Why is that in our culture conversations about the life of faith tend to be either saccharine or cynical? Krista Tippet believes there are other ways to talk about God, religion, and the vitality of the spiritual life. This book - part memoir, part reflection on language and its power to shape our world, part erudite conversation drawn from Tippet's radio show - seems to me not simply a reflection, but an offering to a world of shallow theology. Tippet not only encourages, but models, a humble way of interacting with people who believe differently, who live faith in unfamiliar ways, but who share the same desire to live a life characterized by the richness of love.

For dogmatic believers of any religion, Tippets ways of speaking about faith may be uncomfortable - she herself acknowledges this. But her own story and the stories she recounts provides a sane, heartening, and gentle clarion call to speak of faith with a humility and honesty born of the search for beauty.