Author Description

Final Obituary. "Planet Earth died last night/ succumbing to the Coup de grace,/ A lingering illness of the plague of sin:/ Hatred, greed, pride, self-obsession./ Insensitivity, godlessness, immorality/ There were no survivors-" In making a strong case on how mankind, through faith, may escape such a fate, Margaret Burke summons a shining cloud of witness. Among that host are historian Edward Gibbon, who set down five points on how early Christians managed to flourish in the material-minded Roman Empire; the Apostle Paul who took the Gospel to the wide world, and her own circuit-riding Methodist grandfather. Despite the grim human condition she depicts at the start, her book is a joyous, challenging one from which readers will arise informed and refreshed. -Guy Friddell