always conscious of the beliefs we hold? What is involved in doubting and abandoning a belief? How can we move from belief to knowledge, since we do not know everything we believe?
Scriptural writings contain testimony to historical events, persons, and communities. Many passages make allusions to what happened to individuals with names, to battles at specific times and to communities in their geographical locations. They also make reference to miracles, referring to them as on a par with natural events. Believers claim that Scripture also provides testimony to the revelation of God. Shall we apply to the claims of Scripture the same criteria of judgment we normally use in assessing historical claims?
2 Belief and Believing
Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.
Does a firm persuasion that a thing is so make it so?
William Blake
1 Two Kinds of BelievingThis is a book about believing, for ‘the believer’, and a believer is one who believes. We use the term ‘belief’ of both secular and religious belief. We all believe, but not all of us in the sense which the word sometimes has, when it is used of the religious believer. All believers have something in common. Our interesting exercise is to think a little about the nature of belief, about what it means to believe and make some classifications. For there are all kinds of beliefs: in people, in ideas, in reports, in products. We believe all kinds of claims to be true and others to be false.We can thus approach this topic from two different points of view, which may turn out to be complementary. First we ask, What does the religious believer have in common with other believers? For we all believe all sorts of things all the time, often changing our minds. Second, what are the unique beliefs of religious believers that make them different from other believers?We notice an important distinction. It is between believing in and believing that. The two meet when we trust someone. We believe that what they say is true and trustworthy because we believe in them. We take them to be trustworthy and honest because we have had experience in our relations with them. This has produced evidence that confirms the faith we place in them. When that has been established, we do not question their trustworthiness and do not always have to be assessing with questions in mind whatever they say or do.This twofold meaning of the verb ‘believe’ and the noun ‘belief’ shows itself in the religious use. Take the two questions: Do you believe in God? Do you believe that God sustains and acts within the natural world? The first asks about relation, about commitment. The second asks about taking a theological position, asks whether you accept a particular teaching. The first is belief as trust. The second is belief in an assertion, accepting a proposition as true.So believing is sometimes explained as equivalent to trust, sometimes as accepting a claim, making an assertion about the world and about relations within it. Take some examples of religious belief:Belief in GodBelief that Jesus was an historical figureBelief in Jesus as Saviour, RedeemerBelief that some historical statements in the Bible are trueBelief that God reveals himself through ScriptureBelief that there will be post-mortem survivalBelief in life after deathIt is worth noting that on occasion ‘I believe in’ is being used as equivalent to ‘I believe that’ as in these last two examples which mean the same thing.In which senses are we to take the confessions, the creeds the Christian makes, the many and varied doctrinal claims? These are often the subject of vigorous disagreement between believers of different persuasions. For these either implicitly or explicitly are prefaced with the expression ‘I believe’. It is noteworthy that such statements prefer the term ‘believe’ to others, for example, ‘I know’, ‘I propose that’. It is significant that believers often prefer to preface their statement with ‘I believe’ rather than leave the two words out and simply say for example, ‘God is the Maker of heaven and earth’. They will often say, ‘I believe that . . . .’ ‘I believe’ here expresses a personal attitude, a commitment to what the belief implies. The expression sometimes expresses a kind of hesitation, as if one did not wish to claim certainty beyond doubt. When we say, ‘I believe that . . . .’ rather than ‘ I claim that. . . .’ we show that we realise that believing is not identical with making a claim to knowledge. For we do not always think that we are we making a claim when we express our belief. Often we do. But we can distinguish levels of certainty when we make a claim. ‘I believe that . . . .’ can express a high level of certainty. It can also preface a tentative claim.We cannot always be assured that what we believe is true. That is what makes believing different from knowing. Belief is not identical with knowledge. Indeed we sometimes prefer to use the term ‘believe’ when we are not sure, even to say ‘ I don’t know but I believe that Johnny will come today’, ‘I can’t be sure but I believe that it was Elizabeth that I saw’. But this is not how believers characteristically use the term when speaking of many of their religious convictions. Belief is thus accompanied by different levels of conviction that ‘believers’ entertain. For example they would not put their belief that God exists (even if they would use that form of expression at all), or their belief that Paul was the ‘author’ of the book of Romans on the same level as their belief in a living God, or in their belief that they are justified by faith (an important Pauline teaching).So we have some interesting philosophical questions to consider. We can make a preliminary list. These questions are of general interest and lead us to answers of the widest application.What is the relation between belief and knowledge?What distinguishes justified from unjustified belief?How in a particular case does one justify one’s belief?Would we sometimes be justified in believing what was false?Do we always need sufficient evidence before we believe?Is it reasonable to believe on authority?Can we choose to believe?Various answers are given to the question, ‘What is belief?’ Let us look at some of these.Belief is a mental occurrence, for example mere acceptance, being under the impression that a proposition is true.Belief is reasoned assent to a proposition.Belief is absence of dissent to a proposition.Belief is a behavioural disposition rather than a mental occurrence.The difference is significant. We are disposed to act in a certain way, as if what we believe were true. That means we have already entertained the proposition. A disposition is not always manifest, made public. It is nevertheless a property we possess and which, given the appropriate circumstances, we would manifest.Belief is entertaining ideas and then preferring one or other propositions that express that idea or those ideas. We give assent to a proposition while having reasonable assurance that it is true. We have some grounds for thinking our belief is reasonable. Our route to assurance is that we have experiences that would be as they are if the proposition were true. If our proposition were true we would expect such experiences. When they happen, our beliefs are confirmed or strengthened. I believe that this recipe is a good one. So I make a casserole and it turns out that everybody likes it really well. So my belief is confirmed. I may have held it tentatively at first. Now it has grounds and is strong.It is important to differentiate the content of the belief from the process of acquiring the belief. So we distinguish two questions: What is belief? How do I acquire belief? In view of the above observations and in view of the fact that not every belief one holds has any relation to their behaviour, that some beliefs are purely theoretical, we shall further ask, When it is related to behaviour how is belief related to behaviour?We acquire beliefs before ever we could ask how we get them. It sometimes comes as a surprise to us when we must answer the question ‘How did you come to believe that?’ For, the fact for all of us is that we acquired our first beliefs before we could frame, let alone answer, that question. We believed before we knew it. We had no choice in the matter. Take (what I think has been) your former belief in Father Christmas. Then ask how you came to believe it. Was it a rational belief? You now know that it was not true. But the case raises a lot of questions.Or draw a comparison. Contrast or compare what you believe about Napoleon or Robin Hood with what you believe about Robinson Crusoe and why. How much, in volume, have you heard of each? Who has told you? In what contexts? Why do your beliefs about these characters differ?
2 FaithThe claims of the religious person are prefaced with the words ‘I believe’ or some equivalent to this. The primary claim is, ‘I believe in God’. These statements are, as we say, ‘confessions of faith’. What does it mean to say, ‘I believe’? This way of speaking is not, of course unique to the believer. Does he then believe in a special way? Since the words ‘believe’, ‘belief’, are used in different
