She teared up when she spoke about Miraba, her adopted daughter. I waited a few moments, then when it seemed Abby was ready, I invited questions from the students. “Remember, Abby grew up with a very different way of looking at the world than we have—a way much more aligned with the American Christians we were discussing in today’s lecture. Let’s use our time with her to explore these different ways of viewing the world.”

Abby answered several questions about her life in the jungle. Then Molly, an American, raised her hand. “What do you miss most about New Guinea?”

“My daughter, Miraba. I miss her most. My village—the people, I mean. They were family to me. I miss the jungle, its sounds and smells. It can’t be described, really. Only experienced.” She paused again. “I miss my sense of closeness with God. That was so precious to me. I haven’t found that here. I’m not sure anyone can.”

A stillness fell over the room. This was just what I had been hoping for—a living bridge not just to another culture but to an entirely different way of thinking about reality, one my students had only read about.

I spoke. “Perhaps Abby’s last comment is a good transition from questions about her life in the jungle to questions about her belief system. Remember, that’s what the information provided in lectures is for—to help you formulate good questions.”

Sven raised his hand. “How can you still believe in Christianity when it’s been proven to be false?”

A murmur passed through the room. I could see numerous heads nodding.

Abby shifted forward in her seat. “Why do you think it’s been proven false?”

“Everything from science over the last couple of centuries. Evolution. The big bang. The discovery of microbes on Mars. Are you aware of those things?”

Abby smiled. “Well, yes, I am. I can only say that I’ve never heard of any scientific discoveries that would threaten my faith. As for creation, my faith doesn’t rest on how long God took to make everything or how exactly he did it. I believe what God says in Genesis, but I don’t believe the first part of Genesis was written to be a scientific account. It was written to a prescientific culture. I do know about prescientific cultures. From my understanding, the big bang corresponds fine with the Genesis creation account. But the Genesis account makes sense to my tribe, the Inisi, in a way the big bang wouldn’t. If you gave them an explanation of the big bang, it would make no sense. They have no way to relate to it.”

That was a good answer. A very good answer, actually—one I had never considered before.

In the first row, Maya spoke. “Do you really believe that Jesus was God?”

“Yes.” Abby seemed completely confident in her answer.