Faith.
A
term that suggests, in both its everyday and religious meanings, an
intense relationship, generally understood in interpersonal terms.
1.
Faith as Faithfulness. In most languages faith applied
originally to human relationships, namely to the "good faith" with
which one makes a promise and to the "faithfulness" with which the
promise is kept. In the
Hebrew Bible the primary terms for faith are based on the root 'mn
("Amen"* belongs to this root), which connotes trustworthiness,
faithfulness. God has
good faith and is faithful to God's promises.
Human faithfulness to God is a response to God's faithfulness. Paul's language about "the
faith of Jesus Christ" (Rom 3:22) may refer to such a faithfulness of
Jesus to God.
2.
Faith as Trust. Faith as trusting God the promiser (credere
Deo) involves submitting to God and
living according to God's promises (a possible meaning of "the
obedience of faith," Rom 1:5, 16:26).
In the Bible, faith often suggests a confident trust in God or
in Christ as worthy of trust.
3. Faith as Believing a Speaker's Words ("Believing That").
When focusing on what the
trustworthy speaker says, faith means "believing that certain
affirmations are true." Faith
is a trustful assent to divine truth or revelation expressed in the
words of the prophets, Jesus, the Bible, or other authoritative
voices. Faith is then
defined by its content.
Augustine
distinguished between the faith (“trust”) by which
we believe (fides qua creditur) and the faith which is
believed (fides quae creditur),
the content of faith, e.g., the second century "apostolic
proclamation," summarized in the Apostles'* Creed, further elaborated
and defined in subsequent doctrinal decisions.
4. Faith, Knowledge,
Understanding, and Reason. Paul
contrasted the "weak in faith" with those who have "knowledge" (1 Cor
8). The Gnostic Valentinians*
emphasized this contrast, differentiating
between two kinds of people. Clement*
and Origen* more cautiously affirmed that faith is
perfected through knowledge (gnosis), i.e., personal
appropriation and understanding of the content of faith. Augustine
often said (following the Old* Latin version of Isa 7:9), "Believe in
order to understand." Similarly
Anselm* defined theology as "fides quaerens
intellectum," "faith seeking understanding."
Then, faith is the way toward understanding.
Through theological understanding what is already believed
gains in consistency and clarity (e.g., Anselm's Cur Deus
homo). In contrast, theology has
often utilized the more pedestrian activity of reasoning to seek
coherence in what is believed and perhaps to confirm it through
argumentation; reasoned knowledge discerns the validity of beliefs.
5.
Faith as Movement toward God.
To speak of "believing in" God or Christ is a distinct
usage that began in the Septuagint* and was further developed in the
New Testament. "Believing in" (or
“faith” without qualifier, as in the Synoptics
and Paul) is more than "believing that," for "even the demons
believe and tremble" (Jas 2:19), and more than believing/trusting a
promiser; it is a personal adherence to, and movement toward, God (or
Christ). In Augustine and Catholic
theology faith as movement toward God is often linked with love;
faith is completed by love (Gal 5:6).
Faith, hope, and love are aspects of the same personal
orientation, all working together until love alone persists (I Cor
13:8-13). Faith as
movement toward God can be the beginning of spiritual union with God,
as suggested by Gregory* of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius,* and Maximus*
the Confessor. It is an
initiation into mysteries,* i.e., being enabled to perceive and
understand what is otherwise beyond human perception and
understanding. In similar
ways, in Apocalyptic* and Charismatic* perspectives, faith involves
discerning the mysteries of God’s interventions in one’s
present context.
6.
Faith as Gift. The Protestant doctrine of
justification* by faith alone led to an emphasis upon faith as trust
in the gospel of God's purpose of salvation through Christ, linking
the believer to Christ through the influence of the Holy Spirit;
faith is not a human achievement but God's gift, receiving God's
gift. Protestantism also
speaks of faith as "believing that," i.e., assent as well as trust,
based upon revelation. For
20th-century Roman Catholic theologians (including Rahner*)
the primary constituent of faith is an interior acceptance of God's
grace.
The
philosophers Hume* and Kant,* by limiting the range of reason, seemed
to offer a new role to faith. But
they also raised the question upon what faith could be based.
Schleiermacher* emphasized faith as a "feeling
of absolute dependence," while Ritschl*
emphasized "value judgments" of practical reason. In the 20th century Barth*
tended to follow Ritschl, emphasizing the
Word of God as direct address and faith as total response; Dewey*
emphasized the religious function of experience as a common, social
faith; Tillich* tended to follow Schleiermacher,
emphasizing "absolute concern" as shaped by specific cultural
questions and religious symbols.
Eugene TeSelle and Daniel
Patte