I want everyone to read this book. It is a compelling compilation of essays featuring a variety of scholarly voices singing in the key of Phan. The chorus includes both “mature” theological writers and up-and-coming scholars from a variety of ethnic contexts. The work began at a Georgetown symposium under the baton of another gregarious and diverse theologian, Gerard Mannion. Sadly, Mannion died precipitously before the volume was published. The articles are clear, logical, and mind-expanding. If the reader is unfamiliar with Phan’s work (his “modest” curriculum vitae is included here in nineteen pages of small print!), this book offers not only the substance of Phan’s corpus but a comprehensive dialogue with it.

The first section considers serious issues that infect today’s world. It addresses the reality of migrants and their relationship with both institutional religion and accommodating alternatives they employ to fit with their plight. There is an article on domestic violence—more prevalent in a migrant context than in the more settled society. The author calls the church’s position on the subject “soft complementarianism,” that is, a condemnation of violence to women officially, but the maintenance of silence in its teaching and without any serious effort to change the culture.

The second part considers “Christian Identity and Religious Pluralism.” The pieces in this section examine the intersection of Christianity with other religions. Included is a tour of the Sistine Chapel’s art, which points out the pluralistic images of humanism, pagan sibyls, and the prophets of Hebrew scripture that are present. One author quotes the current pontiff as decrying “a Church that spends too much time talking about itself instead of about its mission to the world.”

Another article explores Phan’s idea that Christ is not just a carryover from a charismatic Jewish preacher in the first century but, through the work of the Spirit, incarnates the divinity differently again and again in all cultures. Here and elsewhere in the book are connections and critiques of the use and under use of Vatican II’s Nostra aetate. The importance of reconciliation with past religious divisions is emphasized.

The third section looks at “Eschatology.” The eschatological reign of God does not set up housekeeping in the Vatican but spills over the entirety of a diverse world. God’s presence and influence is dialogical and kenotic, inundating the cultures of the world each in its own language.

The final section highlights Phan’s own legacy. The articles are varied. The first details Phan’s work, spanning everything from Rahner to dialogue with Asian inculturation of Christianity to the investigation of Phan’s theology by Rome. The final essay may be the most interesting. It, with incredible humor and interesting factoids, describes how THE Peter Phan came to be the generous and intellectually ubiquitous theologian that he is. This essay alone is worth the price of the book, especially for anyone who knows Peter or even one aspect of his work. And it pairs well with Curran’s treatment of the investigation of that work by the Congregation for Defense of the Faith. Knowing that Phan almost discarded the notification of the investigation as junk mail and now reading the detailed account of his brilliant response brought a smile to my lips.

It is always difficult to review a volume of essays. This book presents a particularly overwhelming challenge, since there is not one article without merit. Most of the articles draw from Phan’s rich insights in one way or another. Each offers a different aspect from the multifaceted corpus of his work. The final essay is Phan’s response to the book. He notes in a self-deprecating way that the work is written by friends, therefore “readers will not see too many negative assessments.”

I suggest the book, as noted in the beginning, is a great read. Academics might use it to broaden their own syllabi, students will be introduced to areas that are likely unfamiliar to them. The random curious reader will have no trouble enjoying the contents.

The book is not “ordinary.” It is a lovely party: the writer-friends-guests are diverse, the buffet rich and nourishing. It offers some of my own favorite dishes, but more importantly it expands my nutritional horizon. From refugee priest to incredibly productive scholar, Peter Phan deserves to be celebrated. This book does it well. It provides a fitting tribute to a courageous, creative, and compassionate theologian.