Does faith grow more through imagination or fortification?

I was thrilled to read this article at the New York Times, mostly because my inner theology nerd was excited that Donatists were referenced in a major news publication. However it also does make a great observation about where the church has been and where the church is going. Here’s an except:

I’ll leave it to Catholics to decide if Francis is good for the church. The subject here is how do you revive a movement in crisis. The natural instinct is to turn Donatist, to build an ark and defend what’s precious. The counterintuitive but more successful strategy is to follow Augustine, to exploit a moment of weakness by making yourself even more vulnerable, by striking outward into complexity, swallowing the pure and impure, counterattacking crisis with an evangelical assault.