A Theology of Dying

Preparing for the Next Life Now

A Theology of Dying: Preparing for the Next Life Now is not a book about hospice procedures or end-of-life planning. It is a spiritual exploration of what it means to learn how to die before we die—so that death, when it comes, does not arrive as a stranger.

Drawing on Scripture, pastoral ministry, prison outreach, hospice experience, and a lifetime of lived faith, Geoffrey Schmitt invites readers into the quiet, courageous work of surrender that shapes a faithful life. Each chapter explores a different form of “spiritual dying”: the death of ego, the release of control, the letting go of legacy, the practice of forgiveness, the grief of unrealized futures, and the endurance of faith when God feels silent.

Rather than offering certainty or easy answers, this book cultivates readiness—learning how to live with open hands, trust without guarantees, and love without clinging. Resurrection is explored not only as a future promise, but as a present reality already at work wherever fear loosens its grip and grace takes root.

Written with honesty, tenderness, and humility, A Theology of Dying is for readers who sense that faith deepens not by avoiding loss, but by walking through it—peacefully, truthfully, and unafraid.

This is a book for those who are not finished, but are learning how to be ready