Wayfaring: Essays Pleasant and Unpleasant

Alan Jacobs is fond of the essay because it lets a writer do something that more formal pieces of writing cannot: follow the “vagaries of the mind,” let the writing follow its own path, encountering surprises and fresh insights along the way.

In this new collection, Jacobs offers essays for companionable wayfaring. To be a Christian, he says, is to be a wayfarer, to move hopefully towards a cherished goal. These essays are a wayfarer’s notes, a record of ideas and experiences encountered on...