The Christian Century

What gives a human being the capacity to attend to the truth, and to grow in that capacity?” My friend’s question hung in the air, dangling over the center of the table as those of us in the room found ourselves strangely silent.

The question was left dangling for us because we knew that its presupposition is haunting. Many of us don’t know how to attend to the truth, and too often we lack the capacity even to recognize the truth. Or, put more starkly, the question’s haunting presupposition is that we live in a world of lies.