The way we think about faith also varies from person to person, but the prevailing way most people in Western culture understand faith is simply believing in God, and believing certain things about God. There is billboard that states in huge letters, “There is proof that God exists!” For agnostics and atheists alike, faith and belief are about God’s existence. Is that how people have always thought about faith? Addressing primarily Jewish Christians everywhere, the Letter to the Hebrews in the Bible’s New Testament gives us a picture of faith:
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them. – Hebrews 11:8-16 (The Message)
The word faith is obviously a critical part of the equation in these verses. In fact, some refer to the whole eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews as The Hall of Fame of Faith because it lists so many people in Jewish history who were champions when it comes to faith. Did they understand faith the same way most Western people do today?
In short, the answer is no. It’s not that we get it totally wrong so much as we don’t appreciate the fullness of the meaning of the word as those who have gone before us. This is largely due to the massive paradigm shift that took place in the 1600’s whereby the scientific approach to everything bled into theology. The reason we can be confident that we’re missing out on something is related to the meaning of the word faith over time in the Christian tradition. In the history of Christianity, there have been four ways to think about faith, each described below.
Faith as Assensus (think “assent”). The most dominant way most Western people think about faith is that it is an assent to belief in something as true. Factually true, to be more precise. Factually true even in the absence of evidence. As Borg stated, “Faith is what you turn to when knowledge runs out. Even more strongly, faith is what you need when beliefs and knowledge conflict” (30). In contemporary culture, the earlier Christian view calls for faith that God created the world just as Genesis portrays, that the Red Sea really was parted, that the sun really did stand still during a battle, that a virgin really did become pregnant, and every other miraculous thing happened just as it reads in the Bible. Borg points out that there was no conflict between belief and knowledge prior to the scientific revolution, because the conventional wisdom of the day (regarding everything) was totally aligned with theological thinking. Faith required no effort then as it does now. The opposite of this kind of faith is doubt and disbelief, which is often viewed and articulated as sin. Borg contends that this faith-as-belief is relatively impotent because it holds very little transforming power. This way of faith is one that remains largely in the head – a thinking exercise. In contrast, the remaining three are relationally understood uses of the term. What truths do we hold to as “fact”? How about “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; God’s mercies never come to an end – they are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness oh Lord!” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Faith as Fiducia (think “trust”). Rather than giving assent to a list of beliefs about God, this way of faith is “believing in God as trusting in God”. Kierkegard described faith as akin to floating in a deep ocean. Panicking and flailing your arms struggling to stay afloat will get you drowned in a hurry. But trusting the ocean – that buoyancy is real – and relaxing will find you floating. Think of the story of Peter walking on water to meet Jesus. When his trust shifted from the Spirit of God to the choppiness of the waves, he sank. The Bible depicts God as a rock, a fortress upon which we found our lives. Jesus invited us to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field to teach about this kind of faith. The opposite of this is mistrust, which leads to anxiety and worry, which is what motivated Jesus’ birds/lilies analogy. Jesus taught that little faith, little trust in God led to anxiety. The hope offered in this mode of faith, then, is a less anxiety-ridden life, which is a free life, free to live and love. That kind of radical trust offers great transforming power. Trust God in the same way that you trust gravity. Trust in the flow of God like you do the power of moving water over time – it transforms even the roughest terrain. Trust in the love of God to support justice over time – transforming even the hardest of hearts – painfully slowly at times, but surely.
Faith as Fidelitas (think “fidelity”). This kind of faith refers to a loyalty to a person, a relationship. Allegiance and commitment of self at the deepest level are intended here. The opposite, of course, is infidelity. Cheating on God – choosing not to be faithful – was an issue the Jewish nation struggled with in the form of idolatry. The prophets told Israel they were guilty of adultery. Fidelity means much more than “not cheating”, however. Faith in this way implies a radical centering on God so that to love God means to love what God loves. Bells might be going off in your head as you recall the greatest and second greatest commandments: love God and love your neighbor with everything you’ve got. It’s ethical, not just a head trip. Jesus’ eyes were changed. He began seeing “others” as “neighbors” and it changed the trajectory of his life. It also got him into trouble, because not everyone is ready or willing to see “others” unequal.
Faith as Visio: “Vision”. In this mode, faith is a way of seeing, our vision of the whole, of what is. Borg nods to theologian Richard Niebuhr in his unpacking three ways of seeing. A first way of seeing envisions the world as hostile and threatening, which leads to a defensive posture warranting our desire for greater and greater security. In earlier ways of thinking about Christianity, Godself needs to be feared as one who will “get us” in the end if we don’t get things straightened out. A second way of seeing has us looking at everything as indifferent and uncaring. While this does not breed the same level of paranoia as the first, it still makes us walk with a tight grip in order to maintain security. The third type of vision sees “what is” as life giving and nourishing, even gracious. Faith involves seeing God as generous which leads to radical trust in God, and a willingness to spend oneself for the sake of a vision bigger than self. It is an orientation that recognizes and elicits freedom, joy, peace and love. The Christian tradition itself in all its fullness is a metaphor for God – to live within one is to live hand in hand with the other.
Aside. Borg points out that Martin Luther’s life changed dramatically because of his faith. Earlier in his life he committed himself to a life of faith in the assensus kind of way. In fact, it was after he tried his best to live in assent to beliefs about God and beliefs about rules to follow that he came to the conclusion that there had to be another way than the works of and assensus-type faith. His transformation led him to see differently, trust God, and be faithful – the last three relational modes of faith.
Is there value in the mode of faith that calls for assent to certain beliefs? Borg says yes. Within the faith tradition, there are some big notions that deserve big affirmations: the reality of God, the centrality of Jesus to the Christian faith, and the centrality of the Bible. He notes that our heritage who created and affirmed the creeds of old weren’t simply making statements of items of belief, but that they were committing to a person – God. Their affirmations were statements of loyalty. For them, to believe was to belove. I would add that believing in love as the primary characteristic of who and what we call God is also worthy of our assent that is helpful in sustaining the other relational facets of faith. Side note: many place omnipotence as God’s primary characteristic, but as Oord notes in his book, The Death of Omnipotence and the Birth of Amipotence, the notion of God being almighty is not founded in the original language of the Bible. Mistranslations have given us the words that connote God’s primary characteristic being all-controlling power.
As I’ve noted throughout, it is very likely that the dominant way you have understood faith is through the assensus vein. Now that you have learned or been reminded of more ways to think about faith, I hope your appetite for God has been whet as well, that perhaps you’re realizing that you may have sold faith short, that there is more here than we’ve thought before. Something incredibly rich, life giving, rewarding, inviting, and compelling.
Which aspect of faith do you sense God inviting you to explore more? Here’s an idea. Pick one of the ways to develop. It’s not hard, just reflect on it, pray about it, and ask God to lead you toward it. Then keep your eyes, ears, mind, heart, and hands open and see what develops. If you need help, I’d be happy to sort some ideas out. The point is to develop a robust faith that fosters more divine and less dust…
We conclude this session – as with each session – with a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer (Jim Cotter):
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all this is and that shall be.
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever. Amen.
*Note: This is a twelve week series based on Marcus Borg’s seminal book, The Heart of Christianity, with significant input from the group discussion book, Experiencing the Heart of Christianity by Tim Scorer.