It is common today, perhaps even fashionable, for Christians to celebrate the place of doubt within Christian life and faith. In part, this is a good thing. Yet, I sometimes wonder if perhaps the pendulum has begun to sway too far in the opposite direction. Are too many Christians beginning to embrace doubt to the point of skepticism and cynicism? This would not be a good thing.
In this post, I will offer some reflections on the appropriate place of doubt in Christian life and faith. In a second post, I will offer a critique of problematic forms of doubt that are damaging to Christian life and faith.
Off the top of my head, I can think of at least four reasons why doubt might be appropriate for the Christian believer.
(1)
First, since the Enlightenment, we in the west have tended to champion certain forms of knowing over others. In particular, we tend to associate ‘knowledge’ and ‘certainty’ with forms of knowing that begin with skepticism and then critically apply rational and empirical methods to answer our questions (having first assumed implicitly or set out explicitly the criteria for testing the truth we are seeking). The problem with this is that critical rational and empirical methods are not the only ways of knowing. In particular, as the philosopher of science Michael Polanyi has shown, personal knowing is not reducible to rational and empirical methods. And as hermeneutic thinkers like Hans-Georg Gadamer have shown, even scientific knowledge is not reducible to purely objective and detached methods, because the scientists employing those methods are human agents who are immersed-in-the-world and begin their work with particular interests that influence and guide the kinds of questions they ask.
With Christian faith, this approach to knowing is even more limited with respect to our knowledge of God. This is because the God of Christianity is personal and relational in nature; as a Person, God can be known truly and deeply only if God opens himself up and discloses himself to us. Our own methods here are limited, because God is the infinite Subject of divine self-disclosure (or revelation), not an impersonal and finite object that we can subject to our tests and experiments. (To some degree, this applies to all persons, but it applies to God supremely). So, sometimes, I think present-day Christians champion doubt because they are pushing back against the idea that faith must be ‘certain’ in a kind of scientific sense. This seems appropriate.
(2)
Second, some might endorse doubt in response to simplistic representations of Christian faith that approach ‘faith’ in an anti-intellectual and fideistic way. This typically characterizes various forms of fundamentalism that downplay the importance of the life of the mind. It also characterizes some (not all!) charismatic expressions of faith, especially those that embrace ‘health and wealth’ teachings (“name it and claim it,” “doubt it, live without it,” etc.). Here, faith is presented in childish – rather than child-like – terms and borders on the superstitious or the magical (e.g., words and phrase spoken with the right attitude possess the power to achieve what they command). Many have been hurt by such approaches and, as a result, have come to question their faith (“this doesn’t work”) or their own genuineness or earnestness (“perhaps I was not healed because I didn’t believe firmly enough?”). Doubt in the form of resistance to this kind of ‘faith’ also seems appropriate.
(3)
Third, and perhaps related to what I’ve just written, doubt seems like an appropriate Christian response to leaders who act in inappropriate ways or who say and teach inappropriate things. Faith is a central virtue in Christianity, but it is balanced by hope (which requires trust and not mere optimism) and love (which requires justice). As discussed and represented in Scripture, faith is not blind to reality or to evil. Rather, it is connected to wisdom and discernment as well as to righteousness, justice, and holiness. So, it is appropriate and even necessarily for Christians with strong faith to respond with doubt – in the forms of critical thinking and moral reasoning – when they encounter authoritarian, immoral, anti-intellectual, manipulative, or predatory leaders or the claims and demands of such leaders.
(4)
Finally, a certain form of doubt seems to be appropriate to the committed nature of Christian faith. Here, we are not talking about doubt in an epistemological sense (Cartesian doubt or skepticism) but in an existential sense. When the gravity of important decisions weighs heavily on us, we are appropriately deliberative, reflective, perhaps even hesitant to act. The existentialists referred to this as ‘anxiety.’ If we are to live authentically in the real world, such anxiety cannot be ignored, wished away, or bypassed, but must rather be embraced and faced with decisive commitment and responsible action. The Christian philosopher Søren Kierkegaard famously wrote about this aspect of Christian faith in his book Fear and Trembling, as he pondered the Old Testament story of Abraham and Isaac. He argued that the “Knight of Faith” has to commit fully to what is ultimate (God) in order to truly receive and enjoy rightly and authentically what is penultimate (Isaac). Doing so requires a ‘teleological suspension of the ethical,’ the suspension of human rational and moral judgments in light of an absolute, transcendent call from beyond what can be humanly anticipated or calculated.
My wife’s grandfather, Lyness Wark, used to say that “doubt is the price the strong man pays for his convictions.” It’s an illuminating proverb to ponder. If you want to illiminate doubt from your life, the solution is easy: just abandon all of your convictions! If you don’t care, if you are not involved or committed, you won’t have doubts. But this is an even worse price to pay than the cost of doubt itself! So, understood this way, doubt can be sign that you actually have convictions and commitments and that you care enough to recognize and face the gravity of the decisions that you face. Within Christian life and faith, this kind of ‘doubt’ seems very appropriate indeed.
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