Book excerpt: Rainer Maria Rilke, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Emily Dickinson, Albert Camus, Sigmund Freud and the Tao Te Ching are just some of the influences evident in this book which brings poetry to bear on theology. An atmosphere of wonder and vision is created - as when, for example, through the magic of Isak Dinesen's Babette's Feast, Alves evokes a picture of `words which are good to be eaten' - which in turn leads to a meditation on politics, prophecy and the theme of resurrection.