Faith, as Christians have spoken of it, is a response to the summons of God, at once action and reaction, response and initiative, cognition and intention. It is, as we have put it, the root of action.1 To unpack that phrase, two observations suggest themselves: first, faith is already an act, the first act, and not merely the presupposition of an act; second, faith confers meaning on subsequent acts which spring from it, and they in turn give concrete expression to faith.
