Eugen was a friend of mine and the teacher of my colleague--Page Smith--one of the great American historians. Eugen came to teach at UCSC after his retirement from Dartmouth. His book on the history of European culture is one of the relatively unknown treasures of modern letters. Eugen was clairvoyant in his unique ability to portray the national character of the major cultures of the West, on the theme of revolution. Although he was a scholar of profound learning, he never lost the passion of his personal voice, which infuses everything he wrote; how appropriate as one of the figures in the I-Thou circle of Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig. The book was born out of the agony of the trenches of the lst world war, at Verdun, where the curse over Europe was uttered in the 9th century at the Treaty of Verdun. Eugen gives us the integration of European culture in all of its unique individuality, from nation to nation. Absolutely essential reading for those in charge of the current European Commission and the Council of Europe and the Museum of Europe in Brussels.

This is the book about the unified cultural heritage of Europe.

'Our passions give life to the world.' That's the premiss upon which Rosenstock-Huessy begins his brilliant study of the 'total revolutions' of the last millenium. He may not always be right about the details or even his conclusions about the origins or meanings of the great revolutions, but he is always insightful, and he always takes you into areas which are worth exploring further. Rosenstock-Huessy knows that catastrophes are the cauldrons of creation, and while there have been critics and advocates of revolution aplenty, few have attempted to trace in such detail the alchemical processes of the great revolutions of the Western world. This is a masterpiece by a thinker who simply knows more about more things than any other twentieth century figure I have read. In addition to being a great historian and sociologist, he has a tremendous understanding of the human heart. His other books are also definitely worth checking out.

I first heard of Eugen Rosenstock-Hussey through the tapes of a certain Christian minister. Interested I ordered The Christian Future through Amazon. Rosenstock-Hussey says that the current language used to convey Biblical spirituality is worn out and practically useless in capturing the imagination of modern populations. This quote from page 4 is typical...

"For the flow of vital speech is the sign of living Christians.....for the great languages of Church as well as State, of the Bible as well as of the Constitution, are losing their power in a daily process of advertising, commercialization and mechanization. People become indifferent to the hullabaloo of all verbiage."

The author refers to this as a "withering from within." One cannot read this book without sensing that the author is a man of great learning and passion and, most importantly, all of it geared toward bringing the reader into a better understanding of what is needed for life where the connection between faith and life is real and strong, not a nebulous wraith rooted in subjectivity. The author always seems to, at his core, be keenly aware of the relationship between words and reality, and all through the book he labors to open the eyes of the jaded modern reader to the vital nature of that relationship. Rosenstock-Hussey is one of those writers whose grasp of things goes deep yet without losing sight of how that depth is translated into every day life. One wonders if our superficial day and time can produce such men anymore.

In many ways this is the fruit of Rosenstock-Huessy's life-work. It is a book written out of love of the gospels and their meaning, and it is as dazzling as it is challenging. Only Kierkegaard comes this close to distilling the existential relevance of Christianity. It is a book to be read over and over. And one need not be a Christian to learn much about life and history from it.

Ravenstock-Huessy was an unknown name that I happened to come across when studying educational reform. But no matter what the field, the insights the author provides an awareness of how humans use language and relate to others through their speech. His sagacious comments, delightfully peppered throughout his writing, caused me to pause and reflect many times on how people communciate. He is a linguist, philosopher, psychologist, politician and sociologist at the same time. He addresses such issues as the four diseases of speech- war, crisis, revolution and decay- and helped me think about how current world tensions simply violate the formal speech roles and opt for chaos and conflict. Speech versus reflection and authentic speech, grammar and rituals, questions and answers, gender and the speech of mankind are some of the arenas he gets into. This book caused me to pursue his other works and I am now into my second book, Speech and Reality. W. H. Auden wrote of him saying that "...anyone reading him for the first time...may find as I did, certain aspects of Rosenstock's Huessy's writing a bit hard to takebut let the reader perservere and he will find , as I did, that he is richly rewarded.

This is a readable philosophical book about language. But don't let that throw you; the author (I wish he had a shorter name) puts the cookies on the table and they are enjoyable. Please read it if you have a half a notion to understand human speech. Reading this books pays relational dividends. It caused me to reflect more on how I talk than any other book I have read in the last ten years.

Franz Rosensweig is a giant of a theologian to Jews of this century. As author of the Star of Redemption he has given Jewish people much to think about.

Part of his story was that he originally was going to convert to Christianity as a result of a discussion he had with his friend Eugen Rosenstock. However, after attending a Jewish holy day ceremony, he dove into his then minimal Jewish faith with great enthusiasm. After that, he and Rosenstock exchanged letters that give a fascinating account of Rosensweig's ideas. He has done some deep thinking with regard to how the Church and Jews can coexist, and how they can view each other. He has appropriated "the stubbornness of the Jews" as a Jewish theology of pride in the eternal Jew who refuses to be bent by culture. As a Christian, there is much for me to learn about how my own faith has often been co-opted by culture.

Sometimes this dialogue is hard to follow, but if you stay with it to the end, you are rewarded with some great nuggets of inspiration and thought. And it is fascinating to see how Rosensweig has developed his thoughts. A wonderful book for anyone who is serious about Jewish and Christina dialogue.

Unfortunately, as happens with many books I like, it is not in publication anymore. Go to your local library. You will not be disappointed!