from the known to the unknown

I had spent the previous twelve years interviewing religious leaders, and I recognized Father Amphilochois as a promising interviewee: he was firmly rooted in a primitive Christian faith which shaped his every waking hour... Since he had experience as a missionary, spreading the Christian message among the tribal people of West Africa, it seemed fair to ask him about his techniques for enlightening unbelievers. I was one of them, and I was tackling him on behalf of liberal humanism.

I explained to him that I was a member of an enormous modern tribe that rejected the Christian message. This was not because we knew too little but because we knew too much. We understood the human psyche; we had analysed the workings of the human mind, conscious and unconscious... we knew that religious faith was simply a compensatory mechanism that gave emotional reassurance to the insecure... We sought the truth and, unlike Christians, saw no virtue in putting our trust in so-called realities for which there was insufficient evidence. For the past three hundred years leading intellectuals of our tribe had examined the philosophical proofs for the existence of God and found them wanting. Our scholars had looked at the linguistic and archeological evidence for biblical truths and pronounced them flawed. Our biologists accepted a version of the story of life on earth that needed no external directing hand. So, we had abandoned Christianity after long and careful consideration of its claims and with much regret. That rejection was a consequence of our fearless pursuit of truth. "If you came," I said, "as a missionary to my tribe today, what would you say to us?" I sat back, conscious that I had put him on the spot. He looked at me with a smile and said simply: "I would not say anything to you. I would simply live with you. And I would love you."

This was not the answer I expected from a theologian... When I heard these words from that man at that time, I experienced a shift in understanding. It was like the impact of great music. We all hear important truths many times in our lives, but it is only when we are ready for them that they penetrate... That morning a door opened. I realized that to approach Christianity, as I had tried, from what seemed to be the logical first step - that is, by examining the arguments for the existence of God - was to tackle it from the wrong end. The most basic principle of learning is to start with the known and move to the unknown. I had been trying to start from the unkowable. Father Amphilochios was proposing that the journey to Christian truth should start with the human experience of life: it should move, that is, from the known to the unknown.

- Peter France, A Place of Healing for the Soul: Patmos