God or Nothing

God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith by Robert Cardinal Sarah and Nicholas Diat, translated by Michael J Miller, 284 pages

Robert Sarah was born in 1945 in a small village in rural Guinea.  His intelligence and piety were sufficiently apparent at an early age that he was sent to study at a minor seminary in the Ivory Coast, there being no seminary in his native country at the time.  He went on to study in France, Rome, and Jerusalem, then returned to his native land where he served as a seminary rector before being appointed Archbishop of Conakry at the age of 34.  After decades of struggle with the Communist dictatorship of Sekou Toure and then the military junta that succeeded him, in 2001 Sarah was called by St John Paul II to serve as Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples at the Vatican.  Pope Benedict XVI created him a Cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, directing the worldwide charitable work of the Holy See.  In 2014 Pope Francis promoted him to Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, responsible for overseeing the liturgical life of the entire Latin Church. 

God or Nothing is a book-length interview reflecting the life and insights of one who has traveled from the peripheries to the very heart of the Church.  Throughout his seventy year journey, from villager in an African colony to Prince of the Church, Cardinal Sarah has maintained the clarity that comes with true humility.  In 1985, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger published a book-length interview, The Ratzinger Report, that proved vastly influential, and to compare God or Nothing to that is high praise indeed.  Cardinal Sarah may not be quite as dazzlingly brilliant as Ratzinger, but the two share a deep immersion in the faith and a gentle but uncompromising devotion to the truth.