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The courage to stand fast
In Stephen Crane's novel about the American Civil War, an Army private named Henry Fleming undergoes an intense inner conflict as he struggles to determine the measure of his courage in the line of fire. Crane depicts one scene where Fleming is surveying the aftermath of a battle that he has just fled. The young soldier wants his worth to show. "He wished that he, too, had a wound," Crane writes, "a red badge of courage." Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1960), p. 37 .
Crane's protagonist is primarily concerned with what he views as the nobility of animal courage. But the great need in contemporary life is for an even higher courage—moral and spiritual courage. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states, "There is too much animal courage in society and not sufficient moral courage." Science and Health, pp. 28-29.
Most people have probably wondered at some time about the extent of their own mettle—perhaps about their ability to respond fearlessly should they be faced with some severe trial they have not yet encountered. Would one have the fortitude to stand for what is right regardless of how threatening the circumstance appeared to be? And what if one should falter—is there a way to regain one's position and self-respect, to go forward on the side of righteousness and truth?
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August 8, 1983 issue
View Issue-
Illimitable supply
GLORIA ELAINE MARLATT
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Opening the fish's mouth
HELEN L. CONNELLY
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The Holy Ghost blots out racism
LILIA SKALA
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On being selective
JENIFER C. WECHSLER
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Complaining or siding with God?
VIRGINIA T. GUFFIN
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Wayfarer
EVELYNNE B. SMITH
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Sprucing up the ugly duckling
GERTRUDE P. FOGEL
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FROM THE DIRECTORS
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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The courage to stand fast
WILLIAM E. MOODY
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Take your life out of limbo
NATHAN A. TALBOT
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I've had many meaningful healings in Christian Science
PAMELA GREINER MOULTON
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"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations"...
LILIANE LEPLATRIER
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Several years ago my first testimony was published in the Sentinel
FRANK D. ROBINSON