Science and spirit. Life and death. The natural and supernatural. The essence of body, the essence of soul. For the Rev. Kirtley Yearwood, it’s the duality of experience that makes life so interesting and meaningful.
As an Episcopal priest, Yearwood has laid his hands on his brothers and sisters in Christ, nurtured their spirits and inspired them to seek the truth.
As a forensic pathologist, Dr. Yearwood has employed scalpel and sight in seeking a different sort of truth, an empirical explanation of death.
It is a dual career that has made him whole, he says. His faith strengthens him as he confronts death, and his medical experience strengthens his faith. They are the yin and yang of his life; two parts of a single enterprise.
‘I have always been drawn to death,’ he says. ‘It’s a holy moment, God is there, the angels are circling. I have learned how fragile and important life is.’
At our site’s summer book blog, we just posted on Chapter 10 of Max Lucado’s “Travelling Light” – a chapter about death. II Corinthians 4:16 reminds us that the “symptoms” of our dying can help us put ourselves more full in the hands of the one who makes us more truly alive.
It is instructive – and repellent – that they have made even this man’s occupation a platform for the Episcopal agenda.
I have slaughtered many a sheep and lamb. YOu get used to the blood and guts and that strange intestinal smell after a while. But to be in love with it, to enjoy it…. LM
Readers who are interested in the interface of pathology and Anglicanism might like exploring the webpage of Ed Friedlander MD who is a pathologist and an Anglican. Wonderful links to sundry places. Definitely worth exploring. I used his lecture notes extensively when taking pathology as a 2nd year medical student. Most would agree that pathology is the hardest course in med school. After receiving an “A”, I sent Ed a letter of thanks. He probably doesn’t remember, but he will leave behind an enormous legacy of students both at the medical school where he teaches and, like myself, at other schools.