Faith and Doubt

M any sincere Christians in our time are tormented by the feeling that they ought to be perfectly certain about matters of faith, while in fact they are not. They are gnawed by doubts that strike at the roots of their religious life and cause inner anxiety of spirit. To what extent, they ask, can and must the believer be certain about his faith?

Faith is by its nature a commitment, and without firmness there is no commitment. The biblical idea of faith is clearly opposed to doubt, as appears from the story of Zachary (Luke 1: 18-20) and the words of the risen Jesus to His bewildered disciples (Luke 24: 38; John 20:27). As a decision arising from the very center of the person, faith engages a man totally to the One who can command his full devotion. It therefore surpasses in existential weight those relatively superficial assents to general, abstract or inconsequential truths in which one is not personally involved. In this sense faith requires certitude.

The Catholic is committed by his faith not simply, as all Christians are, to God’s self-giving in Christ, but to a church that claims power to pronounce decisively on doctrinal questions. Adherence to the church implies acceptance of all its dogmas. Yet there are Catholics who, without wishing to leave the church, look upon certain dogmas as meaningless, unimportant, even incredible. While regarding the church as their spiritual home, they feel authorized to take a somewhat critical attitude toward it, as a good citizen does toward his government or a loyal son toward his parents. Can their doubts be reconciled with their remaining in the church?

In many cases, the questioning is confined to particular doctrines. Clearly accepting God, Christ and the church, the believer hesitates with regard to certain teachings, often of a technical or peripheral character. He may wonder about the "two natures" in Christ, about certain Marian privileges, or about some miraculous events of biblical history. So long as these doubts are not willful or arrogant, but honest and humble, there is no cause for alarm. In many instances, the questioner misunderstands the formula he is attacking. At other times, what he is rejecting is not a dogma but a reformable church teaching, or even a mere popular belief. Or perhaps he is not rejecting anything, but simply saying that he can make no sense of what he hears; he cannot see its value or relevance. Or he might even assent on the level of deliberate commitment, without being able to suppress hesitations that trouble his mind and heart.

In all such cases it is important to move slowly. The priest or counselor should not be too hasty in demanding a full and enthusiastic commitment to doctrines that are scarcely understood. If we keep the emphasis on the saving mysteries at the heart of Christian faith, which grip us with their inner power, other teachings will gradually fall into place. With the growing stress on religious freedom and pluralism—within thechurch as well as beyond its borders—we shall have to be more patient than in the past. We must expect individual believers to build their lives primarily upon those affirmations that they find religiously important. Provided a man does not deny the teaching authority of the church, he may be permitted to pay less attention to peripheral doctrines that he cannot presently assimilate. At most, he can give such truths what Newman would call a "notional" (rather than "real") assent. Only after prolonged and prayerful study does the full relevance of certain doctrines come into view.

More serious are those doubts that seem to call into question the stance of faith itself. Many believers in our day are attacked by the suspicion that faith, as such, may be unwarranted. They are tempted to reject Christianity altogether and base their lives on what seems obvious and clear from experience. If a person has such feelings, he should not be distressed, as though his faith ought not to be threatened. By its nature, faith is suspended over the abyss of unbelief, and hence is liable to be questioned at any time. Caught in the grip of involuntary doubt, the believer must continually turn to God with fresh humility. "I do believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9: 23).

When taken too much for granted, faith degenerates into superstition or fanaticism. When seared by doubt, it comes into its own as faith; it proves itself as steadfast adherence to the unseen God. The man of faith, like Abraham, ventures boldly into the unknown and hopes against hope (Heb. 11: 8; Rom. 4:8). Relying on God’s word alone, faith grounds man’s existence in its true source and gives solidity to his whole life. "Unless your faith is firm," said Isaiah to King Ahaz, "you shall not be firm" (Is. 7:9).