Even though many definitions exist about faith and reason I will first provide one from the dictionary. Faith is defined as »strong belief or trust in someone or something, belief in the existence of God, a system of religious belief« (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Reason is defined by logic, condition, fact or as a »a statement of fact that explains why something is the way it is, why someone does, thinks, or says something, or why someone behaves a certain way" (Merriam Webster Dictionary).
Albl (5) on the other hand does not separate faith and reason as two completely opposite things. Albl argued (7) that both faith and reason can be in perfect harmony and are not contradictory but inseparable. He tries to prove that religious belief is reasonable. Understanding of the terms is based on and influenced by different traditions (Albl 19). From Aristotle, Plato to Immanuel Kant they all showed the connection between the both terms. The history of terminology and relationship has a long history.
There are different views on the relationship between the faith and reason. Some have suggested there is no correlation and they conflict each other while others have tried to prove they can correlate. One of the most known philosophers in history John Lock assumed that faith and religion is irrational. In traditional doctrine the faith is blinded and the reason is something empirical, mathematically proven evidence and faith is not scientific truth. Some say it is not empirical and logical (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy N.p.).
The role of reason has been present in the theology through the whole history. The reason has been mentioned in the Bible and other revealed materials, and therefore the theology uses “scientific” inductive studies and is founded on knowledge and rationality but on the other hand also faith with prayers and Christian experience. The doctrines are not irrational and therefore reason plays a significant role in theology. Faith is a big part of reason, since one needs to believe in something in order to understand it and the reason is not knowledge per se.
Works cited:
Albl, C. Martin. Reason, Faith, and Tradition: Explorations in Catholic Theology. United States of America: Saint Mary’s Press, 2009. Print.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Faith and Reason. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 Jan. 2016. http://www.iep.utm.edu/faith-re/
Merriam Webster Dictionary. Web. 16 Jan. 2016. http://www.merriam-webster.com/
