George Anastaplo clearly knows what is "in" these parts of the Christian heritage, and he wants to teach others. But he knows he cannot succeed, even among intellectually high-powered college and post-graduate and "Great Books" readers who enliven his natural habitats, unless he gets their curiosity roused. Instead of using PowerPoint or a megaphone...he insinuates his way into the consciousness and consciences...of those who claim the Christian heritage and would push what they think are its values on others. -- Martin E. Marty, from the foreword George Anastaplo is the master of the unexpected question that throws a new light on whatever work or topic is being discussed. The essays Anastaplo brings together in this work are certainly unexpected and surprising, but the reader will discover things that he did not notice; he will learn of a mode of reading that he will seldom if ever encounter elsewhere; and he will be led to insights that could not otherwise be evoked. The essays range from literary works (Beowulf, Dante, Chaucer), to philosophic themes (Aquinas on natural law), to reflections on such issues as publicly funded church schools, animal sacrifices, abortion laws, and the relation of the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution to reason and revelation, and much more. -- Leo Paul S. de Alvarez, University of Dallas In essays on topics from Dante to Darwin, this work by George Anastaplo, returns to Judaism and to Greek antiquity in an attempt to understand both the roots and consequences of a Christian Heritage that the author presents as being also the American Heritage. Readers of these intriguing reflections will enjoy a rare combination of wide learning and a sportive, playful mind. -- Christopher Colmo, Dominican University