ORIGINAL PEACE is a profound meditation Con the myth of human perfectability and its corollary belief that denies the dark side of nature. The book powerfully reasserts the redemptive role of Jesus Christ, "through whom all things were made," who restores not only human beings to God's original peace but the created world as well.

The new understanding of human and cosmic his- tory presented on these pages is founded on the insights of Christianity and other world religions. Here we find a compassionate reading of human and created nature flawed but restored by divine favor, beautifully fragile, to be honored, protected and loved.

David Burrell, C.S.C., is Hesburgh Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Elena Malits, C.S.C., is professor of religious studies at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana.