In What Does It Mean to Grow Old? essayists come to grips as best they can with the phenomenon of an America that is about to become the Old Country. They have been drawn from every relevant discipline--gerontology, social medicine, politics, health, anthropology, ethics, law--and asked to speak their mind. Most of them write extremely well [and their] sharply individual voices are heard.

One of the hallmarks of contemporary culture is its attitude toward aging and the elderly. Youth and productivity are celebrated in today's society, while the elderly are increasingly marginalized. This not only poses difficulties for old people but is also a loss for the young and middle-agers, who could learn much from the elderly, including what it means to grow old (and die) "in Christ." Growing Old in Christ presents the first serious theological reflection ever on what it means to grow old, particularly in our culture and particularly as a Christian. In a full-orbed discussion of the subject, eighteen first-rate Christian thinkers survey biblical and historical perspectives on aging, look at aging in the modern world, and describe the "Christian practice of growing old." Along the way they address many timely issues, including the medicalization of aging, the debate over physician-assisted suicide, and the importance of friendships both among the elderly and between the elderly and the young. Weighty enough to instruct theologians, ethicists, and professional caregivers yet accessible enough for pastors and general readers, this book will benefit anyone seeking faith-based insight into growing old. Contributors: David Aers David Cloutier Rowan A. Greer Stanley Hauerwas Judith C. Hays Richard B. Hays Shaun C. Henson L. Gregory Jones Susan Pendleton Jones Patricia Beattie Jung D. Stephen Long M. Therese Lysaught David Matzko McCarthy Keith G. Meador Charles Pinches Joel James Shuman Carole Bailey Stoneking Laura Yordy

For much of the developed world, health care for a surging elderly population looms as one of the most daunting problems of the coming decade. In this book, contributors from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and countries discuss resource allocation for the elderly and debate plans for the years ahead. Essays focus on five general issues: the meaning of old age, the goals of medicine and health care for the elderly, the balance between the needs of the young and old, the pressures of other social priorities, and the role of families, especially the burden on women, in long-term care. In consideration of the difficult moral and practical issues involved, the editors conclude the volume with a special report containing policy recommendations from representatives of eight countries (the United States, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). This important volume will be of interest to policymakers and a broad spectrum of health care professionals, as well as to anyone interested in the fate of the elderly or in coming health care challenges.

Thank heaven youth and middle age are behind you. Now you can concentrate on yourself. And celebrate, indulge in and be enthralled by the most significant experience you will have as a human being: the process of growing old. Our culture says the best way to deal with aging is to fight it. Look young, act young, feel young, they tell you, for as long as you can. But when it comes to crafting a blueprint for successful aging, society seems to be lagging behind modern science and way behind the philosophies of our ancestors. Leading-edge gerontologists are now discovering wisdom revealed centuries ago: that old age may be the most important stage in the human life cycle. To miss out on it by chasing after your younger self means forgoing some of life’s most meaningful moments. In Reclaim Your Right to Grow Old, Kathleen O’Brien takes you on her journey into ancient philosophy, ground-breaking science and our culture’s misconceptions about aging. Her advice? Tell people your age, expect young people to respect you, be eccentric, never age gracefully. Kathleen reminds you that empowerment, peace and self-knowledge unfold effortlessly when you age the way nature intended. Your later years are like no other. You are meant to experience them so you can uncover the reasons we grow old in the first place. Don’t let this remarkable time pass you by. Old age only comes around once.

Trained as a cultural historian, Thomas R. Cole is one of the most influential scholars of his generation, with his work moving beyond and impacting many other fields and disciplines. His work includes The Journey of Life: A Cultural History of Aging in America, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Cole also published No Color Is My Kind: The Life of Eldrewey Stearns and the Integration of Houston, creating along with the book an accompanying film, The Strange Demise of Jim Crow, which was nominated for a regional Emmy and a National Humanities Medal. Cole created a number of other films as well. In all of his work, there is an emphasis on religion, spirituality, and moral meaning. Cole is also a Jewish spiritual director, and this work has become a major focus for him in retirement. This edited volume engages or responds to Cole’s work, which spans cultural history, oral history, aging studies, film, medical humanities, religious studies, and more. As such, this book is not about Cole per se, but the impact of his ideas and subsequent inspirations.

In this warm, sensitive, fact-filled book, Paul Tournier deals specifically with many aspects of aging: society's attitude towards the elderly; second careers; the quality of life; financial difficulties; boredom; health; loneliness; and facing death. He believes we must all learn to grow old, and that the process is most successfully accomplished when we prepare and plan for it throughout life. Tournier offers a variety of suggestions to help make growing old not an end but a new beginning, filled with purpose and hope. He suggests ways to remain active and to use leisure to its best advantage without letting it become a tyrant. He also provides insights on taking up new interests, such as becoming involved with young people and new ideas, and learning to pray, to meditate, to acquire wisdom, and to draw increasing strength and inspiration from the reality of divine presence and power.

The Journey of Life envisions growing up and growing old as a voyage down a river flowing inexorably to the sea. With this image of the human life cycle, the author explores the historical shoreline of later life, charting its cultural forms and sounding their depths. The result is both a cultural history of aging and a contribution to public dialogue about the meaning and significance of later life. The core of the book shows how central texts and images of Northern.

Grow old on purpose. This book invites readers to navigate a purposeful path from adulthood to elderhood with choice, curiosity, and courage. Everyone is getting old; not everyone is growing old. But the path of purposeful aging is accessible to all—and it's fundamental to health, happiness, and longevity. With a focus on growing whole through developing a sense of purpose in later life, Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old? celebrates the experience of aging with inspiring stories, real-world practices, and provocative questions. Framed by a long conversation between two old friends, the bookreconceives aging as a liberating experience that enables us to become more authentically the person we always meant to be with each passing year. In their bestseller Repacking Your Bags, Richard J. Leider and David A. Shapiro defined the good life as “living in the place you belong, with people you love, doing the right work, on purpose.” This book builds on that definition to offer a purposeful path for living well while aging well.

Acculturating refers to the interchange of patterns of behaviour, perceptions and ideas between groups of individuals who have different cultural backgrounds. This book, which is the result of collaboration between specialists from different disciplines from around the world, allows the comparison of systems of dependency, mediation skills, empathy and social understanding and cultural attitudes towards people who experience the stages of aging.

Life must be understood as the result of evolution, and human life as the emergence of the species Sapiens from the genus Homo of the family of apes. If the emergence of human life as an evolutionary fact is coupled with the notion of social life, we are referred to the constructive production of human life forms, of which social participation is an integral part. On the one hand, participation is tied back to the phylogenesis of the species Sapiens, but on the other hand, it has to be newly acquired and practiced by every human being in the process of ontogenesis, depending on the environment. Participation in old age is a separate specification of the conditions of this process and can be illustrated on the basis of a large number of empirical findings.