I originally read Archbishop Thuan's exercises by way of Zenit - the News of Rome. As compelling as those accounts were, the book is even better. Archbishop Van Thuan's experiences, as a prisoner in Communist prisons for 13 years, and his insight on faith are true food for a hungry soul.

Testimony of Hope is the complete text of those Exercises. Archbishop Van Thuan's description of isolation and abandonment, and his secret for finding hope in despair makes for moving and uplifting reading.

I guarantee that readers will be moved by the 22 meditations. Archbishop Van Thuan offers light amidst the darkness. The book is a quick, easy, and inspirational read.

The book includes a map of soil types (with its natural diversity, Texas could be a country in itself!) and follows it with general drawings of leaves. Compare the leaf you see to the drawings in the book and you're sent to a tree family. From there you simply find the tree from more detailed drawings and area maps. It's easy! I am now considered a tree guru.

What else? Look through the book and find which trees will do best in your area, their size and flowers, virtually everything the homeowner, naturalist, or budding naturalist needs or wants to know.

When hiking our many parks and wildscape areas, other naturalist books stay home. This book comes with me...it's great!

Josefina eagerly wants to please her Aunt with the new weaving business, but her sisters quickly turn on her for the hard work they now have to do "Thanks to Josefina". Teresita, Tia Dolores servant who teaches Josefina to weave, takes the discouraged Josefina on a walk to look for plants for dyes and gently helps her understand how many colors can contribute to each rug they weave. Soon, her sisters find something that they can genuinely thank Josefina for as they learn to work together more peacefully!

I enjoyed this short story because it integrated Josefina's skill and knowledge of plants, which was introduced in "Happy Birthday, Josefina". "Thanks to Josefina" identifies several regional plants for dyes, and includes a project where readers can make their own dye from an onion to tie-dye a t-shirt.

The introductory chapter entitled "The Crisis" is particularly valuable. It places the thought of all of these German theologians in the intellectual stream of Luther, the Enlightenment, German idealism, theories of history, and especially existentialism (Kierkegaard) and dialectical theology with its stress on the infinite distance between God and humans. This latter teaching creates a problem in conceptualizing how God's actions intersect with human history.

Ericksen highlights the irrational element in the prevailing intellectual cllimate of the time and documents the powerful influence of the concept of the German "Volk," especially in the theology of Hirsch.

Although the author agrees that in hindsight and on the basis of their actions we can distinguish between these three theologians and their counterparts who opposed Nazism, he is not certain that their theology alone accounts for for their welcoming of the Third Reich. It is just too similar to the theology of those who opposed Hitler. Nor is the author certain that this kind of theology could prevent a recurrance of the phenomenon of theologians supporting a totalitarian or dictatorial regime in some future time of crisis.

"The connecting link between the broader intellectual crisis of the twentieth century and the circumstances of modern theology is that both secular and religious intellectuals in this age must ultimately rely upon an existential leap of faith. This was the fate of Croce, Durkheim and Weber as well as Barth, Bultmann and Tillich. In terms of value judgments, the problem with existentialism is that it is morally neutral. A leap of faith towards Hitler is no less valid than a leap of faith away from him." (p. 24)

All in all, Ericksen paints a thoughtful portrait of three brilliant and enigmatic theologians. He also gives us reason to question whether current theologians would do any better when faced with a similar crisis.