16
"tended to view the Christian faith largely in terms of rational propositions" and thus "loaded
(and probably overloaded [his] mind with intellectual analysis" [BD, 25]. But as a result of the
ministry of a renewal team from the Archdiocese of Denver, Demarest discovered his need to
grow in an "intuitive way of engaging God," learning "how to open my heart as well as my head
to truth." He calls this "knowing from the heart" [BD, 27].
Heart knowledge means loving God with all our faculties of thinking, intuiting, willing,
feeling, and relating.
26
Its a knowledge formed by personal connection and lived
experience, not by intellectualizing alone. We are to deepen in knowledge of God
through our hearts, without losing our minds. We must remain doctrinally orthodox, but
we must also press on to know God with immediacy in the core of our being. . . . Heart
knowledge encompasses the wisdom and insight of encounter. . . . [It is] an intimate
knowing through active personal engagement [BD, 96].
In this holistic heart knowledge of God, there is a place for a kind of "Christian mysticism,"
defined as "the believers unmediated experience of God, ministered to the heart by the Holy
Spirit, which facilitates Christlike character and empowers for kingdom service." This Christian
mysticism must be "guarded," to be sure, but it can be, according to Demarest, "a healthy
corrective to evangelicalisms leanings toward cold rationalism" [BD, 114]. Now these
emphases from Demarest do not invalidate the role of cognitive knowing and rational theology.
No, all true Christian spirituality must be "revelational," in that it is "framed and nourished by
the Word of God, rightly unfolded by sound principles of interpretation" [BD, 71].
27
"Isolated
26
Demarest argues that what the inner person of the Christian is longing for is
"knowledge of God that comes from encountering, grappling with and participating with God at
all levels of human experience mind, body, and spirit" [BD, 52].
27
That remains essential, lest we fail to take seriously biblical warnings against doctrinal