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In many languages, for example Greek and German, the same word is used for both belief (an intellectual assent to a statement of fact or a doctrine, or a reasonable assumption, such as ‘I believe that the Sun will shine tomorrow’) and faith (unconditional trust or confidence in someone or something, as in ‘I have faith in my doctor\'s ability to cure me). To add to the confusion, ‘faith’ in English can also refer to religion (as in ‘the Christian faith’ or ‘inter-faith dialogue’), although a Hindu would use the word dharma or duty, and others would see their religion as a way of life (or rather, the way of life), not merely the way one thinks. Therefore faith is something one does, not something one passively accepts. Yet at certain times in some religions one\'s salvation, as in a political party, has depended on holding correct beliefs, which one can adopt as a matter of will-power rather than in loving response to a power beyond oneself. In Hinduism there is both the gnana marga, the way of knowledge, which informs belief and is reserved to the few, and the bhakti marga, the way of loving devotion, which is akin to faith.
Within Christianity, there is a difference between the Roman Catholic position that ‘the faith’ is a deposit of doctrine handed down infallibly by the Church from generation to generation, which one accepts as a voluntary (though predestined) act of will, as it is credible if not fully comprehensible, and the Protestant position that faith arises in response to God\'s love revealed to the believer by divine grave, the work of the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, Paul\'s first letter to the Corinthians (chapter 13), gave priority to love or charity over faith and hope, though it is doubtful if the three can be separated from each other. EMJ
Further reading John Hick, Faith and Knowledge. |
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