by Peter Kreeft
Reviewed by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D.
In our complicated world, we have difficulty in figuring out what is real and what needs our attention. Kreeft does not disappoint us! Kreeft provides the reader with thoughtful, lucid and penetrating answers for believers, non-believers, and seekers. It has an emphasis especially for those exploring the faith for the first time as well as those who are confirming what they have learned in the past. However, the answers to the questions feel incomplete and not in keeping with the apologetics of today. Even from 2008 until 2019 there are a lot of issues not covered.
In the Introduction, Kreeft points out that the book is useless unless it answers the questions: Who Am I? Where did I come from? and Where am I going? Throughout our lives we ponder –Who am I? He points out that we are the one and only unrepeatable individual. At the same time, we share the same human nature with all other human beings! Only the particular person and God knows what your unique job is on this earth! Kreeft communicates the sense of depth, greatness, wonder, and mystery that is an essential dimension of anything real. This is the Gospel, the good news.
The questions that Kreeft asks are penetrating questions that we all try to figure out. The answers tend to be taken from the procedural point of view. They seem binary in their application. The answers are mostly procedural in their orientation. They do not make room for the Peters, the Mary Magdalenes, the saints who have expressed an interesting but unique relationship with Christ. The answers tend to be the answers to the questions of the 1950s instead of the answers to our ever-loving God who continues to reveal Himself in 2019. I do admire the dedication to the Church and his constantly focusing on the Gospels. The section on “Why Be a Catholic” seriously hones in on membership in the Catholic Church as the focus of our life on earth.