The Heidelberg Catechism, published in 1563, poses a good question to contemplate as 2019 heads toward history: “What is your only comfort in life and death?”

Last month, aboard a ship steaming from Casablanca, Morocco, to Dakar, Senegal, I read two thought-provoking novels featuring West African protagonists who found no comfort. 

Justin Giboney is an attorney and political strategist in Atlanta. He grew up in Colorado and attended Vanderbilt, where he was a defensive back on the football team. He was a Democratic National Convention delegate in 2012 and 2016 and is co-founder of the And Campaign. Here’s some of our discussion before a student audience, edited for space and flow.

How did football prepare you for politics? After I stopped playing football, I was looking for the rush of competition. Politics gave me the competition back.

At Christmas it’s good for those blessed by Christ to see how the other half lives. 

Michael Ruse’s A Meaning to Life (Oxford, 2019) begins with atheistic honesty: “You are born. You live. Then you die. If you don’t think so, then you should! We come from an eternity of oblivion. We return to an eternity of oblivion.”

Ruse is not writing this abstractly: He is 79, a distinguished professor who has written or edited more than 50 books and says, “In the end, you know truly that it doesn’t mean a thing.”

The 14 days ending on Dec. 9 included one small step for unborn babies, with hopes of a large leap to come. In a victory for factual truth, the U.S. Supreme Court left standing a Kentucky law requiring abortionists to perform an ultrasound, describe the results to the mother, and let her hear the unborn baby’s heartbeat.

WORLD’s Books of the Year issue differs from similar efforts at some other Christian magazines. We cheer for Christian and some conservative publishers but recognize the worthwhile output of big secular companies that tilt left but sometimes employ good storytellers who transcend liberal orthodoxy.

Four years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of same-sex marriage. Despite the closeness of the vote and faulty reasoning in the majority decision, that battle (unlike the 47-year battle concerning abortion) seems to be over—for now. 

Persevering pro-life counselors outside abortion businesses contribute to some last-minute changes of heart, but pro-Biblical-marriage counselors are not standing outside city halls and wedding chapels pleading with same-sex couples about to make their vows.

HISTORY
CO-BOOKS OF THE YEAR

• American History 

• Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing