One cannot understand God without first believing in God. If you have any interest in knowing what’s true, you must first have faith. It is by faith that God purifies your heart. Unless you first abandon yourself to God, you will never know God. The more you love God, the deeper your faith, and the more love and faith you possess, the more you know what’s true. All of this is truly biblical, and represents well the tradition of the Church fathers and mothers.
– from the book The Saint vs. The Scholar: The Fight Between Faith and Reason