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Int J Philos Relig (2015) 77:141158
DOI 10.1007/s11153-014-9481-2
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Received: 21 January 2014 / Accepted: 2 September 2014 / Published online: 7 September 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Abstract This paper begins with the oft-repeated claim that having (religious) faith involves trust in God. Taking this platitude seriously requires at least two philosophical tasks. First, one must address the relevant notion of trust guiding the platitude. I offer a sketch of epistemic trust: arguing that epistemic trust involves several components: acceptance, communication, dependence, and condence. The rst duo concerns the epistemic element of epistemic trust and the second part delimit the ducial aspect to epistemic trust. Second, one must also examine what differentiates faith qua trust. I argue that we should not distinguish faith from trust merely by believing religious propositions but by the attitudes they express. In particular, the attitude of faith is more deeply entrenched and central to ones noetic structure than trust simpliciter. The paper ends by arguing that the account proposed insofar as it accommodates and explains certain faith desiderata. We can thus give content to the faith is a kind of trust platitude with a model of trust on hand while showing how that model conrms and explains important features of faith.
Keywords Faith Trust Dependence Condence
It has become a platitudeor very nearly soto claim that having faith in God essentially involves trust in God. Of course, as with most philosophical theses, there are dissidents arguing for accounts of faith not based in trust.1 But, most philosophers I think would be inclined to accept this platitude and it forms the motivation for
1 See, e.g., Tennant (1989), Pojman (1986), Muyskens (1979), Sessions (1994) hope model of faith, and Hick (1989).
B. W. McCraw (B)
Department of History, Political Science, Philosophy, and American Studies, University of South Carolina Upstate, 800 University Way, Spartanburg, SC 29303, USAe-mail: [email protected]
Faith and Trust
Benjamin W. McCraw
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142 Int J Philos Relig (2015) 77:141158
the current paper. For, if this platitude is indeed correct about the proper analysis of having faith in X, then it would require at least two key philosophical tasks. First, we must give some coherent understanding to the kind of trust we nd operating in the concept of...