Saving and Secular Faith
Saving and Secular Faith: An Invitation to Systematic Theology
- Author: B. A. Gerrish
- Length: 156
- Edition: Paperback
- Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Description of Saving and Secular Faith:
What does it mean to live by faith? Answers are more elusive than ever. Beginning with a rich discussion of the Reformation legacy, historian-theologian B. A. Gerrish responds that if we release our thinking from sectarian, partisan lenses, we find that faith denotes a multitude of impulses---trust, doubt, fidelity, and confidence---and is a fundamental human posture. It undergirds not long "saving" faith but also "secular" varieties in other religious traditions---and even outside religions. We al literally live by faith in every phase of our lives. Gerrish's prolegomenon to theology goes on to ask what then is the use of belief? Ho, in fact, do we come to faith? And how are religious and secular faith related, especially in relation to Jesus Christ? Gerrish opens up the notion of faith to encompass "the discovery of personal meaning in one's existence" and the theological drive to articulate the deepest drives of the human self.
Information on Saving and Secular Faith from the publisher:
What does it mean to live by faith? Beginning from the term "faith" in the New Testament and Thomas Aquinas, eminent theologian Brian Gerrish shows that saving faith, as Martin Luther and John Calvin understood it, was not so much belief as discernment of God's good will toward them in the word about Christ and therefore also in their own lives. As such, saving faith has its counterparts in secular faith: other outlooks, religious or not, which enable persons to find meaning in their lives through discernment of a pattern on them or an object worthy of loyalty. Faith is not exclusively a Christian virtue but a characteristic activity of the human mind, and both saving a secular faith rest on inevitable beliefs shared by Christians with others.
About B. A. Gerrish:
B. A. Gerrish is Distinguished Professor of Theology at Union Theological seminary, Virginia, and John Nuveen Professor of Historical Theology Emeritus at the Divinity School, University of Chicago.
Description of B. A. Gerrish, author of Saving and Secular Faith:
What does it mean to live with faith? Beginning from the term "faith" in the New Testament and Thomas Aquinas, eminent theologian Brian Gerrish shows that saving faith, as Martin Luther and John Calvin understood it, was not so much belief as discernment of God's good will toward them in the word about Christ and therefore their also in their own lives.