Shades of faith: the phenomenon of doubt in early Christianity

‘Faith’ (pistis) is a key term in early Christianity. It not only describes the self-understanding of an individual Christ-follower, but also operates as the social marker of the Christ-groups. Rather than adding to the renaissance of studies on faith in recent years, this article seeks to illuminat...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Schließer, Benjamin 1977- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publié: 2023
Dans: Religious studies
Année: 2023, Volume: 59, Numéro: 3, Pages: 479-494
Sujets non-standardisés:B Belief
B Early Christianity
B new testament theology
B double-mindedness
B Faith
B Trust
B Doubt
B Resilience
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Résumé:‘Faith’ (pistis) is a key term in early Christianity. It not only describes the self-understanding of an individual Christ-follower, but also operates as the social marker of the Christ-groups. Rather than adding to the renaissance of studies on faith in recent years, this article seeks to illuminate what faith is by focusing on the phenomenon of doubt, broadly understood. After some linguistic reflections, the article identifies six basic types of doubt in early Christian writings and then compiles eighteen coping strategies and patterns of resilience reflected in the most prominent texts. The article is not an attempt at systematizing early Christian reflections on doubt but is rather a cornucopia of insights into how the first Christian theologians talked about doubt, dealt with it, and tried to overcome it.
ISSN:1469-901X
Contient:Enthalten in: Religious studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0034412522000105