The author’s starting point is the Christian anthropology represented by the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 that begins:

                Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That I am not my own but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ.

In sharp contrast, Alan Noble, a literary academic, sets out our present cultural creed: “We are each our own; we belong to ourselves.” According to Noble, this creed is embedded in our culture such that even if everyone began attending church, our present malady would change little. Nobel divides our population into two groups: one is The Affirming who embrace our culture's creed willingly while the other group is The Resigned who accept that they will never be able to compete and who despair and fall back on “immersive entertainment until death comes.” Both groups self-medicate whether it be through drink, binge-watching, work, porn, self-improvement, exercise, or social media. Burnout, anxiety, unsustainable consumption, and weariness of the self is ever present. Ours is a story-saturated culture with a fluidity of ethics to match constantly shifting identities. Back and forth through the first half of the book, Noble relentlessly explores the world of the self that modernity has bequeathed.

But what does it mean to belong to Christ? Noble has no formula but we do enter into union with Christ when we accept that we belong to Him and not to ourselves. We have responsibilities to God, church, family, cities and neighbours to whom we can offer discrete acts of kindness. Following the thought of Josef Pieper, the Catholic philosopher, we are to practice leisure rather than a preoccupation with efficiency. We are called to a graceful approach to life in a posture of open hands, palms lifted up. Life and death are difficult but by belonging to Christ we find comfort in them both.