A logic of faith

Abstract

Traditional faith theory has much to contribute to current discussions of religious belief in philosophical theology. The following reflections are based on Thomas Aquinas' "Tract on Faith" studied with the help of recent epistemic logic, the logic of knowing and believing.1 I follow Aquinas in focusing on assent to tenets, and assume that to be, in some sense, one of many aspects of religious faith (I will use "faith" and "having faith that ...," to mean holding for propositions on faith).2 Religious beliefs are those a person accepts as homo religiosus, as might be, for example, "God exists" or "God became flesh."