The word "faith" is usually associated with religion and the Bible, which suggests a theological or religious issue. This is actually an epistemiological problem, and a problem for every thinking individual, not only the theologian.
If we use the word "reason" to denote the mind's logical, rational, discursive activity, then many would insist that there is more to knowledge than what it contributed by reason alone. The religious person may distinguish what is known through natural reason from the knowledge attained through sacred writings. I suggest that the problem of faith and reason represents the distinction between the rational and nonrational, weighing, and relating their respective contributions. (It should be apparent that I am considering faith only as a cognitive activity, and not with any richer understanding)
"Faith" is not necessarily a religious word, as the Greek word πίστις in its ancient origin, certainly suggests nothing religious. However, for those in the Western tradition of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, "faith" is in fact heavily weighted with religious overtones. The New Testament emphasizes "believing" and, in general, the doctrine of justification by faith, as the believer insists on the centrality of revelation and religious experience. These expressions have been sifted out from the conflicts between science and the Bible. I suggest that the religious problem, then, is only one version of the larger philosophical issue, the ontological question, if you may. Is this the most obvious and important version?
Paris Gyparakis
New York City, April 2015
