This book was an adventure to say the least. Some authors offer fresh insights and new perspectives to the questions I ask. Stanley Hauerwas tells me I've been asking the wrong questions. He eruditely argues in a direction wholly different than anything I've ever imagined. What Christian could think that religious freedom and a Christian nation are bad ideas? Who could object to justice being a worthy goal for society? That's exactly what Hauerwas does. Emphasizing the counter cultural and inherently political nature of Christianity, he draws a picture of a community on a mission, a community called to service, not freedom, and a community called to have a public faith in opposition to The-Powers-That-Be instead of privatized belief which requires nothing of its adherents. Regardless of your (dis)agreement he is a thinker to do business with. Finally, I was moved by the fact that the last recorded voice in his book is a dissonant one. He ends with a letter sent by a graduate student who takes issue with Hauerwas’ conclusion. Allowing another to have the last word is a beautifully moving gesture of openness, dialogue, and concern for The Other, especially those unheard voices which The Powers have sought so diligently to silence. May Christians the world over embrace their call to arms. Not to war after men, but to fight a war in which the necessary deaths are their own. Self-preservation has too long been a beloved vice. It is time we embrace the glorious virtue of martyrdom.  S.D.G.