Dynamic Christian Faith

THE UNIQUENESS OF THE FAITH OF CHRISTIANITY
Faith is the bed-rock of Christianity. Of all existing religions, Christianity is the only faith-centered religion. Other religions are wrongly labeled as “faiths”. The paradoxical phrase “paths of faith” has falsely elevated the other religions to a “faith” status. For, there is no other religion than Christianity which offers “faith” as a way of salvation to its adherents. Faith “marga” (way) is unique to Christianity. Faith is the essence of Christian teachings. Faith is indispensable to Christian life. From the time of its very inception, Christianity has evolved and developed the concept of faith. It has from time to time, informed and enriched and formulated its idea of “faith” from all branches of sciences. Christianity alone is the proud owner of fully developed high-pistology (Greek: pistis = faith, logos= study). Pistology is the systematic study of Faith and the Believer. This present study undertakes to construct a proper theology of pistology by systematically studying the etymology of faith, Christian philosophy of faith, the Christian psychology of faith, the Biblical theology of faith, and the Christian theology of faith to prove that the nomenclature “Faith” is the sole property of Christianity. Etymologically, faith is an English word derived form the Old French “feid” (faith, trust), which was derived from the Latin “fides” (trust, belief), which in trurn was derived from the root of Latin “fidere” (to trust, to believe). The Webster’s Dictionary defines faith as “belief, especially in a revealed religion, trust, reliance, loyalty”. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “trust in somebody’s ability or knowledge, trust that somebody or something will do what has been promised, a strong religious belief”. The polymorphic nature of faith obvious by the following various definitions. By its meaning, faith is a belief directed toward a person or a thing. Traditionally, faith was considered as... [continues]

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