“My late father fought in the Second World War as an enlisted man.  He told me that he discovered what he was up to only after he returned home and read a few books.  In the midst of battle, ignorance and confusion governed.  Knowledge consisted of concrete imperatives: go left, retreat, hold your fire, cross the bridge, walk the road, take the town.  How his deeds furthered some master plan he knew not: there was for him no big picture.  My father could not see the forest because he was a tree.  He just followed orders and tried to stay alive.  Those of us who are religious are like my father.  We know that we are in a war but not how it goes or how it will eventuate; and few of us are generals.  Our lot is rather to be good soldiers – to live according to the imperatives upon us and to save our souls.” – Dale Allison, The Luminous Dusk