A Reader's Companion to Crossing the Threshold of Hope

What is most remarkable in this collection, is the widespread respect for Pope John Paul II, his intellectualism, and basic agreements with many of his ideas. This collection, continues his effort at ecumenism by bringing together 15 Protestant and 1 Jewish writer, and each sheds new light on the Papal volume. Perhaps due to the ecumenical goal, there is less discussion of differences of faith, which also would have proved useful, such as Phyllis Tickles discussion of Catholic beliefs of purgatory. Particularly moving for me was Rabbi's Eckstein's, Jewish response, first about the history of Church-afflicted spirit, and more recently, the positive changes led by John XXIII and this Pope. Flora Wuellners commentary of prayer, proved enlightening to me in terms of the transformative power of prayer, not as a means of begging for something, but as a means of avoiding fleeing from God. Both this book and the book by John Paul II, discuss fundamental questions of faith, evil and suffering, and may help to deepen your own understanding of Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant.