Abstract

These reflections summarize and critically respond to Esther Meek’s Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press/Baker Book House, 2003. Pp. 208.$16.99. ISBN 1-58743-060-6). The book seeks to explain on the basis ofthe ideas of Michael Polanyi how ordinary acts of knowing happen to work, how they are indeed instances of genuine knowing, and, incomparison with them, how knowing God can possibly work and be a live possibility. Meek’s argument’s most vulnerable premise is its unquestioned acceptance of Scripture as an authoritative guide, which directly raises the question whether Meek’s position is fully post-critical in the sense identified by Polanyi, and indirectly raises the question how Meek is able to handle religious pluralism