GOD IN SEARCH OF MAN (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

Abraham Joshua Heschel was one of the most revered religious leaders of the 20th century, and "God in Search of Man "and its companion volume," Man Is Not Alone," two of his most important books, are classics of modern Jewish theology. "God in Search of Man" combines scholarship with lucidity, reverence, and compassion as Dr. Heschel discusses not man's search for God but God's for man--the notion of a Chosen People, an idea which, he writes, "signifies not a quality inherent in the people but a relationship between the people and God." It is an extraordinary description of the nature of Biblical thought, and how that thought becomes faith.