The Mystery of Being contains the most systematic exposition of the philosophical thought of Gabriel Marcel, a convert to Catholicism and the most distinguished twentieth-century exponent of Christian existentialism. Its two volumes are the Gifford lectures which Marcel delivered in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1949 and 1950. Marcel's work fundamentally challenges most of the major positions of the atheistic existentialists (Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus), especially their belief in an absurd, meaningless, godless universe.

These volumes deal with almost all of the major themes of Marcel's thought: the...

The publication of this translation of Gabriel Marcel's autobiography, En chemin, vers quel eveil? is timely because of the renewed relevance and importance of his life and work to the postmodern situation. The relation of his autobiography to his productive projects is clearly tied to the unifying thread of creativity, which, as the primary dimension of the mystery of being, gives rise to his music, drama, and philosophical reflection. This autobiography fosters the retrieval of the sense of the mystery of being, thus reorienting philosophy as an awakening of the creativity at the heart of...