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Abstract
Engelhardt holds to a conservative, Christian belief, and he claims that when he looks into the depth and mystery of the universe, he now sees a personal, self-disclosing presence. He calls others to be open to that self-disclosure. But we all know that, as Giles Scofield says, there is no there there. Engelhardt looks into the abyss and sees God wink. Scofield knows better: it is Engelhardt who blinked. Anyone who has read Engelhardt's works knows that they are complicated and demanding. And he holds to this strange, contradictory combination of a libertarian secular ethic and a very conservative Orthodox Christian belief. Now if there were really any integrity to this system, it would likely be the kind that few could understand. Those that could would need to spend a lot of time and effort getting at the nuance of his meanings. This in the end would be elitist. How could we have a system that is not equally accessible to, and understandable by, anyone who picks up the texts? Our democratic ideals thus require that he be wrong.