““It is so much easier to move from the gospel to religion than the other way round. One of Martin Luther’s fundamental insights is that religion is the default mode of the human heart. Even irreligious people earn their acceptability and sense of worth by living up to their set of values.2 And the effects of “works-religion” persist so stubbornly in the heart that Christians who believe the gospel at one level will continually revert to religion, operating at deeper levels as if they are saved by their works.””
![“24 A few pages later, Delbanco writes the following: [Alexis de] Tocqueville’s detection of a “strange melancholy in the midst of abundance” has a special salience today — because while we have gotten very good at deconstructing old stories (the religion that was the subject of my first chapter…” quote by Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/85a/timothy-keller-240_sad_24-a-few-pages-later-delbanco-writes-the_25320.jpg)
