Durham E-Theses Wilfred Cantweil Smith's concept of faith: a critical study of his approach to Islam and Christianity Stevens, Philip Terence How to cite: Stevens, Philip Terence (1985) Wilfred Cantweil Smith's concept of faith: a critical study of his approach to Islam and Christianity, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6808/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Wilfred Cantwell Smith's Concept of F<1ith: A Critical Srudy of His Approach to Islam and Ch!ristiaruty Philip Terence Stevens, MA, 1985. ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to present and evaluate Wilfred Cantwell Smith's concept of faith, and to examine the way in which he uses it to approach and understand material from the traditions of Islam and Christianity. Chapter one consists a brief introduction and a biography of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. The second chapter analyses Smith's concept of faith, relating it to cumulative tradition, belief, truth and his vision of a world community. Chapter three examines Smith's treatment of various material from the Islamic tradition: the meaning of Islam, the shahadah, truth, the Qur'an, and some studies of faith. Chapter four examines material from the Christian tradition: faith in the New Testament, faith in the baptismal rites of St Cyril of Jerusalem, and religious pluralism. These items illustrate his concept of faith and the way in which it is used in his approach and understanding of Islam and Christianity. Chapter five provides an evaluation of Smith's concept of faith and of his approach to Islam and Christianity. It is argued that although the concept of faith helps the student of religion in general and Islam and Christianity in particular to keep his eyes open to the personal existential aspects of human religious life, Smith's approach has some serious deficiencies. In particular faith itself is difficult to study other than in a selective, subjective way. His approach undervalues the corporate, institutionalized aspects of religious life, and the symbolic function played by the externals of religion. Furthermore, his understanding of faith is ill-equipped to handle the conflicting truth-claims found amongst the various traditions. WILFRED CANTWELL SMITH'S 1.::0NCEPT OF FAITH: A CRITICAL STUDY OF HIS APPROACH TO ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY Philip Terence Stevens Master of Arts University of Durham Department of Theology 1985 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Ln ... 'U' :l L86·e··, Wilfred Cantwell Smith's Concept of l·'ai th: A Critical Study of his Approach to Islam and Christianity CONTENTS Acknowledgements 5 Notes on the Transliteration of Arabic words 6 Abbreviations 7 Chapter 1. Introduction 8 1.1. Scope and Limits of the Study 8 1.2. Biographical introduction to Wilfred Cantwell Smith 10 Chapter 2. The Concept of Faith 12 2.1. Faith and Cumulative Tradition 13 2.2. Faith and Belief 37 2.3. Faith and Truth 4-6 2.4-. Faith and World Community 59 Chapter 3. Studies in Islam and the Concept of Faith 65 3.1. The Meaning of Islam 66 3.2. The Shahadah 88 3.3. Truth - a Study of Three Arabic Roots 94- 3.4-. Is the Qur'an the Word of God? 100 3.5. Studies in Faith: fman, Ta~diq and Ark'an 105 Chapter 4-. Studies in Christianity and the Concept of Faith 114- 4-.1. Faith and the New Testament 115 4-.2. Baptism and Creed 127 4-.3. The Challenge of Religious Pluralism to Christian Faith 134- Chapter 5. Conclusion 14-5 Notes 167 Bibliography 200 Section 1. Works of Wilfred Cantwell Smith 200 Section 2. Other Works Consulted 204- 3 The material contained in this thesis has not previously been sL- ..~mitted by me for a degree in this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to record my sincere thanks to all those who have assisted and encouraged me in the preparation of this thesis. In particular to Prof. S. W. Sykes who got me started and supervised me during the first few months of study; Dr R. W. J. Austin who helped me with Arabic; the Revs. Colin Chapman, Don Cupitt, Christopher Lamb, Prof. Ismacil al FaruqT, and others who corresponded with me; Mr Richard Harrison who telephoned me every week for a progress report, and whose pertinacity has eventually been rewarded; and especially to Prof. Edward Hulmes who supervised me during the bulk of the work, and whose capacity to be enthusiastic and encouraging has known no limits. 5 Notes on the transliteration of arabic words. The following system of transliteration has been used where necessary: d J:' b ..... t 1 t ..... z 1 ..._. c th t r. gh t h C f u kh C q J (!) d J k dh J J r J m r z J n 0 .A s '-"'. h sh U"" w J s ~ y LS The dipthongs and vowels are written: a for fathah i for kasrah u for c;lammah a for alif u for waw T for ya ay for 0 aw for J 6 ABBREVIATIONS The following abbreviations are used to refer to works of Wilfred Cantwell Smith: B&H Belief and History, Charlottesville, University Press of Virginia, 1 977. F&B Faith and Belief, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1979. FOM The Faith of Other Men, New York, New American Library, 1963. QR T Questions of Religious Truth, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1967. MER The Meaning and End of Religion: A New Approach to the Religious Traditions of Mankind, New York, Macmillan, 1963. OUI On Understanding Islam, The Hague, Mouton, 1981. TWT Towards a World Theology, London, Macmillan, 1981. 7 Chapter One Introduction Section 1.1. Scope and Limits of the Study The aim of this study is to expound and illustrate Wilfred Cantwell Smith's concept of faith, and to assess its value as a conceptual tool for understanding religious life and approaching Islam and Christianity. Since Smith nowhere defines his concept of faith systematically, it is analysed in Chapter two in the light of some of his other major concerns. Chapters three and four serve to illustrate and test his concept of faith by looking at the way in which it is applied to specific material from the Islamic and Christian traditions. This procedure has been adopted in order to demonstrate Smith's own use of the concept, to assess critically its value as a conceptual tool, and to examine Smith's approach in the light of the Islamic and Christian material under discussion. The concluding chapter evaluates .the concept of faith, with reference to the responses of various scholars. The traditional names of the 'religions' Islam and Christianity have been deliberately retained in the title, notwithstanding Smith's own 1 rejection of such usage. Even Smith himself would not pretend that what 2 has customarily been termed Christianity and Islam do not exist. Rather he claims to offer a more appropriate conceptualization by which to understand the whole range of human life conveyed by these terms. Hence it is appropriate to retain these customary names in the title rather than to 3 presume upon the results of the study. The primary sources for this study are the written works of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. A complete list of Smith's works consulted in English is 4 provided in the Bibliography, Section 1. Secondary sources include the 8 growing body of articles and books which study or build upon Smith's concept of faith and approach to religious life. These and other works used 5 for this study are listed in the Bibliography, Section 2. This study is inevitably constrained by a number of limitations. The first is the wide spread of Smith's intellectual interests. Even limiting the discussion to his treatment of Islamic and Christian traditions it is necessary to be very highly selective, since he covers a vast range of topics in considerable detail. 6 Secondly, a full evaluation of his early historical works has been omitted despite the continuing significance of these works for Islamic Studies. Although these works illustrate in many places Smith's approach to Islam they were written before his conceptual framework was formulated. Following from the decision to omit a full discussion of these earlier works, a full analysis of Smith's historical method has also been omitted. Smith frequently insists that he is primarily a historian, bringing an historical and global perspective to the attention of theologians. A full treatment of his historical assumptions or method would require a theological critique of history, which is beyond the scope of this study_? 9 8 Section 1.2.