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In religion, faith is "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often think of faith as confidence based on a perceived degree of warrant, or evidence, while others who are more skeptical of religion tend to think of faith as simply belief without evidence.
According to Thomas Aquinas, faith is "an act of the intellect assenting to the truth at the command of the will". Religion has a long tradition, since the ancient world, of analyzing divine questions using common human experiences such as sensation, reason, science, and history that do not rely on revelation—called Natural theology.
Furthermore, the Proto-Indo-European root *were-o- adds another layer to the word's etymology, emphasizing the notions of truth and trustworthiness. This root is evident in English words like veracity, verity, and verify, as well as in Latin with verus, meaning "true".
The term faith in English emerged in the mid-13th century, evolving from Anglo-French and Old French forms like feid and feit, ultimately tracing back to the Latin fidēs. This Latin term, rooted in the PIE root *bheidh-, encompassed meanings such as trust, confidence, and belief.
More generally, "faith" is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, including "something that is believed especially with strong conviction", "complete trust", "belief and trust in and loyalty to God", as well as "a firm belief in something for which there is no proof".
In the Roman world, 'faith' (Latin: fides) was understood without particular association with gods or beliefs. Instead, it was understood as a paradoxical set of reciprocal ideas: voluntary will and voluntary restraint in the sense of father over family or host over guest, whereby one party willfully surrenders to a party who could harm but chooses not to, thereby entrusting or confiding in them. (2025). 9780823271207, Fordham University Press. ISBN 9780823271207
According to Teresa Morgan, faith was understood by early Christians within the cultural milieu of the period as a relationship that created a community based on trust, instead of a set of mental beliefs or feelings of the heart.
Numerous commentators discuss the results of faith. Some believe that true faith results in good works, while others believe that while faith in Jesus brings eternal life, it does not necessarily result in good works.
Regardless of the approach taken to faith, all Christians agree that the Christian faith (in the sense of Christian practice) is aligned with the ideals and the example of the life of Jesus. The Christian contemplates the mystery of God and his Divine grace and seeks to know and become obedient to God. To a Christian, the faith is not static, but causes one to learn more of God and to grow in faith; Christian faith has its origin in God.
In Christianity, faith causes change as it seeks a greater understanding of God. Faith is not fideism or simple obedience to a set of rules or statements. Before Christians have faith, but they must also understand in whom and in what they have faith. Without understanding, there cannot be true faith, and that understanding is built on the foundation of the community of believers, the scriptures and traditions, and on the personal experiences of the belief.
The classification of different degrees of faith allows that faith and its expression may wax and wane in fervor, during the lifetime of a faithful individual and/or over the various historical centuries of a society with an embedded religious system. Thus, one can speak of an "Age of Faith" or of the "decay" of a society's religiosity into corruption, secularism, or atheism, —interpretable as the ultimate loss of faith.
American biblical scholar Archibald Thomas Robertson (1863–1934) stated that the Greek word used for "faith" in the New Testament (over two hundred forty times), and rendered "assurance" in , is "an old verb meaning 'to furnish', used regularly by Demosthenes for bringing forward evidence." Tom Price (Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics) affirms that when the New Testament talks about faith positively it only uses words derived from the Greek root which means "to be persuaded".
British Christian apologist John Lennox argues that "faith conceived as a belief that lacks warrant is very different from faith conceived as a belief that has warrant". He states, "the use of the adjective 'blind' to describe 'faith' indicates that faith is not necessarily, or always, or indeed normally, blind". "The validity, or warrant, of faith or belief depends on the strength of the evidence on which the belief is based." "We all know how to distinguish between blind faith and evidence-based faith. We are well aware that faith is only justified if there is evidence to back it up." "Evidence-based faith is the normal concept on which we base our everyday lives."
Peter S. Williams holds that "the classic Christian tradition has always valued rationality and does not hold that faith involves the complete abandonment of reason while believing in the teeth of evidence". Quoting Moreland, faith is defined as "a trust in and commitment to what we have reason to believe is true".
Regarding doubting Thomas in , Williams points out that "Thomas wasn't asked to believe without evidence. He was asked to believe based on the other disciples' testimony. Thomas initially lacked the first-hand experience of the evidence that had convinced them... Moreover, the reason John gives for recounting these events is that what he saw is evidence... Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples... But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name. ."
Concerning doubting Thomas, Michael R. Allen wrote: "Thomas's definition of faith implies adherence to conceptual propositions for the sake of personal knowledge, knowledge of and about a person qua person". (2025). 9780567033994, T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology. ISBN 9780567033994
Kenneth Boa and Robert M. Bowman Jr. describe a classic understanding of faith that is referred to as evidentialism, and which is part of a larger Epistemology tradition called classical foundationalism, which is accompanied by deontologism, which holds that humans must regulate their beliefs following evidentialist structures. They show how this can go too far, (2006). 9780830856480, IVP Books. ISBN 9780830856480 and Alvin Plantinga While Plantinga upholds that faith may be the result of evidence testifying to the reliability of the source (of the truth claims), yet he sees having faith as being the result of hearing the truth of the gospel with the internal persuasion by the Holy Spirit moving and enabling him to believe. "Christian belief is produced in the believer by the internal instigation of the Holy Spirit, endorsing the teachings of Scripture, which is itself divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. The result of the work of the Holy Spirit is faith."
In the theology of Pope John Paul II, faith is understood in personal terms as a trusting commitment of person to person and thus involves Christian commitment to the divine person of Jesus Christ. (2025). 9780824521219, Crossroad Publishing Company. ISBN 9780824521219
Some alternative, yet impactful, ideas regarding the nature of faith were presented by church founder Joseph SmithSmith was not the sole author: in a collection of sermons, which are now published as the Lectures on Faith.
In early Buddhism, faith was focused on the Three Jewels or Refuges—namely, Gautama Buddha, his teaching (the Dhamma), and the community of spiritually developed followers, or the Monasticism seeking enlightenment (the Sangha). Although offerings to the monastic community were valued highest, early Buddhism did not morally condemn peaceful offerings to deities. A faithful devotee was called upāsaka or upāsika, for which no formal declaration was required. In early Buddhism, personal verification was valued highest in attaining the truth, and sacred scriptures, reason, or faith in a teacher were considered less valuable sources of authority. As important as faith was, it was a mere initial step to the path to wisdom and enlightenment, and was obsolete or redefined at the final stage of that path.
While faith in Buddhism does not imply "blind faith", Buddhist practice nevertheless requires a degree of trust, primarily in the spiritual attainment of Gautama Buddha. Faith in Buddhism can still be described as faith in the Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha). It is intended to lead to the goal of enlightenment, or bodhi, and Nirvana. Volitionally, faith implies a resolute and courageous act of will. It combines the steadfast resolution that one will do a thing with the self-confidence that one can do it.
Faith was given a much more important role in the later stratum of Buddhist history, especially Mahāyāna Buddhism. The concept of the Buddha Nature was developed, as devotion to Buddhas and bodhisattvas residing in became commonplace. With the arising of the cult of the Lotus Sūtra, faith gained a central role in Buddhist practice, which was further amplified with the development of devotion to the Amitabha Buddha in Pure Land Buddhism. In the Japanese form of Pure Land Buddhism, under the teachers Hōnen and Shinran, only shinjin toward the Amitabha Buddha was believed to be a fruitful form of practice, as the practice of celibacy, morality, and other Buddhist disciplines were dismissed as no longer effective in this day and age, or as contradicting the virtue of faith. Faith was defined as a state similar to enlightenment, with a sense of self-negation and humility.
Thus, the role of faith increased throughout Buddhist history. However, from the nineteenth century onward, Buddhist modernism in countries like Sri Lanka, Japan, and the West has downplayed and criticized the role of faith in Buddhism. Faith in Buddhism still has a role in modern Asia and the West, but is understood and defined differently than in traditional interpretations. Within the Dalit Buddhist Movement communities, taking refuge is defined not only as a religious, but also a political choice.
Ahimsa, also referred to as nonviolence, is a fundamental tenet of Hinduism that advocates harmonious and peaceful co-existence and evolutionary growth in grace and wisdom for all humankind unconditionally.
In Hinduism, most Vedic prayers begin with the chants of Om. Om is the Sanskrit symbol that amazingly resonates the peacefulness ensconced within one's higher self. Om is considered to have a profound effect on the body and mind of the one who chants and also creates a calmness, serenity, healing, strength of its own to prevail within and also in the surrounding environment.
Muhammad referred to the six axioms of faith in the Hadith of Gabriel: " is that you believe in God and His Angels and His Books and His Messengers and the Hereafter and the good and evil fate ordained."Muslim, Al-Jami' al-sahih, 22, (no. 93). The first five are mentioned together in the Qur'an. The Quran states that faith can grow with remembrance of God. The Qur'an also states that nothing in this world should be dearer to a true believer than faith.
In the Jewish scriptures, trust in God ( emunah) refers to how God acts toward his people and how they are to respond to him; it is rooted in the everlasting Mosaic covenant established in the Torah, notably in Deuteronomy 7:9.
The specific tenets that compose required belief and their application to the times have been disputed throughout Jewish history. Today, many, but not all, have accepted Maimonides's Thirteen Principles of Belief.
A traditional example of as seen in the Jewish annals is found in the person of Abraham. On several occasions, Abraham both accepts statements from God that seem impossible and offers obedient actions in response to direction from God to do things that seem implausible.
The Talmud describes how a thief also believes in G‑d: On the brink of his forced entry, as he is about to risk his life—and the life of his victim—he cries out with all sincerity, "G‑d help me!" The thief has faith that there is a G‑d who hears his cries, yet it escapes him that this G‑d may be able to provide for him without requiring that he abrogate G‑d's will by stealing from others. For to affect him in this way he needs study and contemplation.
Faith is often regarded as a form of belief that may not necessarily rely on empirical evidence. However, when religious faith does make empirical claims, these claims need to undergo scientific testing to determine their validity. On the other hand, some beliefs may not make empirical claims and instead focus on non-empirical issues such as ethics, morality, and spiritual practices. In these cases, it may be necessary to evaluate the validity of these beliefs based on their internal coherence and logical consistency, rather than empirical testing.
There is a wide spectrum of opinion concerning the epistemological validity of faith — that is, whether it is a reliable way to acquire true beliefs.
Critics of fideism suggest that it is not a justified or rational position from an epistemological standpoint. Fideism holds that religious beliefs cannot be justified or evaluated based on evidence or reason and that faith alone is a sufficient basis for belief. This position has been criticized because it leads to dogmatism, irrationality, and a rejection of the importance of reason and evidence in understanding the world.
William Alston argues that while faith is an important aspect of religious belief, it must be grounded in reason and evidence to be justified.
Foundationalism is a view about the structure of justification or knowledge. Foundationalism holds that all knowledge and justified belief are ultimately based upon what are called Basic belief. This position is intended to resolve the Regress argument problem in epistemology. According to foundationalism, a belief is epistemically justified only if it is justified by properly basic beliefs. One of the significant developments in foundationalism is the rise of reformed epistemology.
Reformed epistemology is a view about the epistemology of religious belief, which holds that belief in God can be properly basic. Analytic philosophers Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff develop this view. (1983). 9780268009649, University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 9780268009649 Plantinga holds that a person may rationally believe in God even though the person does not possess sufficient evidence to convince an agnostic. One difference between reformed epistemology and fideism is that the former requires defense against known objections, whereas the latter might dismiss such objections as irrelevant. Plantinga developed reformed epistemology in Warranted Christian Belief as a form of externalism that holds that the justification-conferring factors for a belief may include external factors.
Some Theism philosophers have defended theism by granting evidentialism but supporting theism through deductive arguments whose premises are considered justifiable. Some of these arguments are probabilistic, either in the sense of having weight but being inconclusive or in the sense of having a probability assigned to them. Notable in this regard are the cumulative arguments presented by United Kingdom philosopher Basil Mitchell and analytic philosopher Richard Swinburne, whose arguments are based on Bayesian probability. In a notable exposition of his arguments, Swinburne appeals to an inference for the best explanation.
Professor of Mathematics and philosopher of science at University of Oxford John Lennox justifies his religious belief in Jesus's resurrection and miracles by believing God's capability of breaking the commonly recognized law of nature. John Lennox has stated, "Faith is not a leap in the dark; it's the exact opposite. It's a commitment based on evidence… It is irrational to reduce all faith to blind faith and then subject it to ridicule. That provides a very anti-intellectual and convenient way of avoiding intelligent discussion." He criticises Richard Dawkins as a famous proponent of asserting that faith equates to holding a belief without evidence, thus that it is possible to hold belief without evidence, for failing to provide evidence for this assertion.
Critics of reformed epistemology argue that it fails to provide a compelling justification for belief in God and that it is unable to account for the diversity of religious belief and experience. They also argue that it can lead to a kind of epistemic relativism, in which all religious beliefs are considered equally valid and justified, regardless of their content or coherence. Despite these criticisms, reformed epistemology has been influential in the contemporary philosophy of religion and continues to be an active area of debate and discussion.
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins criticizes all faith by generalizing from specific faith in propositions that conflict directly with scientific evidence. He describes faith as belief without evidence; a process of active non-thinking. He states that it is a practice that only degrades our understanding of the natural world by allowing anyone to make a claim about nature that is based solely on their personal thoughts, and possibly distorted perceptions, that does not require testing against nature, cannot make reliable and consistent predictions, and is not subject to peer review.
Philosophy professor Peter Boghossian argues that reason and evidence are the only way to determine which "claims about the world are likely true". Different religious traditions make different religious claims, and Boghossian asserts that faith alone cannot resolve conflicts between these without evidence. He gives an example of the belief held by Muslims that Muhammad (who died in the year 632) was the last prophet, and the contradictory belief held by Mormons that Joseph Smith (born in 1805) was a prophet. Boghossian asserts that faith has no "built-in corrective mechanism". For factual claims, he gives the example of the belief that the Earth is 4,000 years old. With only faith and no reason or evidence, he argues, there is no way to correct this claim if it is inaccurate. Boghossian advocates thinking of faith either as "belief without evidence" or "pretending to know things you don't know".
Friedrich Nietzsche expressed his criticism of the Christian idea of faith in passage 51 of The Antichrist:
The fact that faith, under certain circumstances, may work for blessedness, but that this blessedness produced by an idée fixe by no means makes the idea itself true, and the fact that faith actually moves no mountains, but instead raises them up where there were none before: all this is made sufficiently clear by a walk through a lunatic asylum. Not, of course, to a priest: for his instincts prompt him to the lie that sickness is not sickness and lunatic asylums not lunatic asylums. Christianity finds sickness necessary, just as the Greek spirit had need of a superabundance of health—the actual ulterior purpose of the whole system of salvation of the church is to make people ill. And the church itself—doesn't it set up a Catholic lunatic asylum as the ultimate ideal?—The whole earth as a madhouse?—The sort of religious man that the church wants is a typical décadent; the moment at which a religious crisis dominates a people is always marked by epidemics of nervous disorder; the "inner world" of the religious man is so much like the "inner world" of the overstrung and exhausted that it is difficult to distinguish between them; the "highest" states of mind, held up before mankind by Christianity as of supreme worth, are actually epileptoid in form—the church has granted the name of holy only to lunatics or to gigantic frauds in majorem dei honorem....
Gustave Le Bon emphasizes the irrational nature of faith and suggests that it is often based on emotions rather than reason. He argues that faith can be used to manipulate and control people, particularly in the context of religious or political movements. In this sense, Le Bon views faith as a tool that can be wielded by those in power to shape the beliefs and behaviors of the masses.
Faith as in 'strong unshakable faith' is considered a virtue by many religious believers. This has been criticized since beliefs, including religious beliefs, should not be "exempt from critical evaluation" even if questioning or reconsidering these is difficult.
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