ABSTRACT
Students of religion are likely to examine religious traditions in a manner that is said to be phenomenological. The purpose of the academic study of religion is thought to be that of understanding the beliefs and practices that can be discerned in these traditions rather than that of deciding on the truth of the claims they make. The concept of faith seems to be much more restricted than that of religion. Faith is one of the states or attitudes demanded of the religious person and then, it seems, only in some of the major religions: namely, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A similar involvement with philosophy falls to the lot of the student of theology. The relationship between faith and philosophy in Western thought has never been a comfortable one. The result of this discomfort has been a number of philosophical attempts to say what faith is and to address the puzzles to which it gives rise.
