.g. his story about being Freud in the window of Barney’s at Xmas is wonderful). In fact, I think there is going to be a tribute show to Rakoff on TAL next week. Rakoff was indeed a talented man and his gifts and insight will be missed.

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  3. I liked the segment of the essay he reads at the end where he describes the books and magazines he sees on the bookshelves. Blessings to his family. I need to listen to more Terry Gross interviews.

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  4. Dr. Hart, how is it that you can approvingly quote a Pope and then speak highly of David Rakoff, but a positive word about Jonathan Edwards cannot be squeezed from your keyboard? What is the world (or Oldlife) coming to!

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  5. While we’re on the topic of Jewish humor:

    “For Jewish Christians, the question of continuity was the question of their relation to their mother; for Gentile Christians, it was a question of their relation to their mother-in-law.” – Pelikan

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  7. D. G. Hart: Richard S., how would a post on Edwards as a heterosexual slave owner go over?

    RS: I guess you have a point there. On the other hand, all people are slaves. They are either in bondage to sin with a ring in their nose following their master the devil around or they are slaves of Christ and are His as instruments of righteousness. Could it be that Edwards as a slave owner was one that tried to free his slaves from real slavery?

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