January 12, 2010

As a Presbyterian pastor, my husband, Bob, had always been sympathetic when a parishioner became trapped by dementia. His views on dealing with dementia had been shaped by his father, a man of deep Christian faith and an active layman. When his father began to decline mentally in his late sixties, he explained to Bob that a pattern of late-onset dementia in the family was now affecting his generation—and that his was the sixth one affected.

It is by living and dying that one becomes a theologian, Martin Luther said. With that comment in mind, we have resumed a Century series published at intervals since 1939 and asked theologians to reflect on their own struggles, disappointments, questions and hopes as people of faith and to consider how their work and life have been intertwined. This article is the third in the series.

The trailers for Precious suggest a weepy after-school special. But the movie itself turns out to be an honest piece of work—gritty, unsentimental and unconventional.

The unwieldly full title Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is the movie’s biggest flaw. Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is an overweight, under achieving 16-year-old girl whose mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), beats and verbally abuses her.