Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People

A popular, playful, read. Short chapters, for busy people

How do we know things? How can we know God? Knowing is an activity that we are all involved in, all of the time. We don't normally think about the act of knowing, but if we do, the question of what we know and how we know it becomes murky indeed. Longing to Know is a book about knowing: knowing how we know things, knowing how we know people, and knowing how we know God.
 
Knowing God is like knowing your auto mechanic, claims Esther Meek in this approachable and entertaining guide to the philosophy of knowledge. Ordinary acts of knowing are pervasive, and knowing God is just such an ordinary act of knowing. This message restores hope and confidence, as well as a sense of humility, adventure, and stewardship.
 
This book is especially for those who are considering Christianity, for the first time, as well as Christians who are struggling with issues related to truth, certainty, and doubt. But it’s a great introduction to how all knowing works according to scientific discoverer and philosopher Michael Polanyi. Discover what you have already been doing when you know well.

Order your copy:
From my publisher: Brazos Press
 From my hometown bookstore!  Bookmarx Books
United States and other countries: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play
Germany: Bol.de, Thalia
Compre aqui em português: Editora Monergismo

Listen to the audiobook:
Available on Apple Books, Audible, Audiobooks.com, Downpour, Google Audiobooks, Libro.fm, Kobo and many others.

Praise for ​Longing to Know

​“With directness and a beguiling simplicity, Esther Meek takes the reader into the heart of the postmodern malaise regarding truth and knowledge not to linger there, but to emerge with a delightfully assured sense that knowing God is part of a real and unfolding relationship. A tour de force.” 

David F. Wells, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

​“Is it possible to be certain about the things of faith? Do we really know or are we just wishing—or is it something in between? Esther Meek offers a helpful, closely reasoned, and ultimately encouraging discussion of this ancient and yet very contemporary question.”

Daniel Taylor, Author of The Myth of Certainty

“This is a splendid book about knowing. It is philosophically and theologically profound, but the writing is amazingly clear and enjoyable. Her argument enables us to put doubt into perspective and to gain knowledge with confidence.”

John Frame, Reformed Theological Seminary

“We have long needed an introduction to Michael Polanyi’s epistemology that is both accessible and critical. Esther Meek has provided a splendid guide, not by focusing on Polanyi himself but by attending to our daily lives. Clear, engaging, and insightful, Longing to Know will richly repay careful reading.”

Stephen R. Spencer, Wheaton College

The 20th Anniversary of Longing to Know

​In 2023, my first philosophy book, Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People, celebrated 20 years in print. In celebration of LTK and its fruit (including you), my team and I produced some additional videos and other resources for you. I also wrote a brand new "Afterword." It's now part of the LTK audiobook, or you can read it here. Longing to Know’s message remains critically necessary two decades on from its birth. Thanks for your part in LTK’s unfolding story. Together, let’s promote it in two more.

20 Years of Longing to Know: A Conversation with Amber Bowen
​
As she tells it, when Amber Bowen and I connected at professional meetings in San Antonio, I was the first female Christian scholar that she had ever laid eyes on. As a graduate student at Southeastern Theological Seminary, she arranged for me to give talks there. Throughout her professional training she has encouraged and promoted my work. Now on the faculty of Redeemer University in Hamilton, Ontario, Dr. Bowen has involved me in her humanities classes and her Two Cities podcast with Dr. Jon Dunne and others. At her initiative, this interview is of me!

Keep scrolling for more videos in this series.

​Michael and Jon were students in my “Covenant Epistemology 2000,” the course which birthed LTK. Talk about key players! I tell Michael’s story in the book. They were part of the birthing process. And they earnestly encouraged me in my work. These two continue to work in college campus ministry; hear their assessment of LTK’s relevance in this context 20 years out.

Giorgio and John were my students in 2000 at Covenant Seminary. Giorgio and John have pastored churches for over two decades. Hear these two reminisce about those days and name their key takeaways from the book: moving from certainty to confidence in knowing, risk, community, humility, and embodied knowledge. And hear how LTK plays into their pastoral ministries.

A student in my Covenant Epistemology 2002 class, Dr. Dru Johnson is a theologian and philosopher on the faculty of The King’s College in New York City. He has authored several books on Scripture’s epistemology. Dru distinctively shares and carries on my own Polanyi-based philosophical work, especially as it applies to Scripture.

Two of my most brilliant students share what it was like for them to undergo serious epistemological therapy—as a twosome. Josh served as TA and tutor for me, and now teaches my Critical Thinking class as he works toward a PhD in philosophy. Hear Josh ponder knowing from the perspective of computer science. Hear Molly share dealing with shyness and her spiritual journey.

Mary and Troy, 2011 Geneva grads, were stellar students in the same class of Christian Understanding of Life. Mary TA’d for me; she also helped prepare the Index for my book, Loving to Know. Hear Mary reflect on the strategic value of LTK as she has combatted two things closely connected to a defective epistemology: OCD, and excessive commitment to certainty in church life. Hear Troy, a church planter and pastor in Pittsburgh, reflect on the value of LTK’s approach in the not-yet-knowing of church planting.

Two of my most creative students, Olivia and Andrew both served as my TAs, and these friends continue to help me in my work. Andrew, a film maker, has produced the intro for these LTK videos. Olivia advises from her savvy about sales. Hear Olivia tell how processing LTK played into her horrific auto crash and lengthy recovery. Hear Andrew share how LTK opened his eyes about his own deeply ingrained defective ideas about knowing.

Pauline tells how my book Longing to Know opened her eyes to knowing across disparate fields, from her earlier music training to her eventual doctoral work and teaching in languages—not to mention relating with children. Pauline was a stand-out student at Redeemer Seminary, where for some years I taught my work for their apologetics requirement. Now with a PhD in Ancient Near East Studies from Notre Dame, she has joined the faculty at United Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. She and husband Jonathan (priest, calligrapher, and another brilliant former student of mine) have three small children.

More Praise on LTK's 20th Anniversary

​“In this 20th anniversary of Esther Meek’s Longing to Know, we celebrate her writing and teaching that has become one of the most important voices in the church and in the world. Her seminal work has been a bedrock of philosophical grounding for my Theology of Making work. We have an epistemological crisis in our nation, standing on our culture wars toxic ashes, and Esther’s critical work help us to inject hopes and dreams for the future generations.”

Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of Art+Faith: A Theology of Making

​“Twenty years ago, Esther Meek published what turned out to be my favorite book on epistemology, Longing to Know. It was wonderfully balanced, doing justice to logic, feelings, intuition, and theology. Her writing engages the reader’s questions and experience, with endless stories of what happens when we really come to know something. I hope and pray that this twentieth anniversary will bring these same recollections to a new generation. May God bless this book to that end.”

John Frame, Professor of Theology emeritus
​Reformed Theological Seminary

“Happy 20th Birthday, Longing to Know. In a world full of misinformation, conspiracy ridiculousness, and wanton opinions, knowing how we know is paramount for living well. I have never found a better resource (perhaps, other than Esther’s Little Manual for Knowing) to introduce others to the humbling, freeing, joyous privilege of knowing than Longing to Know. Esther is a brilliant, wildly hilarious, kind, and playful being whose joy in knowing the real, the given of our created world, and our creator God, is life-giving. If you thought epistemology was neither important nor fascinating, this 20-year-old has a profound gift to give you on her birthday.”

Dan B. Allender, Professor of Counseling Psychology
The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology
Author of The Healing Path

“It is with great pleasure that I commend for your reading and study the remarkable book Longing to Know on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary. Its publication brought Dr. Esther Meek to Geneva College. Little did I know that this would bless me with one of the deepest and most fruitful friendships of my life. I have a cartload of reasons for endorsing Longing to Know to potential readers, but I will mention just three. First, the elegant and beautiful style in which the book is written. Esther understood the universal applicability of her thesis on knowers and wrote in such a way that all knowers might benefit from reading it. A second reason for commending this book is its powerful refutation of the dominant tradition, Cartesianism, in the field of epistemology. Dr. Meek dismantles this tradition with a kind of Socratic elenchic exposure of its inconsistencies and its inability to account for knowers. A third reason for reading this book is the model of knowing Dr. Meek espouses. She goes beyond the classical “Justified True Belief” model of knowing to contend for one which takes into account the activity of getting in touch with reality. I have witnessed its transformative effects on almost a generation of students who have taken her course Christian Understanding of Life at Geneva.”

Robert M. Frazier, Professor of Philosophy
Geneva College
Author of Responsible Belief

"I love Longing to Know!  You have been so helpful to me through it and your podcasts. After 25 years as a pastor, I am now a traveling/teaching missionary and have given LTK to many of my friends (along with the Little Manual). Thank you for teaching me the obvious about knowing which wasn't so obvious!”

Rick Searle, Pastor/Missionary