Circumcised on the 8th day, Bar Mitzvahed at 13 and a college dropout and hippie by the age of 19, Jan Weinstein, armed with little more than his own cunning, makes his way out into the world in search of all the good times that could be had and, while he was at it, the Truth. Will he find it? Hear all about it in A Portrait of the Christian as a Young Man, a voyage of discovery if there ever was one.

Brainy, athletic and an incurable neurotic who overthinks everything, our hero turns down MIT and leaves his New York world for Reed College in Oregon, plunging into the counterculture of LSD, radical politics, meditation, the hippie life, and the ideologies of the day. But the infinite distractions of the 1960s prove to be too much for his college dreams as he drops out and spends the next two years going back to nature by living in the woods, planting trees, picking fruit, hopping freights and hitting the road from Alaska to New York. In all these things he is guided by a true friend, a trusty pickup, a faithful hound and words that came to him from another world.

A born adventurer with a keen eye for people and life, Weinstein is that rare skeptic who refuses to accept the groupthink and party line no matter who the party is. Always looking for an ultimate reference point and a code for engaging the world, he abandons the old ways of Judaism and Christianity and embraces Zen, Yoga and the Road East to answer the age-old question: “How does a man change his life?” Little did he know that the door through which he would find the truth would be the love of simple Christians and a calling to be a 20th century knight. That love and calling would finally lead him to Jesus Christ.

All fellow travelers will identify with his rich inner life and zest for everything he touches. Jan Weinstein is that endearing pest whom you can’t get out of your mind, who worms his way into your heart and speaks to you. He still speaks to us long after the last part of the book.