The Faith of an Ex-Agnostic

Having made the moral commitment to a belief in God, I had then to satisfy the demands of intellect for a credible philosophical basis for such a belief. I had to reconcile my scientific caution to the necessity of living by the truth of the unprovable. I had to change the habitual naturalistic assumptions of my thinking. And finally I had to restate religious ideas in terms meaningful to me before I could return with appreciation to the traditional Christian language.

This essay, then, is an attempt to set down the main results of my search for a meaningful philosophy of religion. Philosophy is more afterthought than agent in conversion to religious belief. Nevertheless, an inadequate philosophy can be a tragic stumbling-block to those who are seeking or those who could seek the primary religious experience. Those who cannot believe that there is a pearl of great price will not seek it, or recognize it if perchance they come upon it. Hence I offer this philosophical essay in the hope that it may help some troubled seekers to a view of the nature of things that will encourage rather than deter their seeking.