In his two previous books translated into English, Patience with God and Night of the Confessor, the author focused on the relationship between faith and hope. Now, in I Want You to Be, he examines the connection between faith and love, meditating on a statement attributed to St.
Augustine - "amo, volo ut sis", "I love you: I want you to be" - and its importance for contemporary Christian practice. Halík suggests that because God is not an object, love for him must be expressed through love of human beings.
He calls for Christians to avoid isolating themselves from secular modernity and recommends instead that they embrace an active and loving engagement with nonbelievers through acts of servitude.