Robertson Davies: Canadian Man of Letters

"One aspect of Davies's distinctive identity--and a recurring theme in the interviews--is his belief in the importance of mystery. Davies is not a religious person, it seems, in the sense that he adheres to the practices of a particular church, but he is religious in the sense that he has faith that much of what is around us is unseen. He subscribes to the humble view that a person who does not believe in God is putting an inordinately high value upon himself and Davies would never presume to feel he has come to understand what God is. He will not reject the possibility that the Devil operates in the world, and he does not particularly fret that there is no hard evidence for the soul. This is strictly a matter of faith with him, for, after all, the unknowable is that which cannot be known."

--J. Madison Davis, Introduction to Conversations With Robertson Davies.