This book is a collection of brief essays written in response to specific questions about the Christian faith-vision of reality. The questions addressed here have arisen out of the experience of ordinary Christians trying to make sense of their faith. Some are asking about particular "Church words." Some are expressing difficulties in believing. Some are probing the paradoxes of Christian existence.
The author responds as a professional theologian writing in a non-technical way for fellow believers. His purpose is to make the best insights of sound theology available to ordinary Church members, in order to minister to their faith-life. Although many of these brief essays are limited in scope, there is a coherent understanding of Christian faith that underlies all of them. Each essay is simply articulating part of that understanding in response to a specific question.
Wayne Fehr has been a priest for many years-first, in the Roman Communion where he was ordained in 1969 as a member of the Jesuit Order, and then later in the Anglican Communion where he was received as a priest by the Bishop of Milwaukee in 1988. He is also an academic theologian with a doctoral degree in religious studies (systematic theology) from Yale University, and a number of years of teaching experience on the graduate level as well as with undergraduates. These two vocational commitments-as priest and as theologian-have come together for him in a life-long involvement with the interpretation of Christian faith for the benefit of his fellow believers. At present he is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin where he serves as Priest Associate. Previous books are his doctoral dissertation, The Birth of the Catholic Tubingen School, and (with Donald Hands) Spiritual Wholeness for Clergy."