In a series of candid, far-reaching discussions with his close friend, L. Jackson Newell, McMurrin reveals his ability to reconcile the competing demands of freedom, loyalty, and conscience. He responds to Newell's probing questions with good humor, giving examples from his own life to illustrate points. He seems to have never lost faith that honesty and justice would prevail in the world.

Sterling M. McMurrin was U. S. Commissioner of Education under President John F. Kennedy. At the University of Utah he was academic vice president, dean of the graduate school, and a professor of philosophy and history. He died in 1996. He was the author of The Theological Foundations of the Mormon Religion and co-author of Toward Understanding the New Testament.

L. Jackson Newell is president of Deep Springs College. He was formerly the dean of Liberal Education and a professor of Higher Education at the University of Utah. He is a past co-editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the author of several books, and a contributor to Neither White nor Black, Personal Voices, The Wilderness of Faith, and Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience.