Roman Faith and Christian Faith
Francis Watson2015
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Abstract
contributions to the discussion. Constraints of space preclude a full response to all the issues on which Seifrid and Watson touch, but the main point of disagreement between us is the relative importance of trust and belief to New Testament writers, especially Paul, so I begin there before turning briefly to other points and a few minor corrections to misunderstandings of Roman Faith and Christian Faith's argument. 1 Both respondents argue contra Roman Faith that belief rather than trust is central to early Christian pistis. '[B]eliefs come first'; they are 'credal' and 'counterintuitive' and 'believing is the intended perlocutionary effect of preaching'. 2 If Christians did not need to believe in the 'fundamental, paradoxical content' of the 'proclamation of "the word of the cross"', why could they not simply trust in the God of Abraham; why did they need to be baptized in the name of Jesus and acknowledge the lordship of Christ? 3 It is worth noting that Roman Faith never claims that early Christians trusted in God or Christ without believing anything, nor that '[i]t was only with time that propositional content came to prominence within early Christianity'. 4 In fact, it argues that trust and belief are always entwined, across ancient and modern cultures and in early Christian texts (pp. 20-22 and passim). It recognizes, however, that pistis, fides 1 I use 'belief' here as in the book to refer to what philosophers call 'propositional belief' or 'the attitude of belief': the disposition, short of knowledge, to think that a certain thing is true. 2 Watson, pp. 1, 2. 'First' seems to refer to significance rather than timing, but we cannot assume that belief comes first chronologically either (cf. Paul's emphasis on the importance, perhaps even temporal priority, of the non-verbal aspects of his impact on the Thessalonians and Corinthians (1 Thess. 1.5, 2.7-8, 1 Cor. 2.4); cf. Or. CC 1.10). I am sympathetic to the argument that the counterintuitiveness of Christian preaching may be part of its strength, but Paul's appeal to the apostles' experience (Roman Faith, 242-3, cf. 39-41, 145-6), suggests that he does not regard this preaching as counterintuitive. 3 Seifrid, pp. 9-10.
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