Faith and Certitude: Can We Be Sure of the Things that Matter Most to Us? Paperback – November 1, 1998

The three stars that I have assigned to this book represent the fact that I am pleased that the author tackles an important and difficult subject--the possibility of religious faith in the modern world. I am a religious believer (and Catholic, like the author) and found the author's arguments thought-provoking. But ultimately I think the author misses the boat. The main objective of the author in this book is to assure religious believers that "certitude" in one's religious belief is possible. By "certitude" is meant, presumably, the absence of doubt. Therefore, it is possible for one to have a religious faith that is impervious to all doubt, so the author claims. The author devotes much of the text criticizing, and at times delegitimizing, all that he feels has been undermining religious faith in the modern age. "Subjectivism, relativism, agnosticism, and skepticism" come under attack, but the author goes on tediously and long-windedly denouncing these ism's. I agree with him but fewer pages would have sufficed. I stumbled over the author's take on science. In Chapter 8 he takes pains to insist that scientists--many of whose theories have, at times, thrown certain Church teachings into question--can make mistakes. The author seems determined to vitiate confidence in science in order to prevent religious believers from being infected with doubt about their religious beliefs upon encountering a scientific proposal at odds with Christian beliefs. (When I read this chapter I found myself imagining all the anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, and Creationists high-fivin' with elation.) This line of attack on the part of the author has a long pedigree in Church history. Galileo ran afoul of Church authorities with his proposal that the earth revolves around the sun. Church authorities deemed this to be a threat to the Faith hence Galileo was obliged to recant, or else. Pastoral solicitude trumps scientific truth, which seems to be where the author is coming from. The author also takes up the topic of evolution insisting that evolutionary biologists frequently do not agree among themselves. This assertion may be gratifying to fundamentalists, though the author does not directly endorse the literal interpretation of Genesis. Rather than delegitimate science, a more adequate approach, I think, is to recognize different levels of knowledge, or at least of distinguishing problems from mysteries. The empirical method is the most reliable way of obtaining truths about the material world, that is, of coming to some certainty about the laws governing the material world. Science confronts problems amenable to empirical investigation (and of course scientists do not always get it right, but sometimes they do). Religious truth, on the other hand, is not attained through empirical investigation, as it addresses mysteries, that is, questions of an existential nature beyond the reach of empirical method. Faith, as the Church teaches, is the first of the three theological virtues. Faith can be strong or weak. My assent to heliocentrism is neither strong nor weak--it is a proven fact; my assent is not a matter of virtue. Scientific truth is deterministic. Science seeks the laws which govern the material world--it is a world in which human freedom has no place. Faith, on the other hand, is embraced voluntarily, but it is not blind. We have the testimony of the Apostles, and we have our own interior experiences of questioning. Admittedly, there are scientists who are militantly anti-religious. Such scientists see religious believers as being delusional, giving assent to beliefs that are, in their mind, unverifiable. They employ a straw-man type logic, seeing all religious believers as being fundamentalists. But not all religious believers are fundamentalists. A commitment to living the Gospels can coexist with the recognition that scientific studies can yield understanding of the material world. While I stumble on the author's approach to science, science does not get a free pass, in my opinion. Guardrails are necessary. While we enjoy the benefits of science, there are dangers: more lethal weaponry, such as that brought about by knowledge of atomic structure; unbridled eugenics. As a conclusion, I think that the author's insistence on "certitude", when it comes to faith, is not entirely apt. Certitude deriving from empirical investigation of the material world is one thing. But when it comes religion, while some believers may claim certitude, it is a subjective certitude. After all, there are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of religions in the world. No doubt there are many Moslems who claim certitude about their faith--a certitude every bit as strong as that of the most fervent Christians. So we can have conflicting certitudes in the world when it comes to faith. If "certitude" becomes the central feature of one's understanding of faith, there would tend to be problematic inter-religious relations. The author does, happily, state that putting one's faith into action is essential to authentic faith. I believe that putting Gospel values into practice--living the faith--takes precedence over the elimination of doubt. It might have been better if more attention had been given to that rather than to an overweening certitude.

This was a pleasurable book to read. It was so clear and full of insights into the Christian faith. I would put Thomas Dubay's book in the same category as Frank Sheed's Theology and Sanity. I was particularly interested in the reasons why people reject certain truths...it's not the reasons those people tell you. He also gives you a very reasonable and practical perspective on the opinions of so called Bible experts so prevalent in the popular media today. I was particularly struck by the letters to an atheist in the final chapter of the book. I admire Dubay's patience and willingness to try to help this lost soul. The search for objective truth is important to me and I have found a welcome guide in Thomas Dubay. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sound, reasoned answers to their questions about Christian faith.

There were some very good insights in this book for me, including the first section on coming to faith. I recommend the first chapter or two of the book for that purpose alone. The remainder of the book was repetitive and deductive in nature. If you're looking for a glaring example of the mannerist treatment of faith, this is your book right here. Zzzzzzzz.

This is a scholarly, yet readable work, which makes the case for intellectual sanity. Dubay deals with the ability to know the true, the good, and the beautiful with certainty. It is an excellent apologia which combats the scourge of relativism, and makes it understandable for the common reader.It is well worth one's time and effort.

Good challenging read.

Very smooth transaction! Great book!

Fantastic writer and clear ideas

Review of Thomas Dubay, S.M. _Faith and Certitude_This excellent discussion of the certitude of faith - the very possibility of which may be surprising, even shocking, to many modern readers -- is primarily aimed at a Roman Catholic readership. The main concern of the book is religious belief, although human belief in general is dealt with as background, a practice that has become more or less standard since Newman. "This volume is not a defensive polemic. It is the rendering of an account of the confidence we have in God and in his revelation." p 22.The first two chapters (The Empty Ache; Do We Need Certitude?) are introductory. Chapters 3 and 4, which Fr. Dubay says he was tempted to omit because of their negative nature, are a summary of obstacles to religious belief in the present age and even in the present Church. The meat of the discussion begins with Ch. 5 (Clarifying Our Concepts), which deals with definitions. Ch. 6 (The Causes of Error) regards error chiefly as extending our judgments beyond the available evidence - both in the secular world and in the Church -- and posits some reasons why we do this.Ch. 7 (How We Attain Certitude) offers essentially Newman's "cumulation of probabilities." In spite of my great admiration for Newman I personally do not see as yet that we have a method of cumulation of probabilities that leads to the Christian faith that could not also lead to rejection of the Christian faith. If evidence for belief is cumulative, then so is evidence for unbelief. It is especially important therefore to note Fr. Dubay's warning (p 115 and elsewhere) that he is dealing only with the natural aspects of religious faith, not with its supernatural aspects.Ch 8 (Scholarship, Doubt and Certitude) is an especially important one. In most popularizations of science and scholarship, an impression of unanimity is conveyed. The average person has little idea of the actual state of affairs. As ever, the rational response to both science and scholarship is "Stay Tuned!"Ch 9, Biblical Criticism and Theological Certitude, deals with major attitudes that are taken toward Christian disunity after the Reformation. While the criticisms here are not new, it is clear that there are rumblings of dissatisfaction with 19th- and 20th- century establishments.Ch 10, Biblical Criticism and Pastoral Practice, asks how the non-expert might react to all that has been discussed in the last chapter. The role of the Church and her liturgy in biblical interpretation is stressed.Ch 11, Attaining Truth, emphasizes holism: the quest for truth requires not only reasoned argument ("Life is not long enough for a religion of inferences," wrote Newman), but also philosophical realism; moral integrity; intellectual, ethical and religious conversion; vision; love; and above all, exercise of the will. This latter idea is developed in the next two chapters.Ch 12, A Case in Point: Atheism. This chapter refutes the cardinal implications of atheism: chance origin of the universe, the absurdity of human life, nihlism. The case is essentially that atheism is humanly abnormal.Ch 13, Another Case: Theism. Here we have an eloquent defense of theism grounded on radical trust in reality, human longing, human transcendence, the material universe, conscience, experience of the transcendent, miracles, and the Person of Jesus. At the end of this chapter is the only discussion in the book of the Problem of Evil, and it is brief: Fr. Dubay makes these points: (a) evil is a difficulty like other difficulties -- human knowledge cannot be perfect; (b) evil is a problem only for the theist; (c) most importantly - the Incarnation solves much of the Problem of Evil (as well as the other great problem of theism, the transcendence of God). This is the essence of the Christian religion; unfortunately for dialogue, knowing this requires a much greater grasp of Christianity than an outsider can possibly have.The valuable final chapter 14 was added as an afterthought. It is called Letters to An Atheist. There is also a short epilogue._Faith and Certitude_ is somewhat repetitive and loosely organized, but I can recommend it heartily as an up-to-date treatment of the contemporary defense of the Faith.Ken Miner