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Fideism is the view that religious belief relies primarily on faith or special revelation, rather than rational inference or observation (see natural theology). God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation Henotheism ( Greek heis theos "one god" is a term coined by Max Müller, to mean devotion to a Single god while accepting For the Celtic Frost album see Monotheist (album In Theology, monotheism (from Greek grc [[wiktμόνος μόνος]] Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system Pantheism ( Greek: πάν ( 'pan') = all and θεός ( 'theos') = God it literally means " God is All Monolatrism or monolatry ( Greek: μόνος ( monos) = single and λατρεία ( latreia) = Worship) is the recognition of the existence See also God Conceptions of God can vary widely despite the use of the same term for them all The English word god continues the Old English ang god ( got-Latn guþ gudis in Gothic, gem gud in modern Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers theologians and others The gender of God can be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity A creator deity is a Deity in a Creation myth responsible for the creation of the World (or Universe) The Great Architect of the Universe (also Grand Architect of the Universe or Supreme Architect of the Universe) is a conception of God discussed by many Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos God the Sustainer is a theological term referring to the concept of a God who sustains and upholds everything in existence God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. In many religions the supreme Deity ( God) is given the title and attributions of Father. Monad (from Greek μονάς monas, "unit" monos, "alone" which according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for God Oneness is a spiritual term referring to the 'experience' of the absence of egoic identity boundaries and according to some traditions the perception of an absolute The term Supreme Being is often defined simply as " God " and it is used with this meaning by theologians of many religious faiths including but not limited to The All (also called The One The Absolute, The Great One The Creator The Supreme Mind The Supreme Good The The expression Personal God, refers to the belief that God is - and can be related to as - a Person. Unitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity (three persons in one God Dualism denotes a state of two parts The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two". SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных Omniscience (ɒm'nɪsɪəns (or Omniscient Point-of-View in writing is the capacity to know everything infinitely or at least everything that can be known about a character Omnipotence ( Omni Potens: "all Power " is unlimited power Omnipresence is the ability to be present in every place at any and/or every time unbounded or universal presence Omnibenevolence is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "unlimited or infinite Benevolence " Bahá'ís believe in a single, imperishable God, the creator of all things including all the creatures and forces in the universe Since the time of the Buddha the refutation of the existence of a creator has been seen as a key point in distinguishing Buddhist from non-Buddhist views The term "Godhead" The term Godhead is a term denoting deity or divinity In Hinduism the concept of God is complex and depends on a particular tradition In Islam, God is believed to be the only real supreme being all-powerful and all knowing Creator Sustainer Ordainer and Judge of the universe Islam puts a heavy emphasis The conception of God in Judaism is Monotheistic. The God of Israel was known by two principal names in the Bible The fundamental belief of Sikhism is that God exists not merely as an idea or concept but as a Real Entity indescribable yet knowable and perceivable to anyone who is prepared to dedicate Faith is a Belief in the trustworthiness of an Idea. Formal usage of the word "faith" is usually reserved for concepts of Religion, as in Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate with a Deity or spirit Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication Gnosis (from one of the Greek words for Knowledge, γνώσις is the spiritual knowledge of a Saint or mystically enlightened human being Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Mysticism (from the Greek grc μυστικός mystikos, an initiate of a Mystery religion) is the pursuit of communion with identity Hermeticism is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, who is put forth as a Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos In Philosophy, ontology (from the Greek, genitive: of being (part A God complex is a psychological state of mind in which a person believes that they have supernatural powers or god-like abilities Neurotheology The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro, in which Socrates asks Euthyphro "Is the pious ( τὸ ὅσιον In the Philosophy of religion and Theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of Evil or Suffering in the world Theodicy (θiːˈɒdɪsi (adjectival form theodicean) is a specific branch of Theology and Philosophy that attempts to reconcile the existence of Religious belief refers to a mental state in which trust ( Faith) is placed in a Creed related to the Supernatural, Sacred, or divine Faith is a Belief in the trustworthiness of an Idea. Formal usage of the word "faith" is usually reserved for concepts of Religion, as in Special revelation is a theological term that states a belief that knowledge of God and of spiritual matters can be discovered through Supernatural means In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 In Philosophy, empiricism is a theory of Knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from Experience. Natural theology is a branch of Theology based on Reason and ordinary Experience, explaining the gods rationally as part of the physical world The word fideism comes from fides, the Latin word for faith, and literally means faith-ism. ^[1]

Throughout history, several philosophers and theologians have articulated the idea that faith is more important, or valid, or virtuous, than reason in theology. Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective One can use different criteria for judging statements belonging to the sphere of religion than other areas. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos As a result, theology may include logical contradictions without apology. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. In Classical logic, a contradiction consists of a logical incompatibility between two or more Propositions It occurs when the propositions taken together yield

According to some versions of fideism, reason is the antithesis of some faiths; according to others, faith is prior to or beyond reason, and therefore ought not to be influenced by it.

Religions have responded differently to fideism. Support of fideism is most commonly associated with four philosophers: Pascal, Kierkegaard, William James, and Wittgenstein. Blaise Pascal (blɛz paskal (June 19 1623 &ndash August 19 1662 was a French Mathematician, Physicist, and religious Philosopher Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (ˈsœːɐn ˈkʰiɐ̯kəˌɡ̊ɒˀ in Danish Anglicized as;) For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering ^[2] Others, like Socrates and St. Augustine spent their lives stressing the importance of thinking critically without exception.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 History 1.2 Theories of truth 2 Fideism in Christianity 2.1 Tertullian - "I believe because it is absurd" 2.2 Blaise Pascal and fideism 2.3 Hamann and fideism 2.4 Kierkegaard - "Truth is Subjectivity" 2.5 Wittgenstein and Fideism 2.6 Fideism and presuppositional apologetics 2.7 Protestantism 3 Fideism in Islam 4 Theologies opposed to fideism 4.1 Fideism rejected by the Roman Catholic Church 4.1.1 Fideist currents in Roman Catholic thought 4.2 The Christological argument 5 Criticism 5.1 As sin 5.2 As dangerous 5.3 As relativism 5.4 A case for reason 6 In culture 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Overview

Alvin Plantinga defines "fideism" as "the exclusive or basic reliance upon faith alone, accompanied by a consequent disparagement of reason and utilized especially in the pursuit of philosophical or religious truth. Alvin Carl Plantinga (born 1932 is a contemporary American Philosopher known for his work in Epistemology, Metaphysics, and the Philosophy " The fideist therefore "urges reliance on faith rather than reason, in matters philosophical and religious," and therefore may go on to disparage the claims of reason. ^[3] The fideist seeks truth, above all: and affirms that reason cannot achieve certain kinds of truth, which must instead be accepted only by faith. The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality ^[4] Plantinga's definition might be revised to say that what the fideist objects to is not so much "reason" per se — it seems excessive to call Blaise Pascal anti-rational — but evidentialism: the notion that no belief should be held unless it is supported by evidence. Blaise Pascal (blɛz paskal (June 19 1623 &ndash August 19 1662 was a French Mathematician, Physicist, and religious Philosopher Evidentialism is a Theory of justification according to which whether a Belief is justified depends solely on what a person's evidence is

The fideist notes that religions that are founded on revelation call their faithful to believe in a transcendent deity even if believers cannot fully understand the object of their faith. Some fideists also observe that human rational faculties are themselves untrustworthy, because the entire human nature has been corrupted by sin, and as such the conclusions reached by human reason are therefore untrustworthy: the truths affirmed by divine revelation must be believed even if they find no support in human reason. Sin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral Rule, or the state of having committed such a violation Fideism, of a sort which has been called naive fideism, is frequently found in response to anti-religious arguments; the fideist resolves to hold to what has been revealed as true in his faith, in the face of contrary lines of reasoning. In Logic, an argument is a Set of one or more Declarative sentences (or "propositions") known as the Premises along

Specifically, fideism teaches that rational or scientific arguments for the existence of God are fallacious and irrelevant, and have nothing to do with the truth of Christian theology. Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers theologians and others Its argument in essence goes:

• Christian theology teaches that people are saved by faith in the Christian God (i. In Theology, salvation can mean three related things being saved from or Liberation from something such as Suffering or the punishment of Faith is a Belief in the trustworthiness of an Idea. Formal usage of the word "faith" is usually reserved for concepts of Religion, as in e. trust in the empirically unprovable).
• But, if the Christian God's existence can be proven, either empirically or logically, to that extent faith becomes unnecessary or irrelevant. In Philosophy, empiricism is a theory of Knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from Experience. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference.
• Therefore, if Christian theology is true, no immediate proof of the Christian God's existence is possible.

History

Main article: Relationship between religion and science

Theories of truth

Main article: Truth#The major theories of truth

The doctrine of fideism is consistent with some, and radically contrary to other theories of truth:

• Correspondence theory of truth
• Pragmatic theory of truth
• Constructivist epistemology
• Consensus theory of truth
• Coherence theory of truth
• Subjectivism

Some forms of fideism outright reject the correspondence theory of truth, which has major philosophical implications. The relationship between religion and science has long held interest for scholars particularly in the Philosophy of science, the Philosophy of religion, and The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality The correspondence theory of truth states that the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i Pragmatic theory of truth refers to those accounts definitions and theories of the concept Truth that distinguish the philosophies of Pragmatism Constructivist epistemology is an epistemological perspective in Philosophy about the nature of scientific knowledge held by many philosophers of science A consensus theory of truth is any Theory of truth that refers to a Concept of Consensus as a part of its concept of Truth. There is no single coherence theory of truth, but rather an assortment of perspectives that are commonly collected under this title Subjectivism is a philosophical tenet that accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law Some only claim a few religious details to be axiomatic. In traditional Logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be either self-evident, or subject

Fideism in Christianity

Fideism has a long history in Christianity. It can plausibly be argued as an interpretation of 1 Corinthians, wherein Paul says:

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. Paul the apostle (שאול התרסי Šaʾul HaTarsi, meaning " Saul of Tarsus " Σαούλ Saul and Σαῦλος Saulos and . . For the foolishness of God is wiser than (the wisdom of) men. (1 Cor. 1:21, 25)

Paul's contrast of the folly of the Gospel with earthly wisdom may relate to a statement Jesus made in Luke 10:21:

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. The First Epistle to the Corinthians is a book of the Bible in the New Testament. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) The Gospel of Luke (Gk Κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον) is a synoptic Gospel, and is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the (ESV)

Tertullian - "I believe because it is absurd"

The statement "Credo quia absurdum" ("I believe because it is absurd"), often attributed to Tertullian, is sometimes cited as an example of such a view in the Church Fathers, but this appears to be a misquotation from Tertullian's De Carne Christi (External Link: On the Flesh of Christ). The English Standard Version (ESV is a revision of the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version. Credo quia absurdum is a Latin phrase of uncertain origin It means "I believe because it is absurd" It is derived from a poorly remembered or misquoted passage in Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church What he actually says in DCC 5 is ". . . the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed, because it is absurd. "

This, however, is not a statement of a fideist position; rather, it is rendered somewhat plausible by the context—that Tertullian was simply engaging in ironic overstatement. As a matter of fact, this work used an argument from Aristotle's rhetoric saying that if a man in whom you have trust tells you about a miraculous event he witnessed, you can allow yourself to consider that he may be saying the truth despite the fact that the event is very unlikely. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.

Blaise Pascal and fideism

A more sophisticated form of fideism is assumed by Pascal's Wager. Blaise Pascal (blɛz paskal (June 19 1623 &ndash August 19 1662 was a French Mathematician, Physicist, and religious Philosopher Pascal's Wager (or Pascal's Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French Philosopher Blaise Pascal that even though the Existence of God Blaise Pascal invites the atheist considering faith to see faith in God as a cost-free choice that carries a potential reward. Atheism He does not attempt to argue that God indeed exists, only that it might be valuable to assume that it is true. In his Pensées, Pascal writes:

Who then will blame Christians for not being able to give reasons for their beliefs, since they profess belief in a religion which they cannot explain? They declare, when they expound it to the world, that it is foolishness, stultitiam; and then you complain because they do not prove it! If they proved it, they would not keep their word; it is through their lack of proofs that they show they are not lacking in sense. The Pensées (literally "thoughts" represented a defense of the Christian religion by Blaise Pascal, the renowned 17th century philosopher
     (Pensées, no, 233).

Pascal moreover contests the various proposed proofs of the existence of God as irrelevant. Even if the proofs were valid, the beings they propose to demonstrate are not congruent with the deity worshiped by historical faiths, and can easily lead to deism instead of revealed religion: "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — not the god of the philosophers!"

Hamann and fideism

Considered to be the father of modern irrationalism, Johann Georg Hamann promoted a view that elevated faith alone was the only guide to human conduct. Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation Abraham ( Ashkenazi   Avrohom or Avruhom; ابراهيم, {{Unicode|Ibrāhīm}}; Ge'ez: According to the Hebrew Bible, Isaac ( Hebrew: Yitzchak יִצְחָק, Standard Yiẓḥaq Jacob ( Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard   Yaʿaqov Tiberian   Yaʿăqōḇ; People with the German surname Hamann include A P Hamann (died 1977 politician Brigitte Hamann (born 1940 historian Using the work of David Hume he argued that everything people do is ultimately based on faith. David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy Without faith (for it can never be proven) in the existence of an external world, human affairs could not continue; therefore, he argued, all reasoning comes from this faith: it is fundamental to the human condition. Thus all attempts to base belief in God using Reason are in vain. He virulently attacks systems like Spinozism that try to confine what he feels is the infinite majesty of God into a finite human creation. Spinozism is the pantheistic philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza which defines " God " as a singular self-subsistent Substance There is only one path to God, that of a childlike faith not Reason.

Kierkegaard - "Truth is Subjectivity"

A fideist position of this general sort — that God's existence cannot be certainly known, and that the decision to accept faith is neither founded on, nor needs, rational justification — may be found in the writings of Søren Kierkegaard and his followers in Christian existentialism. Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (ˈsœːɐn ˈkʰiɐ̯kəˌɡ̊ɒˀ in Danish Anglicized as;) Christian existentialism describes a group of writings that take a philosophically Existentialist approach to Christian theology Many of Kierkegaard's works, including Fear and Trembling, are under pseudonyms; they may represent the work of fictional authors whose views correspond to hypothetical positions, not necessarily those held by Kierkegaard himself. Fear and Trembling (original Danish title Frygt og Bæven) is an influential philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias)

In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard focused on Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac. The New Testament apostles repeatedly argued that Abraham's act was an admirable display of faith. To the eyes of a non-believer, however, it must necessarily have appeared to be an unjustifiable attempted murder, perhaps the fruit of an insane delusion. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries Kierkegaard used this example to focus attention on the problem of faith in general. He ultimately affirmed that to believe in the incarnation of Christ, in God made flesh, was to believe in the "absolute paradox", since it implies that an eternal, perfect being would become a simple human. Reason cannot possibly comprehend such a phenomenon; therefore, one can only believe in it by taking a "leap of faith". A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning is the act of believing in something without or in spite of available Empirical evidence.

Wittgenstein and Fideism

According to the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, religion is a self-contained—and primarily expressive—enterprise, governed by its own internal logic or “grammar. Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. ” This view—commonly called Wittgensteinian Fideism—states: (1) that religion is logically cut off from other aspects of life; (2) that religious discourse is essentially self-referential and does not allow us to talk about reality; (3) that religious beliefs can be understood only by religious believers; and (4) that religion cannot be criticized. [5]

Fideism and presuppositional apologetics

Presuppositional apologetics is a Christian system of apologetics associated mainly with Calvinist Protestantism; it attempts to distinguish itself from fideism, although some may find the differentiation elusive. Presuppositional apologetics is a school of Christian apologetics, a field of Christian theology that aims to (1 present a rational basis for the Christian Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. It holds that all human thought must begin with the proposition that the revelation contained in the Bible is axiomatic, rather transcendentally necessary, else one would not be able to make sense of any human experience (see also epistemic foundationalism). Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin In traditional Logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be either self-evident, or subject In Philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey three different but related primary meanings all of them derived from the word's literal Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Foundationalism is any theory in Epistemology (typically theories of justification, but also of Knowledge) that holds that beliefs are justified (known To a non-believer who rejects the notion that the truth about God, the world and themselves can be found within the Bible, Christian theology literally has nothing to say; however, some presuppositional apologists believe that such a condition is impossible, claiming that all people actually believe in God, whether they admit or deny it.

This sort of reasoning is similar to the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who taught that language was like a game, in that different sorts of discourse must be judged under their own proper set of rules and not those of other types, though they may have significant overlap due to the cognitive inconsistencies in the users of disparate language games. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Game theory is a branch of Applied mathematics that is used in the Social sciences (most notably Economics) Biology, Engineering, It also has similarities with Thomas Kuhn's paradigmatic analysis (not to be confused with paradigmatic analysis in semantic theory or music theory). Thomas Samuel Kuhn (surname ˈkuːn July 18, 1922  &ndash June 17, 1996) was an American intellectual who wrote extensively Paradigmatic analysis is the analysis of Paradigms embedded in the text rather than of the surface structure ( Syntax) of the text which is termed Syntagmatic analysis According to the presuppositional apologist, the determination of the truth of religious statements cannot be directly determined by resorting to the rules governing logical or scientific statements, only indirectly, by transcendental argument, where the truth of the statements are seen as the necessary condition of the truth of those very rules (and all other proof and reasoning). In Philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey three different but related primary meanings all of them derived from the word's literal Immanuel Kant, P. F. Strawson, Moltke Gram, T. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Sir Peter Frederick Strawson ( 23 November 1919  &ndash 13 February 2006) was an English philosopher E. Wilkerson, A. C. Grayling, Michael Dummett, and Jaakko Hintikka, among others, have discussed transcendental forms of thought in recent philosophical literature. Anthony Clifford Grayling (born 3 April 1949 is a British philosopher and author Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett FBA DLitt (born 1925 is a leading British Philosopher. Jaakko Hintikka (born January 12 1929) is a Finnish Philosopher and Logician. Presuppositional apologetics could be seen as being more closely allied with foundationalism than fideism, though it has sometimes been critical of both. Presuppositional apologetics is a school of Christian apologetics, a field of Christian theology that aims to (1 present a rational basis for the Christian Foundationalism is any theory in Epistemology (typically theories of justification, but also of Knowledge) that holds that beliefs are justified (known

Protestantism

Martin Luther taught that faith and reason were antithetical, and that man must reject reason and accept faith. Martin Luther (November 10 1483 February 18 1546 was a German Monk, theologian, university professor Father of Protestantism, and church reformer He wrote, "All the articles of our Christian faith, which God has revealed to us in His Word, are in presence of reason sheerly impossible, absurd, and false. "[1] and "Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has. "[2]

Reformed Protestants have understood Luther as not outright denouncing reason, but rather as saying (what is commonly said among Reformed theologians) we "reason by faith. " We do not base our faith upon reason, but rather our reason is to be upon faith. Robert L. Reymond, a more prominent Reformed theologian today claims: "Biblical faith is not a leap in the dark; it is not fideism. " ^[5]

Benjamin B. Warfield says, "We cannot be said to believe or to trust in a thing or person of which we have no knowledge; 'implicit faith' in this sense is an absurdity. " Reformed Protestants hold that biblical faith is based upon the revelation of divine knowledge. Faith devoid of knowledge is "believing the lie" that "leads to condemnation" (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). Biblical faith wants nothing to do with a mindless Christianity. Compared to other religions, Christianity is "preeminently the reasoning religion" -- the Bible commands people to know what they must believe in. ^[6]

Fideism in Islam

While the centrality of issues of faith and its role in salvation make fideism of this sort an important issue for Christianity, it can exist in other revealed religions as well. Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos In Islam, the theologian Al-Ghazali strikes a position similar to Tertullian's fideism in his Tahafut al-falasafa, the "Incoherence of the Philosophers. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (1058-1111 ( ابو حامد محمد ابن محمد الغزالی or امام محمد غزالی was born and died The Incoherence of the Philosophers ( Tahāfut al-Falāsifaʰ) in Arabic (تهافت الفلاسفة is the title of a landmark 11th century Polemic in Islamic " Where the claims of reason come into conflict with revelation, reason must yield to revelation. This position drew a rejoinder from Averroes, whose position was more influential in Thomist and other medieval Christian thinking than it was in the Islamic world itself. Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (Arabicأبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد better known just as Ibn Rushd (ابن رشد and in European Ghazali's position of the absolute authority and finality of divine revelation is in fact the standard position of orthodox Muslim exegesis. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Exegesis (from the Greek 'to lead out' involves an extensive and critical interpretation of an authoritative text, especially of a Holy

Further information: The relation between Islam and science

Theologies opposed to fideism

Fideism rejected by the Roman Catholic Church

Some theologies strongly reject fideism. The relationship between Science and Islam is a matter of controversy The Catechism of the Catholic Church, representing Roman Catholicism's great regard for Thomism, the teachings of St Thomas Aquinas, affirms that it is a doctrine of Roman Catholicism that God's existence can indeed be demonstrated by reason. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, or CCC, is an official exposition of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the twenty-two Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas's rationalism has deep roots in Western Christianity; it goes back to St Anselm of Canterbury's observation that the role of reason was to explain faith more fully: fides quaerens intellectum, "faith seeking understanding," is his formula. Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 &ndash April 21, 1109) was an Italian medieval Philosopher, theologian, and church official

The official position of Roman Catholicism is that while the existence of the one God can in fact be demonstrated by reason, men can nevertheless be deluded by their sinful natures to deny the claims of reason that demonstrate God's existence. The Anti-Modernist oath promulgated by Pope Pius X required Roman Catholics to affirm that:

. The Oath against Modernism was issued by the Roman Catholic Pope Saint Pius X, on September 1, 1910, and mandated that "all clergy pastors Saint Pius X ( Latin: Pius PP X) ( June 2, 1835 &mdash August 20, 1914) born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the . . God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world (cf. Rom. 1:20), that is, from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated. . .

Similarly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that:

Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. The human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.
     — Catechism of the Catholic Church, ss. 37.

Pope John Paul II's encyclical Fides et Ratio also affirms that God's existence is in fact demonstrable by reason, and that attempts to reason otherwise are the results of sin. Pope An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Christian church Fides et Ratio (faith and reason is an Encyclical promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 14 September 1998. In the encyclical, John Paul II warned against "a resurgence of fideism, which fails to recognize the importance of rational knowledge and philosophical discourse for the understanding of faith, indeed for the very possibility of belief in God. "

Fideist currents in Roman Catholic thought

Historically, there have been a number of fideist strains within the Roman Catholic orbit. Catholic traditionalism, exemplified in the nineteenth century by Joseph de Maistre, emphasized faith in tradition as the means of divine revelation. Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics, or people who identify as Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Joseph-Marie Comte de Maistre (1 April 1753- 26 February 1821 was a French-speaking Savoyard lawyer diplomat writer and philosopher The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of The claims of reason are multiple, and various people have argued rationally for several contradictory things: in this environment, the safest course is to hold true to the faith that has been preserved through tradition, and to resolve to accept what the Church has historically taught. In his essay Du pape ("On the Pope"), de Maistre argued that it was historically inevitable that all of the Protestant churches would eventually seek reunification and refuge in the Roman Catholic Church: science was the greater threat, it threatened all religious faith, and "no religion can resist science, except one. History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding "

Another refuge of fideist thinking within the Roman Catholic Church is the concept of "signs of contradiction". Sign of contradiction is a term in Catholic Theology which refers to certain persons who upon manifesting holiness are subject to extreme opposition According to this belief, the holiness of certain people and institutions is confirmed by the fact that other people contest their claims: this opposition is held to be worthy of comparison to the opposition met by Jesus Christ himself. The fact that the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin is widely disbelieved, for example, is thought to confirm its authenticity under this belief; the same has been claimed for the doctrine of the real presence of the Eucharist, or the spiritual merits of the Opus Dei organization and its discipline. The Shroud of Turin (or Turin Shroud) is a Linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have been physically traumatized in a manner consistent The Real Presence is the term various Christian traditions use to express their belief that in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present in what was Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, is a part of the Roman Catholic Church that teaches the Catholic belief that everyone

The Christological argument

Likewise, a tradition of argument found among some Protestants and Catholics alike argues that respect for Jesus as a teacher and a wise man is logically contradictory if one does not accept him as God as well, also known as the 'Lord, Liar, or Lunatic' argument: either He was insane, or a charlatan, or he was in fact the Messiah and Son of God. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. A charlatan (also called swindler) is a person practicing Quackery or some similar Confidence trick in order to obtain money or advantage via some form This article is about the concept of a Messiah in religion notably in the Christian Islamic and Jewish traditions Cf. Christological argument. The Christological argument for the existence of God is based on certain claims about Jesus. This argument was popularised by the Christian apologist C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity (p. Mere Christianity is a theological book by C S Lewis, adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1941 and 1944 while Lewis 52).

Critics of this argument assert that it presents a false trichotomy. The Informal fallacy of false dilemma (also called false Dichotomy, the either-or fallacy, or bifurcation) involves a situation in Jesus may well have important things to teach and have wisdom to give even if he is wrong, ironic, misunderstood, or misquoted about his own relation to God. One need not be right about everything to be right about something. In this line of thinking, the teaching can be true independently of the conduct of the teacher. However, proponents of this argument deny that it is a false trichotomy by appealing to personhood, claiming that Christ as a person could not have died for teachings he knew to be false. Furthermore, he would not have made ridiculous claims of his own divinity alongside otherwise sound teachings if these claims (cf. Mark 14:61-62) were not true. He would not have died for all these things if he had not himself truly believed them, as the argument goes. But if he was so sincerely self-deceived on such a grand level, then he would be among the most lunatic, unworthy of the label of "Rabbi. "

Another argument against the 'Lord, Liar, or Lunatic' argument is that fideism simply applies to those who never met Jesus (i. e. all of His subsequent followers). We have no proof of His actions, only accounts of them (in the same way we only have accounts of God's actions from the Old Testament). As such, followers must take what God has shown them (the bringing of his son, Jesus, into our mortal sphere) as enough to inspire them to believe, even if they feel they have no personal proof for themselves. The Christian counter-argument is that there is a great weight of evidence to support the historical authenticity of the Gospels. This article is about the canonical books of the New Testament The point of fideism is to pull followers away from asking God to prove his existence (which would be laying the burden of proof on God). This is based on the faith that God knows best, regardless of the evidence which God could provide.

Criticism

As sin

Fideism has received criticism not just from atheists, but also from theologians who argue that fideism is not a proper way to worship God. According to this position, if one does not attempt to understand what one believes, one is not really believing. “Blind faith” is not true faith. Notable articulations of this position include:

• Peter Abelard -Sic et Non
• Lord Herbert -De Veritate

As dangerous

Fideism can be responded to with an appeal to morality. Sic et Non, an early scholastic text whose title translates from Latin as "Yes and No" was written by Peter Abelard. Edward Herbert 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury ( March 3, 1583 &ndash August 20, 1648) was a British soldier Diplomat Edward Herbert 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury ( March 3, 1583 &ndash August 20, 1648) was a British soldier Diplomat This criticism of fideism is that it is often the foundation of destructive or disruptive belief systems (e. g. Under fideism, cults and violent religious extremism are legitimate. This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice" for that usage see Cult (religious practice Extremism is a term used to describe the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society or otherwise claimed to violate Individuals who unquestioningly obey irrational personal beliefs can be dangerous. For example, the Yorkshire Ripper testified that God told him to kill prostitutes. Peter William Sutcliffe (born 2 June 1946 in Bingley, United Kingdom) is an English Serial killer who was dubbed ^[7]
In Hitler’s Mein Kampf: "Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord. " ^[8]

A description of this danger is identified by philosopher W. K. Clifford:

'Every time we let ourselves believe for unworthy reasons, we weaken our powers of self-control, of doubting, of judicially and fairly weighing evidence. W K Clifford may refer to William Kingdon Clifford, British mathematician and philosopher Lucy Clifford Mrs W We all suffer severely enough from the maintenance and support of false beliefs and the fatally wrong actions which they lead to. . . . But a greater and wider evil arises when the credulous character is maintained and supported, when a habit of believing for unworthy reasons is fostered and made permanent. ' -^[9]

Further information: Criticism of religion#Harmful to society. Criticism of religion involves Criticism of the concept of Religion, the validity of religion the practice of religion and the consequences of religion

As relativism

Relativism is the position where two opposing positions are both true. Compare Moral relativism, Aesthetic relativism, Social constructionism, Cultural relativism, and Cognitive relativism. The existence of other religions puts a fundamental question to fideists -- if faith is the only way to know the truth of God, how are we to know which God to have faith in? Fideism alone is not considered an adequate guide to distinguish true or morally valuable revelations from false ones. An apparent consequence of fideism is that all religious thinking becomes equal. The major monotheistic religions become on par with obscure fringe religions, as neither can be advocated or disputed. Pseudoreligion (or pseudotheology is a generally Pejorative term applied to a non-mainstream Belief system or Philosophy which is functionally As articulated by Friedrich Nietzsche, "A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything".

Further information: Jewish Messiah claimants

A case for reason

Main article: Relationship between religion and science#Philosophy of science

These critics note that people successfully use reason in their daily lives to solve problems and that reason has led to progressive increase of knowledge in the sphere of science. This article presents an overview of various historically significant Jewish Messiah claimants. The relationship between religion and science has long held interest for scholars particularly in the Philosophy of science, the Philosophy of religion, and This gives credibility to reason and argumentative thinking as a proper method for seeking truth.

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use. " - Galileo Galilei

On the other hand, according to these critics, there is no evidence that a religious faith that rejects reason would also serve us while seeking truth. In situations in which our reason is not sufficient to find the truth (for example, when trying to answer a difficult mathematical question) fideism also fails.

In culture

Douglas Adams, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, uses his Babel fish to demonstrate a rationalist/fideist paradox:

"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing. Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 &ndash 11 May 2001 was an English author comic Radio dramatist The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series The Babel fish is a fictional species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. "

"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves that You exist, and so therefore, by Your own arguments, You don't. Q. E. D. "

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing. A zebra crossing is a type of Pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world

See also

• Arguments for the existence of God
• Sola fide, the Protestant belief that Christians are saved by faith in Christ alone

References

External links

• "Fideism" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• "Fideism" in The Catholic Encyclopedia
• A critique of Fideism

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP is a freely-accessible Online encyclopedia of Philosophy maintained by Stanford University.

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