The Messenger

This is a book about the importance of mentors in the lives of the young. But rather than developing the theme of mentoring theoretically, Douglas John Hall demonstrates its significance quite personally, autobiographically. In his twentieth year and hoping to study music professionally, Hall met a young minister whose ""different"" Christianity both surprised and intrigued him. In the end, this friendship altered the course of his life.

The book traces the story of this friendship of more than half a century, and the impact of the times upon the lives of its two principal figures.


""Doug Hall weighs in again with his characteristic gracefulness and his mature, uncommon wisdom. He bears witness to the incarnational way of faith that impinges upon real life in the world. Hall is no saint-maker, but he knows one when he sees one!""
-Walter Brueggemann
Columbia Theological Seminary

""More than any other person, Robert 'Bob' Miller, as Travelling Study Secretary of the Student Christian Movement of Canada and bookman par excellence, brought home to the generation of Canadian university students of the 1950s through 1970s the religious and philosophical debates, the art and literature, and the social and political turmoil of post-second world war Europe. It is not surprising that he should have become the mentor of Douglas John Hall, Canada's pre-eminent Protestant theologian, who here tells that story with great sensitivity and insight.""
-Richard Allen
McMaster University

""Above all, this book is about friendship between two prophets, both ministers of the United Church of Canada whose honor in their own country, or beyond, is impossible to assess. In The Messenger, Douglas John Hall's tribute to his friend, the reader also learns a good deal about Canada's foremost Protestant theologian who provides a fascinating window on what happened to postwar European theology as it made the transition to North America.""
-Margaret Prang
University of British Columbia


Douglas John Hall is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology in the Faculty of Religious Studies of McGill University in Montreal. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Lighten Our Darkness (1976, 2001); Why Christian? (1998); God & Human Suffering (1986); and The Steward (1990; Wipf & Stock, 2004);. He has lectured widely in Canada, the United States, Germany, and Japan, and is the recipient of many honors, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Union Theological Seminary, the Joseph Sittler Award for Leadership in Theology, and the Order of Canada.