This work is NOT the story of a murderer who is redeemed. The author, although a Protestant, is a longtime humanities professor at Conception Abbey Seminary College in the remote cornfields of northwest Missouri.

He describes an incident that happened at the Abbey on June 10, 2002. A deranged man drove there from quite a distance, murdered two monks and wounded two others before taking his own life. The author's description is brief. The incident serves as a take-off point for Professor Johnson's personal story of his own loss of faith and eventual redemption. Johnson also conveys considerable information about how the Abbey functions and shrewd observations about how this Seminary College works to prepare young men to become priests.

Dr. Johnson is a superb writer, although sometimes he leaves the reader wanting more. With considerable lightness of touch, he uses the most appropriate parts of our Western literary, philosophical, and theological traditions when they are applicable to his immediate subject.

Paul Johnson's story of fluctuating faith will edify any intelligent reader, be that reader a believer or not. But I know this author personally, and know that his faith is only one aspect of his rather uneasy life. ( )