Disregard the trolls.
This book is the fruit of 'intellectual trespass' in the best sense -- drawing from a variety of disciplines and intellectual traditions in deep and substantive ways rather than in a shallow or superficial fashion. The questions Dark raises are profound, the pathologies he discerns are real, and his willingness to interrogate his own life gives a tenor of humility to the book.
Dark's theological commitments are forthright without being obnoxious, and the intellectual charity he shows toward those that disagree with him is a model for others seeking true dialogue across differences (rather than scoring cheap debater's points). The tone of the text is itself a delight -- lyrical and near-poetic in some places, subverting the commonplaces of Big Formal Categories by creating a few of his own (with a humor there for those with eyes to see), and treating readers as adults possessed of competence and curiosity.
I hope this book finds the audience it so richly deserves. Disregard the trolls and take a look at this for yourself.
Michael Budde, Professor of Catholic Studies and Political Science, Senior Research Scholar in the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University
Editor’s Note: Michael Budde has become something of a remote friend over the last twenty years or so. In the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, I was dismayed to watch a number of people I admired and even counted on for moral guidance lose—it seemed to me—their way. The experience had me searching for mentors and mention of a thing called The Ekklesia Project (in a footnote or maybe even an issue of First Things) took me over to Michael Budde via e-mail correspondence. To my surprise, Michael told me there was an Ekklesia member in Nashville (over at Lipscomb University) called Richard Goode. One lovely afternoon at what would become Cafe Coco, I met Richard and his friend Lee Camp. Through Richard, I would meet Harmon Wray and get up to all manner of goodness….I say all this to say that Michael’s praise of my latest effort exists on a lovely trajectory of kindness. I am in his debt. Thank you, Michael! We are a beginning.