Includes bibliographical references (page 217)

The wearied existentialist: conversations with Camus -- The minister and friends: My mother ; The Berlitz family ; Jack Caldwell ; Charles Sterling ; Louise Jones ; The beggar ; Dr. Norman Vincent Peale ; The Robinsons and Aunt Martha ; The children of Ohio ; The school board ; Bud and Alice ; The Yarings ; Fritz Schaefer and my blessed pilots ; The ambassador in Warsaw and Archbishop Beran ; The people behind the wall ; Displaced persons and the diaconesses ; My immigrants: six couples and Alma ; Dr. Albert Schweitzer ; General Norstad and Ambassador Harriman -- Lessons: Death and kindness ; The teddy bear ; The shadow of influence ; Endowing God with our own weakness

Albert Camus, the renowned existentialist, visited the American Church in Paris to hear the music of the famous organist Marcel Dupř. What he found was an unexpected friend-Howard Mumma, a Methodist minister from Ohio who was serving as a guest preacher. Intrigued by Mumma's philosophy and theology based on a living faith in a higher power, Camus invited Mumma to lunch, and thus a surprising friendship was formed. Over the next several years, through a series of profound conversations with Howard Mumma, Camus explored the Christian faith. These discussions, as recalled by Mumma in the first part of this book, offer a deeply personal side of Camus not seen by the public eye. In the second part, Mumma shares personal glimpses of the people and experiences that had a profound influence on his own life, enabling him to understand what Camus was facing in his personal life