The author states that Wright is interested in describing the nature of Christianity to all interested, both within and without the definite boundaries of Christian faith. To that end, he identifies four different worldly “echoes” that speak to the possibility of there being a “someone” beyond ourselves: “the longing for justice, the quest for spirituality, the hunger for relationships, and the delight in beauty” (x).

Wright lays out the structure of the book from a bird’s eye view and insists that he is presenting the clearest and simplest argument that he can make for the inner rationality and coherence of the Christian faith, and why it should matter to a contemporary audience. In the first part he wishes to survey human experience at the natural level, tracking down the questions and desires that each human person feels at some point in their lives that imply some greater reality. In the second part, he wishes to lay out the basic Christian beliefs about God and Jesus as well as the history of Israel leading up to the events of the first century that the New Testament details. In the third part he wishes to describe how the human person is meant to respond to the divine call to loving communion within the church and in relation to one another.