In the midst of this Advent season of waiting, I received an early taste of Christmas yesterday with the arrival of my author copies of Minding the Web.

Here’s an Advent-themed quote from my introduction to the volume:

“In the recapitulation of the story of Israel and the story of Adam in the apocalyptic advent of Jesus Christ we are given a glimpse of the true humanity that is our destiny and is even now impressing itself upon the present, through the gracious ministrations of the Holy Spirit, drawing a people into the life of Christ. From this apocalyptic perspective it becomes obvious that two of the animating questions that pervade Hauerwas’s work—What time is it? and What does it mean to be human?—orbit around a Christological center of gravity. The fact that the apocalyptic irruption of the faithfulness of God to his creation takes the form of a human life reinscribes the timefulness of human existence and gives the world a history. As Hauerwas puts it, “Apocalyptic does not deny the continuation of the history of creation but rather reminds us it is historical exactly because it has an end.” The apocalypse of the God of Israel in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ stories the world through showing us the end, making it possible for us to live patiently as creatures in time.¹