You don't often encounter a humble scholar, or even one who fakes it well, and that by itself is enough to recommend this book. But there's more.

I can't say I know yet what to make of this thing, but started out reading it for (amateur) scholarly reasons and ended up reading for pleasure, without pencil, highlighter, sticky-notes or notebook, and not wanting it to end like you don't want a good novel to end. Except this one I can read again. With a thorough background in Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Jewish and Christian Bibles, Husserl Nietzsche--not so much Derrida and I had never heard of Levinas--I came in pretty well armed but pretty soon just threw away everything I thought I knew and went along for the ride. It was a good ride. I have no idea if anything in it is true, I don't have any idea if there is a single verifiable assertion in it, but it's a trip you should take.

Without a pretty good knowledge of "strong theology" and Continental philosophy of the last hundred years or so this volume might make no sense at all and might not be any fun to read, be warned, but if you have a little of that background and like to see idols toppled (or windmills tilted at, I'm not sure which) pick this ont up. I've been swimming in that cold philosophical sea for decades even long after losing all hope I would find what I sought and this has made me dive in anew, and deeper and with the same sense of fun and coming good times I has as an undergraduate, decades ago. ( )