Questing for Understanding

Trying to articulate the ways in which one's life meshes with one's own time can be perilous, yet friends have encouraged me to do just that.

Nevertheless, for one oriented to serving others as teacher and mentor in a context of faith, writing about oneself seems unnatural.

Yet the ""self"" we have been given to share embodies many others as well.

So many of the encounters narrated here will open into friendships.

Moreover, what spices those encounters are the places and passions they embody, so the story that emerges is hardly my own.

Different places often unveiled different faith communities, each of which has altered, if not transformed, the ""self"" narrated here.

In that respect, and in many others, my story is not mine but that of the times our generation has inhabited.

Finally, it has been my religious community of Holy Cross that made these multiple transformations possible, so it is only fitting to dedicate the work to that community and the rich exchanges it continues to effect among women and men. ""When the complex story called Roman Catholicism of our day is told, David Burrell's memoir will be crucial for that telling.

But even now the gift of this memoir is that it helps us see and understand what a life looks like when dedicated to discovering God in the stranger.

To have been claimed as friend by David Burrell is one of the most cherished parts of my life.

Which makes it all the more significant for me--and for others--to have him tell us his story.""--Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University""In this engaging autobiography, David Burrell serves as a modern-day troubadour, leading the reader nimbly from the Rockies to Rome, Notre Dame to Bangladesh, Cairo (and Athens) to Jerusalem, singing all the while of love.""--Janet Soskice, University of CambridgeDavid B.

Burrell, CSC, Hesburgh Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, has served as Professor of Comparative Theology at Tangaza College, Nairobi.

His most recent work is Towards a Jewish-Christian-Muslim Theology (2011).