Philosophy of Religion Research

Explanation of the Epistemological and Non-Epistemological Components of Faith in Christian Thought

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate of Philosophy of Religion, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Professor, Department of Philosophy of Religion, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.30497/prr.2024.244646.1843

Abstract

Faith is one of the basic concepts in the philosophy of religion, which forms the foundation of many new issues in contemporary religious epistemology. Untangling issues such as the relationship between faith and rationality is based on understanding faith and explaining its essential elements. Faith, both in religious and philosophical works, covers a range of different meanings from knowledge, belief, acceptance, feeling to trust and act, hence it has an ambiguous and challenging nature. This ambiguity in the quiddity of faith has also spread to secondary philosophical issues, so that some questions about the rationality of faith remain unsolved. It shows the necessity of reviewing the nature of faith and refining philosophical and religious theories. The present article with a critical-analytical approach aims to explain faith based on epistemological and non-epistemological components to show that faith has a multiple nature, and ignoring each of them leads to an incomplete and insufficient understanding of the meaning of faith. According to the results of the present research, faith is a reality made of knowledge and belief, arising from acknowledge and trust, medley of feeling and action, but has an independent nature and cannot be reduced to any of the mentioned components alone. Reductionism in the nature of faith causes the challenge of faith and rationality. In determining the main core of faith, if the epistemological components are the foundation of other components in such a way that the non-epistemological components are based on it, the right relation between faith and rationality is established.

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Main Subjects

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Philosophy of Religion Research
Volume 22, Issue 1 - Serial Number 43
May 2024
Pages 129-152