Editing Faith and rationality

{{Short description|Two approaches that exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility}}
{{related|[[Rational fideism]]}}
'''Faith and rationality''' exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility. [[Rationality]] is based on [[reason]] or [[facts]]. [[Faith]] is belief in [[Divine inspiration|inspiration]], [[revelation]], or [[authority]]. The word ''faith'' sometimes refers to a belief that is held in spite of or against [[reason]] or [[empirical evidence]], or it can refer to belief based upon a degree of [[evidential]] [[warrant (philosophy)|warrant]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Faith and Reason {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |url=https://iep.utm.edu/faith-re/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Relationship between faith and reason==
Rationalists point out that many people hold irrational beliefs, for many reasons. There may be evolutionary causes for irrational beliefs—irrational beliefs may increase our ability to survive and reproduce.

One more reason for irrational beliefs can perhaps be explained by operant conditioning. For example, in one study by [[B. F. Skinner]] in 1948, [[pigeon]]s were awarded grain at regular time intervals regardless of their behaviour. The result was that each of the pigeons developed their own idiosyncratic response which had become associated with the consequence of receiving grain.<ref name="Skinner">{{cite journal|last=Skinner|first=B. F.|title='Superstition' in the pigeon.|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology|date=1 January 1948|volume=38|issue=2|pages=168–172|doi=10.1037/h0055873|pmid=18913665|s2cid=22577459 }}</ref>

Believers in the value of faith—for example those who believe salvation is possible through faith alone—frequently suggest that everyone holds beliefs arrived at by faith, not reason.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosental |first=Creighton J |date=2004-01-01 |title=The reconciliation of faith and reason in Thomas Aquinas |url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3136773 |journal=Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |pages=1–243}}</ref>

One form of belief held "by faith" may be seen existing in a faith as based on warrant. In this view some degree of evidence provides warrant for faith; it consists in other words in "explain[ing] great things by small."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hebrews 11 - Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Bible Commentaries |url=https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/pmc/hebrews-11.html |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=StudyLight.org |language=en}}</ref>

== Christianity ==
{{Further|Faith in Christianity|Credo ut intelligam|Fides quaerens intellectum}}

=== {{Anchor|Views of the Roman Catholic Church}}Catholic views ===
[[Thomas Aquinas]] was the first to write a full treatment of the relationship, differences, and similarities between faith, which he calls "an intellectual assent",<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm "Faith"] from the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''</ref> and reason.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12673b.htm "Reason"] from the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''</ref>

''[[Dei Filius]]'' was a [[dogmatic constitution]] of the [[First Vatican Council]] on the [[Roman Catholic]] faith. It was adopted unanimously on 24 April 1870. It states that "not only can faith and reason never be opposed to one another, but they are of mutual aid one to the other".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.v.ii.i.html#v.ii.i-p21.5|title=Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume II. The History of Creeds.|work=ccel.org}}</ref>

Recent [[pope]]s have spoken about faith and rationality: ''[[Fides et ratio]]'', an [[encyclical letter]] promulgated by [[Pope John Paul II]] on 14 September 1998, deals with the relationship between faith and reason. [[Pope Benedict XVI]]'s [[Regensburg lecture]], delivered on 12 September 2006, was on the subject of "faith, reason and the university".<ref>Benedict XVI, [https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg.html Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections], ''Holy See'' website, accessed 31 January 2024</ref>

=== Lutheran views ===
{{Empty section|date=November 2022}}

=== Reformed views ===
{{See also|Reformed epistemology}}
[[Alvin Plantinga]] upholds that faith may be the result of evidence testifying to the reliability of the source of truth claims, but although it may involve this, he sees 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 in Christianity|Holy Spirit]], endorsing the teachings of [[Bible|Scripture]], which is itself divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. The result of the work of the Holy Spirit is faith."<ref>{{cite book|last=Plantinga|first=Alvin|title=Warranted Christian Belief|url=https://archive.org/details/warrantedchristi0000plan|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=USA|isbn=0195131924|pages=[https://archive.org/details/warrantedchristi0000plan/page/250 250], 291}}</ref>

=== Evangelical views ===
American biblical scholar [[Archibald Thomas Robertson]] stated that the Greek word ''pistis'' used for faith in the New Testament (over two hundred forty times), and rendered "assurance" in Acts 17:31 (KJV), is "an old verb to furnish, used regularly by Demosthenes for bringing forward evidence."<ref>{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Archibald Thomas|title=WORD PICTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT|pages=Chapter 17|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/wp_acts.xviii.html}}</ref>  Likewise 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 [pistis] which means "to be persuaded."<ref>{{cite web|last=Price|first=Thomas|title=Faith is about 'just trusting' God isn't It?|date=9 November 2007|url=http://www.bethinking.org/bible-jesus/introductory/faith-is-about-just-trusting-god-isnt-it.htm|access-date=23 January 2014}}</ref>

In contrast to faith meaning  blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence, [[Alister McGrath]] quotes Oxford Anglican theologian W. H. Griffith-Thomas (1861–1924), who states faith is "not blind, but intelligent" and "commences with the conviction of the mind based on adequate evidence", which McGrath sees as "a good and reliable definition, synthesizing the core elements of the characteristic Christian understanding of faith."<ref>{{cite book|last=McGrath|first=Alister E.|title=The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1405125567|page=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WrRZBOxJzDcC}}</ref>

==Jewish views==
The 14th-century [[Jewish philosopher]] [[Levi ben Gerson]] tried to reconcile faith and reason. He wrote: "the [[Torah|Law]] cannot prevent us from considering to be true that which our reason urges us to believe."<ref>{{Citation |last=Rudavsky |first=Tamar |title=Gersonides |date=2020 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/entries/gersonides/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |edition=Winter 2020 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=2022-11-18}}</ref>

== Islamic view ==
{{Empty section|date=November 2022}}

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Christian apologetics]]
** [[Evidential apologetics]]
** [[Christian existential apologetics|Existential apologetics]]
** [[Presuppositional apologetics]]
* [[Dehellenization of Christianity]]
* [[Divine illumination]]
* [[Enlightenment in Buddhism]]
* [[Essence–energies distinction]]
* ''[[Faith and Philosophy]]''
* [[Fideism]]
* [[Methods of obtaining knowledge]]
* [[Natural theology]]
* [[Non-overlapping magisteria]]
* [[Panrationalism]]
* [[Philosophy of religion]]
* [[Relationship between religion and science]]
* [[Religious epistemology]]
* [[Religious experience]]
* [[Theistic rationalism]]
* [[Theory of everything (philosophy)|Theory of everything]]
* [[Theory of justification]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite web |last=Becker |first=Siegbert W. |date=1957 |title=Faith and Reason in Martin Luther |url=http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerFaith.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407083833/http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerFaith.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-07 |access-date=2014-04-06 |website=Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library online essay file}}
*{{cite journal |first=Bruce D. |last=Marshall |author-link=Bruce D. Marshall |year=1999 |title=Faith and Reason Reconsidered: Aquinas and Luther on Deciding What is True |url=http://www.thomist.org/journal/1999/991aMars.htm |url-status=dead |journal=The Thomist |volume=63 |pages=1–48 |doi=10.1353/tho.1999.0041 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030904123507/http://www.thomist.org/journal/1999/991aMars.htm |archive-date=2003-09-04 |access-date=2011-05-11 |s2cid=171157642|url-access=subscription }}

{{Epistemology}}
{{Philosophy of religion}}
{{Philosophy of science}}
{{Philosophy topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faith And Rationality}}
[[Category:Epistemology of religion]]
[[Category:Philosophy and atheism]]
[[Category:Religion and atheism]]
[[Category:Religion and science]]
[[Category:Religious belief and doctrine]]
[[Category:Philosophy of religion]]
[[Category:Faith]]