ABSTRACT
Because so many people apparently separate their religion from their other concerns and, in fact, sentimentalize it into a vague feeling, it is easy to charge that religion has no affinity with reason or knowledge. Most people have heard Christian sermons in which the minister counseled the religious person to throw reason to the winds and “just believe.” Faith and knowledge are often set against each other as two different ways of presenting us with a body of factual information. Knowledge is regarded as the direct experience of verifying certain factual data, while faith means accepting the word of an authority that such verification has been made. The principal objection to pitting faith against knowledge is that such a contest comes only from a gross misunderstanding of faith. The Christian attitude toward the relation of faith and knowledge and reason can best be summarized in terms of its practical results.
