The Dedication for the Book

A brief personal note: Today is the one-year anniversary of my brother Gary's death from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was 59. Gary's middle name was Warren, a name that came from our uncle, Robert Warren Runnels, who also was taken from us much too early--at the age of 57 (in 1991).

When I decided to write the book on the Reception History of the Parables, I already knew that I wanted to dedicate the book to the memories of my brother Gary and my uncle, Uncle Bob. I will save my thoughts about them for the Preface of the book, except for this:

Among many other things, Gary was a brilliant musician. Although I have none of his musical talent, we shared a love for the Blues. The last time we saw each other, we spent a couple hours listening to Blues at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago, before walking down the street to get Gary's favorite pizza, Lou Malnati's (the sausage pizza was mandatory for Gary). In honor of Gary, here's an old blues song about the Wise and Foolish Virgins that I will write about in my book: Blind Willie Johnson, "Keep your Lamp Trimmed and Burning."

My Uncle Bob was a talented (and professional) artist. One of my prized possessions is a drawing Uncle Bob did--a drawing of our son who was born just 6 months before Uncle Bob died. Another prized possession that I keep on the wall of my office is an etching that Uncle Bob did--an unbelievable face of a cat. So in honor of Uncle Bob, here is a brilliant etching that I will include in the book (I post this also in honor of Gary's wife Lori, because Albrecht Dürer is her favorite artist):

   

Albrecht Dürer, The Prodigal Son, c. 1496

Back to Tertullian tomorrow.