ABSTRACT
The concept of certainty is ambiguous since the word can be used either to describe the state of mind of the person who believes or to indicate something of the epistemic status of the beliefs he or she has. Kierkegaard likens faith to a passion and pours scorn on the suggestion that the life of faith could be based on judgments of probability. Aquinas makes very clear that the merit that makes faith a virtue could be present in faith only if the believer has freedom in believing and that when there is knowledge, there is no such freedom. The chapter considers the question of whether the beliefs that form the cognitive core of faith need to be held with subjective certainty for the one who has them to be credited with having faith at all.
