If nature is not all there is, then what else is there, and how do we know about it? Religions are convinced that there is more, indeed infinitely more, but they tell us we can know about it only if we are disposed to receive it. The infinitely “more” cannot be known in the same way that ordinary objects are known. In fact, religion is less a matter of knowing than of being known. It is a state of being grasped rather than of grasping. Not every person is ready for religion, and even self-avowed religious believers cannot truthfully claim to be ready for it most of the time. Indeed, much of what we usually call religious life consists of avoiding or running away from the demands of religion. Religious understanding – as most theologians see it – is impossible without surrender, worship and prayerful waiting, along with struggle and frustration. Yet, to those who wait, the rewards can be peace and joy, as well as profound intellectual satisfaction.

Religion, at least in any conventional sense, cannot get along with scientific naturalism, but it can get along quite well with science. Science deals with what can be sensed, or at least what can be inferred from sensation. Religion is based in experience too, but of a different kind from science.