Additional information
by James M. Houston (Author), Michael Parker (Author)
A Vision for the Aging Christian is an essential resource for Christian laypersons, clergy, and caregivers. Aging impacts all people, and this work serves as partner on the journey by providing extensive research, profound spiritual insight, and the gift of life experience. In a follow-up to A Vision for the Aging Church, Jim Houston and Michael Parker provide a countercultural guide to aging successfully in a world that often diminishes this gift. In doing so, Houston and Parker demonstrate what it means to cultivate purpose and resilience for Christians as they enter the second half of life. In featuring Parker's groundbreaking AgeReady program, this book offers a comprehensive tool that empowers elders and caregivers in planning for the challenges and joys of aging. Along the way, Houston and Parker share the intersections of their faith with caregiving, bearing witness to the ways in which the presence of God provides respite in the storms of life. Often avoided topics of dementia, caregiving tasks, and the unavoidable difficulties of longer life are addressed with care and compassion. This book encourages aging Christians to finish well and share the gift of blessing with the next generation.
Author Biography
James M. Houston is founding principal, former chancellor, and emeritus professor of spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of some forty books, including: A Vision for the Aging Church: Renewed Ministry to and from Seniors, Joyful Exiles, Believe in the Creator, The Transforming Friendship, In Search of Happiness, The Heart's Desire, The Mentored Life, and A Vision for the Aging Church: Renewing Ministry for and by Seniors.
Michael W. Parker Sr., Lieutenant Colonel-US Army Retired, is the founding principal and the executive director of the James Houston Center for Faith and Successful Aging. He has active collaborations with interdisciplinary teams of faculty and directors of late life ministries around the world. He is a professor emeritus of the University of Alabama and has held an appointment as adjunct professor with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care and currently serves as a research associate with the Duke Center on Spirituality, Health, and Theology. He completed a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship in gerontology at the University of Michigan funded by the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Parker has over ninety highly peer-referenced scientific articles on spirituality, aging, and caregiving. He served as co-PI & co-investigator on the NIA-funded R01 UAB Study of Aging and was a John A. Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work Scholar (2001-2003) and mentor and member of the Selection Panel (2011-2013). He is co-author with Dr. Houston on A Vision for the Aging Church.
