Campbell pursues a faith that is "justifiable as a respectable choice" (xi).
Theists, atheists, and agnostics cannot escape belief. Campbell argues that "all three groups are believers. Atheists see our world and believe there is no god; theists see our world and believe there is a god; agnostics see our world and believe the evidence on either side is not good enough to decide about a god. All are believers. If atheists could prove beyond doubt that there was no god, agnostics and theists would be up that fabled creek in a barbed wire canoe without a paddle. If theists had a cast-iron case for certainty, atheists and agnostics would be in similar trouble. No one, no human being, escapes the necessity of belief, of living in the uncertainty of faith rather than the hard-and-fast belief certainy of knowledge" (3). In other words, "When pondering the ultimate, all of us are reduced to belief; none of us can lay claim to factual knowledge in relation to the ultimate issues" (25).
Contrary to naysayers, theists generally don't believe in God because of a fuzzy feeling inside or because of a sense of weakness or dependence. Generally their belief in God "is based on a perception of the reality of what is" (17). "Many an atheist might claim that God is just a smart word for an absence of good reason. Perhaps it is not; perhaps God is a smart word for a reality that cannot be named any other way" (17-18).
Campbell is skeptical about agnosticism: "Can human insides remain equally balanced on an issue as important as whether or not there is a god and the goodness of that god?" (23). He quotes Yann Martel, "Doubt is useful for a while. ... But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation" (23).
Campbell offers profound reflections on faith as conviction, not certainty. The long quote on the opening page summarizes the entire book and is worth the price of the book alone:
"Faith is commitment to a conviction
for the best reasons available
aware that it may be wrong.
Spirit is within us, drawing us on; spirit is around us, in mountains, oceans, and rivers, in music, art, and song, drawing us out. The whisper of spirit is heard by us, interpreted in different ways or plain drowned out. Given all we know of our universe, a creator God must be vastly big, "utterly other," transcendent. Given belief in Jesus Christ, God has been present among us and has laid down his life for his friends, "utterly us." Belief that the God of our universe should be lovingly committed to each one of us in the simple ordinariness of our lives is almost scandalous -- or unbelievably wonderful (1 Cor 1.18-25 has both). The "utterly other" of a creator God is held together with the "utterly us" of Christ crucified. The whisper of spirit invites such faith. The phoenix church sustains such faith. There is a wonderful absurdity to Christian faith, weighed against the even greater absurdity of anything less."
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