Now available in the Veritas series from Cascade Books, Finitude’s Wounded Praise: Responses to Jean-Louis Chrétien, edited by Philip John Paul Gonzales and Joseph Micah McMeans.

The late Jean-Louis Chrétien’s responsorial and polyphonic style of thinking is nothing less than a performance of gratitude, which manifests the many ways and manners that our wounded finitude is graced and blessed along the peregrine path of human existence. Finitude’s Wounded Praise: Responses to Jean-Louis Chrétien is a receptive celebratory response to the immense fecundity and potential of Chrétien’s “thank you” of gratitude. This volume gathers leading Chrétien scholars and thinkers to explicate, explore, think with, and commemorate his thought. The essays in the volume engage Chrétien’s work from three primary fields: phenomenological, literary/poetic, and theological. Finitude’s Wounded Praise is a diverse, exploratory, and impressive testament to the expansive and enduring richness of Chrétien’s oeuvre.

“Jean-Louis Chrétien is a uniquely important Catholic philosopher whose work is a profound response to the giftedness of the world. This collection of essays leads us into the great fecundity of Chrétien’s Christian phenomenology and poetry—an outstanding and original set of meditations on a philosopher of prayer, gratitude, and contemplation.”
—Simon Oliver, professor of divinity, Durham University

“The voice of Jean-Louis Chrétien resounds unceasingly and still awaits its response. Finitude’s Wounded Praise pays homage to the man who left us too soon and whose work remains at once phenomenological, poetic, and literary, as well as theological. There is a particular way of thinking and speaking in line with Chrétien. Each contribution included here bears witness to it, with the word ‘gratitude’ as the right attitude and key to the understanding.”
—Emmanuel Falque, honorary dean, Catholic University of Paris

“I have always respected Jean-Louis Chrétien as a man and scholar. Later, I could admire the philosopher and poet. Recently, I noticed that he had said many things I too have tried to say, though he had said them earlier and better. This book is a fitting tribute to his memory and a testimony to his presence.”
—Jean-Yves Lacoste, life member, Clare Hall

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