Credence and Doubt

November 26, 2025

Faith is certain in so far as it is an experience of the holy. But faith is uncertain in so far as the infinite to which it is related is received by a finite being. This element of uncertainty [doubt] cannot be removed; it must be accepted. […]

[…] We must remember that faith as the state of ultimate concern includes total surrender to the content of this concern […]. This means that the existence of the personality in the ultimate sense is at stake. Idolatrous concern and devotion may destroy the center of personality. If, as in the Christian Church […], it is understandable that every deviation from the credence is considered destructive for the “soul” of the Christian. […]

All this drives to the question: How is a community of faith possible without suppression of man’s spiritual life?

No answer is possible if the character of the creed excludes the presence of doubt. [Without doubt] this faith has become static. […]

The fight against the idolatrous implication was waged first by Protestantism and then, when Protestantism itself became static, by Enlightenment. This protest, however insufficient its expression, aimed originally at dynamic faith and not at negation of faith, not even negation of creedal formulation. […]

So we stand again before the question: How can faith which has doubt as an element within itself be united with creedal statements of a community of faith?

The answer can only be that creedal expressions of the ultimate concern of the community must include their own criticism. It must become obvious in all of them—be they liturgical, doctrinal, or ethical expressions of faith—that they are not ultimate. Rather, their function is to point to the ultimate which is beyond all of them. This is what I call the “Protestant principle,” the critical element […] and consequently the element of doubt in the act of faith. […]

Certainly, the life of a community of faith is a continuous risk, if faith itself is understood as a risk. But this is the character of the dynamic of faith.

~ Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, §5-6