Jacob Needleman<\/a>, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money quotes:<\/p>\nIt meant I had to read theologians, Christian writers like St. Augustine\u2014whom I had hated. You see in my book where I talk about burning the pages of the book, that\u2019s exactly what happened. I'm not exaggerating. I was so happy to see it go up in flames; I had suffered so much from that book. And later I read it and I loved it\u2014a great, great man.<\/p>\n
So it forced me to read and prepare myself, and I couldn\u2019t believe how superficial my understanding of religion had been, even with a liberal education from the best universities. I discovered things about religion; I couldn\u2019t believe how good, how interesting, how profound\u2014and how distorted it had become, how shallow it had become. So more and more I got deeply interested in religion because I had to teach it. And then I got personally interested in my own personal, spiritual search which I started to undertake\u2026<\/p>\n
There\u2019s more:<\/p>\n
My mind believed it. But somewhere down deep I didn\u2019t really. It was only when I actually touched a certain level of inner experience, and I said, Ah, that\u2019s it<\/em>. Now I am absolutely certain that there is such a thing. I always believed, as I was studying these things, that there was something higher in the universe. I never thought it was a dead, mechanical universe, like scientism. It was only when I experienced it as part of me that I saw that it was true.<\/p>\nAnd more!<\/p>\n
Scripture is not just recording what Jesus said; scripture is men and women coming together, working inwardly to be true to something and together trying to produce something that has at least a bit of truth of the heart. Real scripture, though it might on the surface seem contradictory or violent, these things are often symbolic and can only be understood with the heart and the head together. Not just with the head.<\/p>\n
via How Does an Atheist Come to Believe in God?: An Interview with Jacob Needleman | Religion & Theology | ReligionDispatches<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Religion Dispatches, Lisa Webster has a fascinating interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money quotes: It meant I had to read theologians, Christian writers like St. Augustine\u2014whom I had hated. You see in my book where I talk about burning the pages of the book, that\u2019s exactly what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\n
Conversion of an Atheist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At Religion Dispatches, Lisa Webster has a fascinating interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conversion of an Atheist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At Religion Dispatches, Lisa Webster has a fascinating interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Theoblogy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-11T03:08:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T22:03:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Jones\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/\",\"name\":\"Conversion of an Atheist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-11T03:08:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T22:03:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#\/schema\/person\/42ce41f0b36973114dad81e583450069\"},\"description\":\"At Religion Dispatches, Lisa Webster has a fascinating interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conversion of an Atheist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/\",\"name\":\"Theoblogy\",\"description\":\"The Tony Jones Blog at Patheos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#\/schema\/person\/42ce41f0b36973114dad81e583450069\",\"name\":\"Tony Jones\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50708c3731048719806adf9c6f6df30?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50708c3731048719806adf9c6f6df30?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tony Jones\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/tonyj.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/author\/tonyjones\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conversion of an Atheist","description":"At Religion Dispatches, Lisa Webster has a fascinating interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conversion of an Atheist","og_description":"At Religion Dispatches, Lisa Webster has a fascinating interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/","og_site_name":"Theoblogy","article_published_time":"2010-02-11T03:08:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-13T22:03:20+00:00","author":"Tony Jones","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tony Jones","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/","name":"Conversion of an Atheist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-11T03:08:28+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T22:03:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#\/schema\/person\/42ce41f0b36973114dad81e583450069"},"description":"At Religion Dispatches, Lisa Webster has a fascinating interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman, an avowed atheist who converted to theism.\u00a0 Money","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/02\/10\/conversion-of-an-atheist\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Conversion of an Atheist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/","name":"Theoblogy","description":"The Tony Jones Blog at Patheos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#\/schema\/person\/42ce41f0b36973114dad81e583450069","name":"Tony Jones","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50708c3731048719806adf9c6f6df30?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50708c3731048719806adf9c6f6df30?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tony Jones"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/tonyj.net"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/author\/tonyjones\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}