I Want You to Be: On the God of Love

In his two previous books translated into English, _Patience with God_ and _Night of the Confessor_, best-selling Czech author and theologian Tom\00E1\0161 Hal\u00EDk focused on the relationship between faith and hope. Now, in _I Want You to Be_, Hal\u00EDk examines the connection between faith and love, meditating on a statement attributed to St. Augustine-_amo, volo ut sis_, 'I love you: I want you to be'-and its importance for contemporary Christian practice. Hal\u00EDk suggests that because God is not an object, love for him must be expressed through love of human beings. He calls for Christians to avoid isolating themselves from secular modernity and recommends instead that they embrace an active and loving engagement with nonbelievers through acts of servitude. At the same time, Hal\u00EDk critiques the drive for mere material success and suggests that love must become more than a private virtue in contemporary society. _I Want You to Be_ considers the future of Western society, with its strong division between Christian and secular traditions, and recommends that Christians think of themselves as partners with nonbelievers. Hal\u00EDk's distinctive style is to present profound insights on religious themes in an accessible way to a lay audience. As in previous books, this volume links spiritual and theological/philosophical topics with a tentative diagnosis of our times. This is theology written on one's knees; Hal\u00EDk is as much a spiritual writer as a theologian. I Want You to Be will interest both general and scholarly readers interested in questions of secularism and Christianity in modern life.\u000a\u000a\u00A9 University of Notre Dame\u000a\u000aCopyright for most content is held by The University of Notre Dame. Reproduction of all or any portion of content constitutes a violation of copyright. You must obtain permission from The Copyright Clearance Center or The University of Notre Dame Press in order to reprint (or adapt) content.\u000a\u000ap: (574) 631-6346 \ e: undpress@nd\.edu \ website: copyright\.com