Some Definitions of Faith

Some Definitions of Faith Which of these first seven definitions do you most agree with? Most disagree with? Why? How do you see some of all these definitions taking place in the world in various ways?

1. “Faith is a knowledge in the heart, a voicing with the tongue, and an activity with the limbs.” -A hadith (saying) of the Prophet Muhammad

2. “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” -The Bible, Hebrews 11:1

3. “Divine supernatural faith” is “the act of the intellect assenting to a Divine truth owing to the movement of the will, which is itself moved by the grace of God.” -The Catholic Encyclopedia per St. Thomas Aquinas

4. “Faith is something you believe that nobody in his right mind would believe.” -Archie Bunker (All in the Family, 1970s)

5. “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” -William Kingdon Clifford, mathematician and philosopher (1877)

6. “The majority of Americans…embrace some form of blind faith. But because that faith by its very nature requires a leap into irrationality, it is almost impossible to defend in rational terms.” -Stephen Holden (Film review of “Religulous,” New York Times, October1, 2008)

7. “What is obvious and demonstrable doesn’t require faith… We need faith precisely at those twilight moments when our lives and the world are full of uncertainty, during the cold night of God’s silence. And its function is not to allay our thirst for certainty and safety, but to teach us to live with mystery. Faith and hope are expressions of our patience at just such moments—and so is love.” -Tomáš Halík, Roman Catholic priest and writer

“ Faith” in the OED I. The fulfillment of a trust or promise

II. Inducement to belief or trust. Attestation, confirmation, assurance

5. Belief in and acceptance of the doctrines of a religion, typically involving belief in a god or gods and in the authenticity of divine revelation. Also: the capacity to spiritually apprehend divine truths, or realities beyond the limits of perception or of logical proof, viewed either as a faculty of the human soul, or as the result of divine illumination.

6 a. A system of religious belief

6 d. A system of (non-religious) belief; a set of firmly held principles, ideals, or beliefs

7 a. Firm trust or belief in or reliance upon something (e.g. the truth of a statement or doctrine; the ability, goodness, etc., of a person, the efficacy or worth of a thing); confidence

7 b. Belief based on evidence, testimony, or authority.