One of the most brilliant and most controversial careers in modern Irish Presbyterianism has undoubtedly been that of the Reverend Professor John M. Barkley: theologian, historian, ecumenist and free thinker, a man hailed by some as the embodiment of enlightened Presbyterian values and denounced by others as a 'Jesuit' and a 'Judas.'

In this engaging memoir, which will delight his admirers and offer his detractors no comfort, Dr. Barkley, 'without doubt one of the most influencial Irish Churchmen of the second half of the twentieth century', writes of his life and the experiences that formed him, lacing his narrative with some astringent criticism of contemporary Irish Presbyterianism, and explaining why, if he were a young man today, he would have serious reservations about joining the Presbyterian Church.