Module 3: Faith as Personal Trust

• Fideists believe that through the act of faith alone can one enter into an encounter with God. Thus, knowledge of God relies on complete trust and confidence.
• Fideism gives little attention to, if not denies, the importance of reason. The sole source of faith is divine or supernatural revelation which is communicated to the believer as an interior experience, though such can also be explained by rational knowledge.
• Emphasizes the total otherness of revelation and faith. Human beings are sinful and are capable of receiving God (the totally Other, but through shee grace, which also comes from God, one can transcend sinfulness and be united with God. 
• Vatican I document Dei Filius rejected this notion of fideism
• Vatican I document Dei Filius = the “Church holds and teaches that God, the source and end of all things, can be known with certainty from the consideration of created things, by the natural power of human reason: ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.” (DF no. 1)
• Strengths of this model: 1) Gives importance to human experience as the locus or site of God’s revelation/communication with us, 2) fosters a strong prayer/devotional life among those who espouse this model, 3) Encourages personal transformation, 4) is sympathetic to popular or folk religiosity and can be open to the religious experience of those from non-Christian religions.
• Weaknesses of this Model: 1) Holds a negative view of the person and his/her capacity to know the truth through his/her reason, 2) Can be passive with regard social issues
• The Vatican II document, Dei Verbum speaks of God’s revelation in terms of a personal encounter; an encounter with the person of Jesus
• The Vatican II document, Dei Verbum = There is a re-appreciation of experience as the source of revelation and of faith as entrusting not only of the mind but of the whole self to God. “an obedience by which man entrusts his whole self freely to God,” offering “the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals”
• In Philippine categories, Jose de Mesa explains this faith as "pagsasaloob ng kagandahang-loob ng Diyos"
• pagsasaloob ng kagandahang-loob ng Diyos = “interiorizing or making part of one’s core of personhood  God’s gracious goodness”
• pagsasaloob ng kagandahang-loob ng Diyos = “interiorizing or making part of one’s self God’s very nature.”
• Loob = refers to the inner self; the relational will; the heart or font of affection and disposition
• Magandang loob (beautiful inner self) = is a person of good character
• Masamag loob (bad inner self) or pangit ang loob (ugly inner self)= a person of bad character
• God’s loob is characterized by gracious goodness and faith is interiorizing this gracious goodness.
• As the quality of one’s loob is seen in one’s relationships (labas), there is no dichotomizing here of the interior (loob) and exterior (labas) life.
• A Christian who has interiorized God’s loob will manifest this in the quality of his/her relations with others.
• Indiana Jones: to take that single step unto abyss not because there's proof (because there really wasn't) of a bridge but because he trusts what his father and that little book says there was.
• The term "leap of faith" is commonly described as that act of believing in something or accepting it despite the bounds of reason
• Soren Kierkegaard (Philosopher from Denmark) = a leap not out of reason or against reason but a leap of will and trust
• The phrase "leap of faith" is commonly attributed to Soren Kierkegaard, a philosopher from Denmark.
• The operational principle here is not how rational one is but how trustworthy it is.
• To have a "leap of faith" is to take that leap (it despite the risk), not because of reason but because of trust.
• There are two kinds of faith in its fiducial/affective dimension: Biblical Faith and Existensial Faith
• "hineni" (Hebrew) which means "Here I am"
• Abraham and God has a master-servant relationship
• When God calls Abrahams name, he replies with "hineni"
• Yahweh delivers the summon in such a way that Abraham would feel how painful and immensely difficult it would be for Abraham by using the phrases, "your only son whom you love so dearly". Considering that Abraham had another son by his housemaid, Yahweh was specific to refer to Isaac, whom you love the most.
• It is a kind of faith that is characterized by strong personal and subjective certainty despite the seeming or obvious uncertainty of the surrounding context. It is a strong conviction of trust to God that everything is gonna be fine despite objectively (what is actually happening around me), there is little or no ground of certainty at all.
• It is a faith that believes and trusts while trembling in fear and anguish.  This kind of faith speaks of not just faith but a commitment to faith.
• "Subjective certainty despite objective uncertainty."
• Abraham and Job have for their subjective disposition a certain claim to truth of faith that "God is good and He will never forsake me..."
• Biblical Faith = is a faith that never doubts
• For Unamono, existential faith is agonic in nature. There are suffering and pain. One suffers in doubt yet the very strength is actually in the struggle with doubt. True faith is agonic faith. It is a commitment to faith that hurts. 
• Biblical faith is that which is marked by subjective certainty despite the presence of uncertainties around him/her. There are no doubts but only feelings of fear. Existential faith is marked by the presence of doubts and uncertainties on the part of the person but continues to strive to believe and commit.
• Biblical faith = commits even if there is fear but no doubts
• Existential faith = commits DESPITE the doubts