At the Heart of Biblical Faith?
A Review of
Sacred Sense: Discovering the Wonder of God’s Word and World
William P. Brown
Paperback: Eerdmans, 2015
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Reviewed by Debbie Philpott
Every man discriminates between the voluntary acts of his mind, and his involuntary perceptions, and knows that to his involuntary perceptions a perfect faith is due. He may err in the expression of them, but he knows that these things are so, like day and night, not to be disputed.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
When reading William P. Brown’s In Sacred Sense: Discovering the Wonder of God’s Word and World, I was reminded of an encounter with an Old Testament scholar and chaplain whose longing touches me still.
A few years ago, I engaged in a one-on-on conversation with the chaplain as part of the standard interview process for professorship at a traditional Christian university campus. Ours was a phone interview due to the distance between us and the timing of the interview. He asked many of the standard questions for which I had already prepared a response—questions regarding my testimony and my beliefs, and how my beliefs aligned with those of my potential future employer. Nearer the end of our lighter conversation, he asked a final question that I found troubling, then and still.