Notes on the psychology of faith

Abstract

To say that the problem of religious faith is one of the major problems of our times is perhaps an understatement. But then it has been a major problem at all stages of man's religious history. Abraham was the archetype of faith in the old dispensation, and for Paul, standing at the threshold of the new, it becomes a major theme of his preaching. And at the birth of the Reformation, the di visive rending of Christendom took shape around the issue of faith. The pre occupation throughout this long history has been primarily ontological?with in the limitations of multiple variations and varieties of approach. The questions to be asked in an ontological perspective are questions about the nature of faith, about the metaphysical definition of faith, about the relation of faith and grace, etc. Another traditional focus for the concerns about faith is the epistemological. What is the proper object of faith? How is assent possible without evidence? How do we achieve certitude, or what kind of certitude do we achieve, in the act of faith? I mention these traditional concerns for two reasons. First, to make it clear that the intention in this present study is quite different from the concerns that dominated the traditional approaches. Our approach here, and our con cerns, are specifically psychological. We are focusing explicitly on the motiva tion, genetic, topological, structural, and dynamic aspects of faith. We seek to explore its relations to the vital strata of the mind and examine its functions within the psychic economy. Thus, the approach we are following has a quite different formality from the theological, ontological, and epistemological