In the year before his death in 1996, Henri Nouwen had planned to write a book about the Apostles' Creed. But then the death of his friend Adam Arnett, a severely handicapped young man from his daybreak Community, changed his mind. He found that by reflecting on the story of Adam he had found a way of describing his own understanding of the Gospel message, and in Adam, a book completed only weeks before his own death, he has left a fitting reflection of his essential message and legacy.

Adam could not speak, or even move without assistance. Gripped by frequent seizures, he spent his life in obscurity. And yet for Henri Nouwen he became my friend, my teacher and my guide: it was Adam who led him to a new understanding of his Christian faith and what it means to be Beloved of God.