What’s the meaning of life? In 1991, the editors of Life Magazine published the answers that 300 “wise women and men” gave to this very question in The Meaning of Life: Reflections in Words and Pictures on Why We Are Here. Their responses, as you might expect, are far-ranging and diverse. Author John Updike (raised a Lutheran, by the way ☺), suggested that “Ancient religion and modern science agree: we are here to give praise. Or, to slightly tip the expression, to pay attention.” Noted scientist Stephen Jay Gould, disavowing divine inspiration, argued instead that, “We cannot read the meaning of life passively in the facts of...

I’ve always had something of an ambivalent attitude towards John Updike. I’ve known his work for ages – he grew up in Shillington, PA, just a stone’s throw or so from where I grew up. He was raised a Lutheran, an upbringing that he seemed to struggle with as well as be marked by. I’ve loved his short stories as much as anything I’ve ever read, but sometimes been less than taken by even his celebrated novels. I don’t know why – perhaps they were too “earthy” for this kid. But it’s precisely the “earthiness” of “Seven Stanzas at Easter” that I love about...