Anxiety, suffering and death are not simply the "ills" of our society, nor are they uniquely the product of a sick and sinful humanity. These facets of our being constitute also the horizon of all humankind. We must all some day confront them and we need to consider their implications. The Garden of Gethsemane, whose name derives etymologically from a press-house for oil, is not only a garden "outside the walls" of Jerusalem, but is the essential horizon for all of us, whether we are believers or not. The Guide to Gethsemane is first of all a philosophical book, traversing the breadth of our existence, in particular focussing on the question of the meaning of existence. Theology makes plain that the problem of the meaning of existence applies even to Christ, at least insofar as he lives in and shares our finitude. He takes upon himself the burden of suffering it, so that he can undertake a passage through it, or a transformation of it. The Guide to Gethsemane, along with the Metamorphosis of Finitude and The Wedding Feast of the Lamb adds to and completes what I have called a Philosophical Triduum--or in other words a philosophical re-reading of the three days of the Passion of Christ.