[2] Written from his home in Vermont, Peculiar Treasures features a collection of pen and ink illustrations, drawn by the author's daughter, Katherine.

[4] Buechner scholar, Marie-Hélène Davies, argues that laughter is a central theme in Peculiar Treasures, and that this is an 'extremely rare' quality in 'theological writing'.

[6] Davies, while noting this potential for controversy, suggests that 'most of the time Buechner's humour is to the point, witty, apt, and reverent'.

[7] Peculiar Treasures, she concludes, 'is the work of an unsystematic theologian who deals in brilliant aperçus, illuminating insights, and fateful and faithful encounters'.

He writes that the author 'emphasizes the humanness of the father of nations', drawing out his 'loves and jealousies', his 'humiliations and bewilderments', his 'soaring faith and plunging despair', and his experience of the 'weariness of 'day-to-day survival'.