(WITH TERRYL GIVENS). SALT LAKE CITY: DESERET BOOK COMPANY, 2014.
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In writing about the nature of Faith, Augustine said that sometimes, our understanding cannot resolve a choice between alternatives, "because of an apparent equality of the motives for both sides. This is the state of one in doubt." In such a circumstance, where knowledge is insufficient to impel us toward belief or non-belief, "our understanding is determined by the will, which chooses to assent to one side definitely and precisely because of something which is enough to move the will, though not enough to move the understanding." Faith, in other words, is ultimately a choice. But the possibility of faith is influenced by the assumptions and paradigms that may constrain and shape one’s religious quest. As Daniel Dennett writes, "philosophy… is what you have to do until you figure out what questions you should have been asking in the first place." Genuine questions, to use Gadamer’s expression, entail risk, put our prejudices into play, and expose us to unknown consequences. This book invites us to approach our spiritual journey, by embracing that risk, and by reconsidering the value of doubt as a catalyst rather than an obstacle to faith.