CHAPTER V 



INDUCTIVE REASONING AND THE FAITH OF THEISTS 



Turning now to the consideration of the question 

 how far Science and Reason are compatible with Faith or 

 vice versa : I will take Prof Henry Jones' article ^ as a 

 basis for a short discussion. 



Prof. Jones tells us that philosophers and theo- 

 logians level charges against the ratiocinative use of the 

 intelligence, especially in regard to the " principles of our 

 moral and religious life " ; and he speaks of "our failure 

 to justify the faith that founds our practice, etc. ". 



Now is not the controversy between " Science and 

 Faith," 2 based on a misunderstanding of the term 

 " Faith " ? What the Church has too often demanded of 

 the "faithful" is not "faith" but "belief," if not "cre- 

 dulity ". Prof. Jones quotes Mr. Balfour as saying "the 

 causes of belief are not Reasons. It is Authority rather 

 than Reason." 



It is well, therefore, to be clear as to what one means 

 by the terms used. The Century Dictionary says " Faith 

 is a firm belief based upon confidence in the authority 

 and veracity of another, rather than upon one's own 

 knowledge, reason or judgment ". But with the Disciples 



1 " The Present Attitude of Reflective Thought towards Religion, 

 Hibbert jfournal, i., p. 228. 



^ The subject of Sir Oliver Lodge's paper in the same journal, i., pp. 46, 

 209. 



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