“Please Be in Prayer.” D.A. Carson Ceases Ministry Involvements Amid Debilitating Parkinson’s Diagnosis
The Gospel Coalition has released a statement asking for prayer for Don (D.A) Carson, the organization’s co-founder and “theologian-at-large” amid a debilitating battle with Parkinson’s disease. This illness has left him with decreased cognitive and physical limitations, resulting in the ceasing of all speaking engagements and ministry involvement.
In the referenced Christmas letter, Church Leaders reports Carson’s analysis of his own declining state:
“The physical limitations arising from my Parkinson’s Disease slow me down, but the cognitive limitations constitute a more serious impediment,” Carson wrote. “A few weeks ago, for several minutes I tried to convince my neurologist that we are living in 2008.”
Carson added that he “could not remember the name of the first president of the United States. (I thought of offering to provide the name of the first Prime Minister of Canada, which I could remember, but I doubt that the neurologist would have been impressed.).”
“I am still serving on the elders board of our church, but no longer in any public capacity. At the end of November, I attended what will probably turn out to be my last conference of the Evangelical Theological Society,” Carson said.
Carson also shared his plans to give away some of his belongings. “It is time to get rid of my books, tools, and other accouterments so that Joy, [my wife], is not left to clean up my mess,” he said. “In any case, I am not suffering from anything that a good general resurrection can’t fix.”
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