When נשמה Becomes ἀήρ

There is something profound about the numerous returns through which Paul Kalanithi goes in When Breath Becomes Air. Abraham Verghese sees it in the foreword, when he considers Kalanithi’s abrupt calling to that of his namesake, Paul of Tarsus, who was struck by the breathtaking appearance of God in the wilderness. The participants at Kalanithi’s funeral saw it when they could tell that, although he was in the ground, he was “so palpably alive.” Readers could experience the return for themselves, book in hand, perhaps ready to have their own breath taken away by his message. In this way, Kalanithi’s memoir is riddled through with Christian allusions and matters of faith. Yet, fascinatingly, he does not address chaplaincy in the book. He characterizes himself in a pastoral role, yet does not speak of receiving pastoral care.