Religious life moves along two complementary vectors: upward and inward. We speak about finding God through self-examination (“I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” Psalm 139:14) and also in the heavens (“The heavens declare the glory of God,” Psalm 19:1). Whether the metaphor is one of depth or height, the orientation begins with us.

Carl Jung, a psychiatrist and writer on the archetypal personality, noticed that ancient mandalas had a god at the center; modern mandalas, to the contrary, center on a human being. Belief in what is above us has increasingly moved to what is within us. Even when not awash in the hubristic, New-Age silliness that calls us gods, we are still accustomed to thinking of God as a service...