What a book!

Communion and Otherness is a heady mixture of foundational theology, philosophy, anthropology, history and practical "spirituality." The author would probably cringe at that last term - but how else does one say that this book does a superb job of relating an academic treatment of "personhood," "being," and "otherness" back to the concrete experience of living Christianity?

Allowing the other to be "other" and yet living together "in communion" is the crux of this book. The theological basis is rooted in the mystery of the Trinity. How we attempt to fathom, and, more importantly to the extent that we allow ourselves to be drawn into living relationship with the Trinity, affects everything: how we understand and live as Church, how we pray, how we as human beings relate to one another.

The author draws on the writings of Maximus the Confessor as well as the three Cappadocians. He engages the likes of Augustine, Aquinas, Ratzinger, Rahner and Williams in conversation. There are liberal amounts of non-transliterated Greek salted throughout the text.

I've found myself drawn back to chapters more than once. This is theology that has to do with life - not just some interesting academic consideration of an arcane subject.