Summary

Pem goes back to the hospital to see one of the old patients there, an old man who is a stalwart atheist but kind enough to listen to Pem. When he arrives he finds a nun singing a secular ballad and he is moved to tears by the sweet simplicity of the song and the attention expressed by the old man and all the residents of the cancer ward. Everett states the central purpose of Sarah’s synagogue, which is to consider the various aspects of Jewish teaching and practice from an intellectual, modern perspective and strip away all excess or unsupported assertions and traditions. Pem says he loves Jesus as a prophet and the ethics of the man, but he doesn’t follow the theology or believe in the Trinity. Everett attends to services at the synagogue and looks on as Sarah is tested by...