The Nature of Faith

Christopher L. Holland
christopher.holland@slu.edu

Saint Louis University

March 4, 2025

Faith vs. Belief-that

From the OED

  • belief (noun)
    1. an affirmation that something is true
    2. (belief in) trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something
  • believe (verb)
    1. accept (something) as true
    2. hold (something) as an opinion

From the OED

  • faith (noun)
    1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something
    2. strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion
  • faith (v)
    • MISSING (faith is not an English verb)

Faith vs. Belief-that

Belief-that
a propositional attitude aimed at truth
corresponds to OED’s belief (n) definition 1
Faith (belief-in)
trust or confidence in someone or something
corresponds to OED’s belief (n) definition 2

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

   – Hebrews 11:1, NIV

There are those who scoff at the schoolboy, calling him frivolous and shallow. Yet it was the schoolboy who said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”

   – Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.

   – Paraphrase of Nietzsche, The Antichrist

Faith … is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods.

   – CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

Swinburne’s Analysis of Faith in the Christian Tradition

Thomistic View of Faith:
Two Kinds of Faith

  • Non-Meritorious
  • Meritorious

Thomistic View of Faith:
Non-Meritorious Faith

  • to have faith is to believe certain revealed propositions (the articles of faith)
  • this belief-that cannot amount to scientific knowledge (scientia)
  • Aquinas quotes Hugh of St Victor: “faith (fides) is a form of mental certitude about absent realities that is greater than opinion (opinio) and less than scientific knowledge (scientia)”
  • demons and scoundrels can have this kind of faith

Thomistic View of Faith:
Meritorious Faith

  • voluntary
  • formed by love

Lutheran View of Faith

Three parts

  1. Understanding (notitia): involves knowing the content of faith (i.e., what propositions are to be believed)
  2. Assent (assensus): intellectual assent or belief-that (i.e., actually believing those propositions)
  3. Trust (fiducia): trust / belief in

Lutheran View of Faith: Fiducia

  • to act on the assumption that person \(S\) will do for you what \(S\) knows that you want or need, even when the evidence gives some reason for supposing that \(S\) may not and where there will be bad consequences if the assumption is false.
  • Problem: Even a “perfect scoundrel” can act on the assumption that God will do for her what she wants or needs.
  • Solution: Add that faith includes agreement with the purposes of the person being trusted

Pragmatic View

  • Faith is a matter of acting-as-if some proposition/set of propositions/hypothesis were true
  • Similar to the Lutheran view: Understanding (notitia) and trust (fiducia) without assent (assensus)

Aspects of Faith (in the Christian Tradition)

The Cognitive Aspect of Faith

  • Faith is belief-entailing
  • For example:
    • The Thomistic and Lutheran views require belief in specific articles of faith.
    • The Pragmatist view requires a belief that one’s purposes in life are best fulfilled by acting-as-if those articles of faith are true.

The Evaluative-Affective Aspect of Faith

  • Consider James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (NRSV).
  • What if we translated the verse “You have faith that God is one; you do well. Even the demons have faith—and shudder.”
  • Faith requires a positive attitude toward the person or object of faith

The Practical Aspect of Faith

The Interpersonal Aspect of Faith

  • Faith between persons requires a personal relationship
  • Christian faith requires a personal relationship with God
  • Friendship with God

Explicit, Pragmatic, and Implicit Faith

focusing the Christian Tradition

Explicit Faith

  • Notitia: knowing or understanding the content of faith
  • Assensus: assent / belief that . . .
  • Fiducia: trust / belief in . . .

Pragmatic Faith

  • Understanding (notitia) and trust (fiducia) without assent (assensus)
  • Incorporates articles of faith into practical reasoning.

Example of Pragmatic faith in God: Living As-If

  • I do not know whether God exists, but I make decisions and live my life as if God does exists.
  • There is no better way of achieving my purposes in life than by accepting God’s authority.
  • Furthermore, I am for (favorably disposed to) the existence of God. If God exists, I consider God’s existence and claims on my life a good thing.

Implicit Faith

  • Trust (fiducia) without Understanding (notitia) or Assent (assensus)
  • “Anonymous Christian” is term used by Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner that refers a person with implicit faith
  • An unwitting, but positive response to divine communication.

Through the “exercise of implicit faith one becomes the kind of person who would exercise explicit Christian faith . . . if only one came to see that certain messages (most importantly, the message that reconciliation with God is possible by pleading Christ’s passion) do in fact come from God”

   – Kevin Kinghorn (2005, 178)

Relationship to Christian Views on the Afterlife

  • Exclusivism: Only those who have explicit (or possibly pragmatic) faith in Jesus during this life will enter heaven.
  • Inclusivism: Those with explicit, pragmatic, or implicit faith will enter heaven.

References

Eklund, Dan-Johan. 2016. “The Nature of Faith in Analytic Theistic Philosophy of Religion.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 80 (1): 85–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-015-9545-y.
Howard-Snyder, Daniel. 2016. “Does Faith Entail Belief?” Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers 33 (2): 142–62. https://doi.org/10.5840/faithphil201633059.
Kinghorn, Kevin. 2005. The Decision of Faith: Can Christian Beliefs Be Freely Chosen? New York: T&T Clark.
Moreland, J. P., and William Lane Craig. 2017. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. 2nd Edition. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic.
Oden, Thomas C. 1992. Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology. New York: HarperOne.
Peterson, Michael L., William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach, and David Basinger. 2012. Reason & Religious Belief: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Swinburne, Richard. 2005. Faith and Reason. 2nd ed. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press.