faith in humanity essay

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What restores your faith in humanity, it takes less than you might think..

Posted April 28, 2023 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

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Our faith in humanity may wax and wane, depending on several factors.
We can increase our own FIH levels by looking for goodness in others and committing small acts of kindness without an expected outcome.
Every act we choose can nudge us to evolve in a positive direction.

The belief that the good in humans outweighs the bad is sometimes referred to as our "faith in humanity" (FIH). Rather than all or none, we might think of it on a continuum. After a particularly discouraging day of work, news, or interpersonal distress, my husband and I will check in with each other, “How is your FIH meter today?” or, “What is your FIH score today?” If we are asking, it usually means we're scoring lower than usual after another heartbreaking act of violence or despair in the news. It might be after witnessing a random act of rudeness on the road or finding a lit cigarette in the dirt during fire season.

Other times, we report soaring FIH scores after a random act of kindness or just a simple, honest gesture that fully restores our faith in humanity for the moment. A small, loving act can reset a tenderness for others and help us reconnect. It might be my neighbor giving me fresh basil, someone returning my credit card I left behind at the table, or the encouraging words of a stranger.

Psychological research has found that acts of kindness improve our mental and physical health. In fact, just recalling a kind act can boost mood. The act does not have to be rewarded or even acknowledged by anyone else. Genuine acts of kindness toward others inherently reconnect us with our own humanity, thus increasing our own FIH as well as having a positive impact on others.

Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön writes:

Every act counts. Every thought and emotion counts too. This is all the path we have. The path that we're talking about is the moment-by-moment evolution of our experience, the moment-by-moment evolution of the world of phenomena, the moment-by-moment evolution of our thoughts and our emotions.

In other words, a little bit goes a long way. A study in 2022, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, found that we tend to systematically underestimate the positive impact our actions have on another. It may be that the warmth conveyed in the act is powerful far beyond a simple gesture. Even if it just takes a moment, the effects ripple out further than we might think.

Chödrön also writes:

Maybe the most important teaching is to lighten up and relax. It's such a huge help in working with our crazy, mixed-up minds to remember that what we're doing is unlocking a softness that is in us and letting it spread.

This softness, once unlocked, keeps spreading.

How can we increase our faith in humanity?

There are two ways we might be able to increase our FIH:

Commit small acts of kindness . And do so for our own good, trusting it matters, but without concern for a specific outcome.
Look for others' small acts of kindness. Noticing bad behavior is easy, but noticing when someone acts with emotional maturity or basic goodness may go unnoticed. Noticing itself is an act of kindness.

What increases your FIH meter?

Here are a few things on my list:

A very patient employee helping me at the store.
Seeing someone clean up after their dog.
Someone offering me a cup of coffee.
Watching a parent encourage their child to try something new.
Children singing.
Public artwork on a random street corner.
Finding a bench someone dedicated appear right where I need to rest for a moment.
Holding my friend’s beautiful hand-crafted pottery.
Hearing truth and wisdom from my teenager .
Hearing someone publicly (or privately) deliver a genuine apology .
Honest and kind feedback someone has bothered to share with me.

Chödrön, P. (2016). When things fall apart: heart advice for difficult times. 20th anniversary edition. Boulder, Shambhala.

Kellon Ko, Seth Margolis, Julia Revord & Sonja Lyubomirsky (2021) Comparing the effects of performing and recalling acts of kindness, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16:1, 73-81, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2019.1663252

Lee Rowland & Oliver Scott Curry (2019) A range of kindness activities boost happiness, The Journal of Social Psychology, 159:3, 340-343, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2018.1469461

Kumar, A., & Epley, N. (2023). A little good goes an unexpectedly long way: Underestimating the positive impact of kindness on recipients. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(1), 236–252. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001271

Jessica Del Pozo, Ph.D. , is a licensed clinical psychologist who works with health care organizations, teaches workshops, and enjoys a small private practice.

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Why we must have faith in humanity, now more than ever

One of the deepest questions we can ask is:

Are humans fundamentally good or bad?

Of course the answer is neither and both.

Yet day by day how we feel about this question fluctuates with our moods and what we observe in the world. Certainly the more we watch the news the more evil we see.

Over the last years in particular many people’s belief in humanity has been gravely eroded.

Yet, as we look forward to the future of humanity, with even the next decades inevitably taking us into completely uncharted territory… …we must have faith in ourselves, in our humanity, in our ability to create a better future through what will inevitably be extremely challenging times.

It is the only way we have a chance of creating a truly human future of humanity, one that makes us proud to be human.

Today many would argue that we need only look around us to see how vile people can be.

However I believe deeply in humans.

There are so very many pure, beautiful people who give so much to the world and those around them, who inspire us, show us who humans can be at our best.

We will never be able to prove that humans are good or bad, because they are both.

So it becomes a question of what you choose to believe.

Of Albert Einstein’s many deeply wise words, perhaps the wisest were:

I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ This is the first and most basic question all people must answer for themselves.

Or living in our very human context, we must ask:

Are we good? Or bad?

We must choose our answer.

I believe we MUST have faith in humanity.The thing about faith is it transcends proof or disproof. It is something you simply take to be true.

Faith in humanity is not about believing that every aspect of humans is wonderful.

It is believing that, fundamentally, the good in us outweighs the bad in us, and will win out in the end.

There is no question that having faith in humanity is a prerequisite to bringing out the best in us.

It will give us the brightest possible future.

So, now more than ever, let us have faith in humanity, and believe that despite our deep struggles on the journey, we have it in ourselves to create a better future.

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The Doctrine of Humanity

Other essays.

The Christian doctrine of humanity sees the human person as made in God’s image, either a man or a woman by God’s making, fallen through Adam’s historical sin, formed for vocation unto God, and redeemable in and through the God-man, Jesus Christ.

This essay examines humanity through a theological survey of God’s intentions for the crown of his creation. We give special and deserved attention to the early chapters of Genesis, believing that these chapters reveal God’s creational design and establish God’s creational order. This essay treats Adam as a historical person who sinned against God in a real garden denouement . Despite this tragedy, we may know redemption in Christ the true human, and may thus both work and rest unto the glory of God, fulfilling God’s intentions in an escalated Christocentric form.

“Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.”

(Augustine, Confessions Book 1)

Christian theology voices in our time what Augustine wrote sixteen centuries ago: God made us for himself, and so the human person will know no peace until they repose in the divine. This is a remarkable starting point. In a world filled with people who stand on God’s cosmic stage but who have lost the divine script, Christian anthropology offers our fellow men and women the script back—with an escalated resolution in Christ that takes our breath away.

The Image of God

The Lord, as Augustine said, formed us for himself. The man and the woman are his in his “image” and his “likeness” (Gen 1:26–28, tselem and demuth ). The fact that the man and woman are made in God’s image prepares them to fulfill the dominion mandate by filling the earth with children, ruling over the creation, and stewarding it to the glory of their maker . Adam in particular has a priestly role in Eden; as G. K. Beale has decisively shown, his commission to “watch and guard” the undisturbed (but not undisturbable) garden is priestly language (Gen 2:15). Adam is a priest to God in Eden, an early glimpse of the later truth that new covenant members are a kingdom of priests in Christ (1Pet 2:9).

Theologians differ over what precisely it means that humanity is imago dei , to use the Latin doctrinal term. Some like Barth argue for a relational view, rooting imaging in marriage and relationship; some like Luther contend for a righteousness view, construing the image as the gift of holiness; others like Calvin push for a substantive view, seeing the image as a particular trait or ability of the human person, with reason and knowledge of God being a commonly-held interpretation of the image’s “substance.”

Each view deserves careful consideration (and has elements of resonance with Scripture), but I argue for what is called the ontological view (meaning our being itself). Building off of Genesis 5, 9, and especially 1 Corinthians 11:7 (“man is the image and glory of God”), I believe that the image is not something we do but something we are . The image is not a trait; it is us. We are the only living being made in God’s image; thus, what separates us from the angels on the one hand and the animals on the other is, first and foremost, our definitive identity by the making of God.

Though we might identify various attributes of the human person as essential and even constituent to our being, the man and by extension are the image. In practical form, to see a human person, whether a baby in the womb through a monitor, a teenager with Down Syndrome at the park, or an elderly person lying in a nursing home bed, unable to care for themselves any longer, is to see an image-bearer, to catch a fading but real glimpse of the glory of the one who made us.

The Beauty of Manhood and Womanhood

Humanity is made in the image of God, formed by the Lord himself: “male and female he made them” (Gen 1:27). Here we learn a second glorious element of our humanity: God made us all with equal worth, but not with the same bodily identity. From the beginning, the Lord desired that there be unity in diversity in human terms. We sense just how strong this desire is for God’s choicest creation in Genesis 2. Much is occurring in this chapter: Adam is made by God’s own hand and breathed into by the Lord (Gen 2:7). He receives divine direction about the function of Eden, hearing from God that he may eat from any tree—we picture many trees bearing many kinds of fruit in Eden—but not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:16–17). In Eden, unfettered by sin (and without a sin nature), Adam listens to God. He is free, but not free to do whatever he wishes. Yet there is one thing that troubles paradise: he is alone, and this is “not good” (2:18).

So the Lord undertakes a second aesthetic making and produces a masterpiece. The Lord makes Adam’s wife from Adam’s rib (2:21–22). The Lord then brings her to Adam so that he may name her, and he names her woman ( ishah ). Adam names her not so much technically as explosively. He rejoices when the woman is brought to him: “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” (2:23)! This marriage is not a creational anecdote; it is a human archetype. It is the very plan of God for human existence and by extension human flourishing. This design is altogether lovely: one man and one woman united in covenantal marriage; the man leaving his father and mother to “hold fast” to one wife (Gen 2:24); the spouses, post-fall, imaging the Christ-church paradigm through husbandly headship and wifely submission (Eph 5:22–33).

Following Genesis, the teaching of Scripture comes with one voice: we are made men and women by God for his glory . Our identity is not separate from our body; our body shapes our identity. With much overlapping instruction, manhood and womanhood matter tremendously for faithful Christian discipleship, and creation order grounds the need for manly leadership of the local church (1Tim 2:12). Important as marriage is in God’s old covenant and new covenant eras, and much as family relations matter in the church (elders are to be husbands of one wife and godly fathers, for example), we do not become a biblical man or woman on our wedding day. We are made a man or woman by God and—ideally—we grow in this calling as fathers and mothers disciple their sons and daughters in scripturally sound ways. Marriage and family-building is a deeply-doxological undertaking; it is also true that singleness devoted to God is no lesser call but allows for serious service to the Lord (1Cor 7).

The Fall of Man

From this happy start in Eden, things fall apart. A creeping thing enters the garden, and Adam fails to heed the charge given earlier to take dominion of all things including creeping things (see Gen 1:30). He does not “guard” Eden, and he stands passively by as the serpent—representing Satan—wraps his words around Eve, tempting her to sin against God (Gen 3:1–7). Satan encourages the woman to doubt God by softening God’s words, accusing God of harshness, and ultimately denying directly the truthfulness of divine revelation. “You will not surely die” represents the culmination of this wicked instance of false teaching, the first false teaching in the world God has made (3:4). Eve, then, allows the serpent’s revelation to cause her to desire the forbidden fruit; the fruit was always beautiful, but Eve is now seeing it in warped terms. She takes, eats, and Adam joins her in doing so (3:6). The human race, made for glory, made for communion with God, now is a fallen race.

The Lord is not asleep, however. Setting the biblical tone, the Lord comes in his own time and brings judgment against depravity. The creational capacities and vocations are now cursed: the woman will bear children in pain, even as the man will work the ground in pain (3:16–19). Yet in judgment there is a stirring note of salvation: the Lord promises a deliverer of God’s seed, one who crushes the serpent’s head, but has his heel bruised in doing so (3:15). A second redemptive note emerges out of the wreckage of sin: the man and the woman now see their bodies—their nakedness—in shame, shame produced by real judicial and spiritual guilt, but the Lord clothes them in animal skins (3:21).

This is the real historical grounding of the biblical doctrine of sin. Here is what theologians call “original sin,” and original sin is the ground of the true state labeled “total depravity.” In Adam, every human person fell; in our catastrophic undoing in Eden, we became comprehensively corrupted with sin. In our nature, no human person does good—not even one (Rom 3:10–18). The first couple’s sin is our sin, furthermore: we do not trust and obey God’s word, worshiping him through obedient following, but rather trust and obey ourselves, obediently worshipping Satan as we do so (John 8:44).

The Importance of Work, Vocation, and Rest

Genesis has still more to offer us theologically and anthropologically. The human race, we learn in this book, is made to work. We are the image of God, and God is the God who introduces himself to us in Genesis 1 by working. He creates all things and does so by the power of his speech. His working and acting nature is offset by the seventh day, a day of Sabbath rest (Gen 1:31). All that he has made is “very good,” and so the Lord enters into a rest of completion.

Work and rest are sometimes treated antiseptically by theologians. These are “practical” matters not worthy of deep doctrinal consideration, some seem to think. But this will not do. Work and rest are vital parts of divine activity and the creation order. Our God is a working and creating God. Out of the overflow of his magnificent freedom the Lord decides to put his glory on display in the cosmos. Here is a theocentric foundation for creativity, vocation (understanding work as a calling, not a job), and aesthetics. Creativity is not owned by anti-theistic technologists; it proceeds from the Almighty and displays something of his brilliance. Vocation is not the possession of the careerists, who drive themselves and their families into the ground because of self-motivated workaholism; it originates (in a form) in divine making. Aesthetics are not copyrighted by epicurean artists, who claim no standard of beauty for their craft; beauty is found in God himself, and God is the standard of beauty.

We will constrain our remarks here to vocation and rest. The man and the woman are made to take dominion of the earth, and the fulfillment of this awe-inspiring mandate comes through purposeful, meaningful investment. Later in the biblical story, skilled artisans and builders make major contributions to the temple (see, e.g., Exod 31). In the New Testament we learn that Christ is so big that every detail of life falls under his banner and is to be given to him as an act of worship. Eating and drinking give him glory through faithful Christian obedience; so too does all of life, the great and the small (1Cor 10:31). God is the God of the great, and God is the God of the tiny.

Unlike a naturalistic culture, Scripture does not ground vocation in earning power or political influence or celebrity fandom. Scripture exalts servanthood, and Jesus comes as a servant to God. Service to the Father is his “food” (John 4:34). This Christocentric truth helps us unpack the nature of work, and opens our eyes to see how anonymous daily labor that no one applauds or shares online may nonetheless have grand significance in God’s economy. The man who labors to excel in his job to provide for his family, the mother who gives her strength to pour into her children, the student who ignores campus hedonism to figure out a calling—these and many others honor God as they shape a vocation for the glory of God. But not only this: we glorify God by resting in him. Jesus is our Sabbath rest (Matt 11:28–30; Heb 3–4). We have full rest now in Christ—rest that spills out in all of life in physical, emotional, and psychological ways—even as we will have final rest in the new heavens and new earth.

The Re-enchantment of Humanity: Christ

Our material thus far has been straining almost unto breaking to get to the resolution of our humanity: Jesus Christ. There is no true doctrine of humanity without Jesus. More broadly, there is no ultimate knowledge of the human person in terms of our telos and purpose without Jesus. Humanity is the race made for God; humanity is the race fallen from God; humanity is the race made whole by God in Christ. In God’s plan, everything bends toward Christ.

Jesus comes as the fulfillment of all the promises of God (2Cor 1:20). He is the antitype; every promise is the type. This obtains across the board but has special reference for our purposes to our humanity and fallenness. Paul understands Christ as the second or last Adam . We have borne the image of the man of dust, he writes, and we have laid eschatological grasp on the image of the man of heaven (1Cor 15:49). Here the image of God comes back into play as well. Jesus is straightforwardly identified as the image (2Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). How do we make sense of this interplay given earlier texts? Our Adamic humanity means that we are fully an image-bearer, but our union with Christ means we are remade in the one who is truly the image of God. The cross and resurrection of Christ are so powerful, so saving, that they effectively lead a new exodus, and make what Paul calls “one new man”—a new human race—by Christ’s atoning blood (Eph 2:11–22).

Jesus is the greater Adam, the greater David, the greater Abraham (Matt 1:1). He is the obedient Son who lives in the power of the Spirit and who offers the Father the obedient worship that he deserves. Jesus shows us that it is not true humanity or true freedom to sin. Though Jesus’ disciples must battle sin until the end, we who are regenerated by divine grace are given a new nature, a new name, and are made a new creation in Christ through repentance and faith (Rom 6; 2Cor 5:17).

As Stephen Wellum has shown, the trajectory in biblical Christology begins with the divinity of Christ. This is in no way to underplay his humanity, of course (see Bruce Ware’s important work here , and also John Owen’s interesting take on pneumatological Christology ). To do full justice to Jesus’s humanity, we must note that the Son of God exists eternally and then incarnates in obedience to the Father’s will (John 6:38). Remembering this truth will help greatly when thinking through questions of sin in light of the Son. Jesus was without sin (Heb 4:15). He was tempted in all things but—as the true human—did not have a sin nature as we do.

Some might wonder if this compromises the authenticity of his humanity, but we may respond by pointing out that it is not truly human to sin, but to obey God. Further, Adam did not have a sin nature either, and he was fully human. Jesus is not only like Adam, though; Jesus is the escalation and realization of Adam. Neither he nor Adam had a sin nature. Thus, Jesus did not experience what we call “internal temptation,” sin and fallen desire welling up within Jesus per James 1:13–15. As we have said, then, the stress in Scripture is on the righteousness, holiness, and impeccable perfection of Christ. This entails that Christians, a people transformed by faith in Christ, cannot embrace or affirm as any part of our identity many of the late forms of neo-paganism and naturalism now popular in the West: transgenderism, homosexuality, trans-speciesism, transhuman, posthumanism among them.

How we need the Son of God. We need him desperately, and we need him to understand humanity. We remember the lesson of the Word of God regarding the human race and trees, which play an outsized role in the economy of redemption. The first Adam was cursed by a tree, but the second Adam undoes the curse while hanging on a tree. The story of humanity and trees does not stop there: Jesus is even now leading us into the new Jerusalem, where we will be healed by the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations (Rev 22:2).

This and no other is the re-enchantment of our humanity.

Talks to restore your faith in humanity

Sometimes it’s easy to think the worst of human beings. But these inspiring talks can help you remember: altruism, kindness and helping hands are all around.

There are no scraps of men

Love letters to strangers

How I defend the rule of law

Love, no matter what

The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance

Women, wartime and the dream of peace

The story of a girl

Fighting with nonviolence

A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter

Bringing peace to the minds of Afghanistan

The family I lost in North Korea. And the family I gained.

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Philosophy and Religion

Have You Lost Your Faith in Humanity? Learn How to Restore It

Last Updated: March 2, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diane Martinez and by wikiHow staff writer, Dan Hickey . Diane Martinez is a Certified Holistic Life Coach and Founder of Conscious Creating Life Coaching, LLC in Atlanta, Georgia. Diane has over 10 years of coaching experience and works with clients in person and virtually on a variety of topics including career decisions, family relationships, anxiety, and setting boundaries. Diane earned her Coaching Certification from Alan Cohen's Holistic Life Coach Training Program. There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 300,949 times.

There’s no shortage of bad news in the world that could drive anyone crazy, and sometimes it’s hard to keep your faith in humanity. What can you do to change your perspective and restore your faith? All humans are born with the ability to love, empathize, and be kind, but sometimes you have to sift through the less-than-perfect circumstances around us to remember that. In this article, we’ll walk you through the best ways to restore your optimism and faith in humanity, as well as highlight common causes of pessimism and how to start addressing them. If you’re ready to give humanity another shot, read on!

Things You Should Know

Remind yourself of the good in the world. Do things like spend time with children, look for positive news stories, or start volunteering.
Shape the world to reflect your values by performing random acts of kindness, being compassionate, and sharing stories of bravery or altruism.
Identify and work through the root cause of your loss of faith. Reasons could include consuming too much bad news or being let down by people you trust.

Ways to Restore Your Faith

Step 1 Seek out good news and virtuous stories on purpose.

Check out sites like the Good News Network , Happy News , The Huffington Post Good News , or Daily Good . They focus on positive news stories about good things humans do.
For a quick mood boost, try searching “random acts of kindness” on YouTube and watch a short video compilation of heartwarming stories.

Really listen to what kids say and watch what they do. Being more childlike and acting playful like them can help you enjoy the world more.
Watch how kids get creative when they solve problems and are always in awe when they learn new things. There’s always something new to see in the world!

Step 3 Spread kindness and positivity on social media and online.

Follow accounts that make you happy (like a page devoted to cute animals or cool art) to make your social media sphere a positive, rewarding place.
Balance your feed with news and happy content. It’s good to know what’s going on in the world, but “doomscrolling” won’t help your mood.
Sharing good news will make you feel better and spread positivity to other people, too.

Explore your passions and interests with your volunteer work—you’ll have more fun and your work will feel more important and fulfilling.
Volunteer work will make you feel less stressed, anxious, or angry and gives you a new sense of purpose.
Volunteering helps you make new friends and improves your social and relationship skills so you’ll feel more connected to your community.

Live empathetically and help others to the best of your ability "We have a responsibility to be aware of others. We need to make justice the norm, not the exception."

Step 5 Practice gratitude for the people and things you value most.

Write in a gratitude journal each night before bed. Turn off all distractions and write down at least 3 things you’re grateful for from your day.
Look for public gratitude journals online to get inspired by what diverse groups of people are thankful for.

Act selflessly when it comes to helping others. Selfishness and isolation are big contributors to the negative aspects we see in the world today.
When you personify the world you want to live in, it shows other people that a kind society is attainable and encourages them to spread positivity, too.

Do a variety of nice things so your kindness doesn’t start to feel routine or compulsory.
Write down a sentence or two about what you did and how it made you feel to cultivate feelings of happiness and optimism.
Examples of things to do are paying someone’s parking meter when it’s empty, letting someone cut you in line, or helping a stranger carry a heavy box or bag.

Try loving-kindness meditation—take a few minutes each day to meditate and silently repeat mantras to send warmth, kindness, and goodwill to others.
Seeing someone help or elevate another human being is incredibly inspiring and often creates a ripple effect of compassion from others.

Step 9 Tell stories about goodness to help people see humanity better.

Share articles or videos you find that highlight heroic or kind acts—this counts as spreading stories, too!
Celebrate awe-inspiring things people do like throwing a race to help an injured athlete or rescuing a pet caught in a burning home.
Storytelling stimulates the neurochemicals associated with empathy and literally brings people’s brains together.

Remember that faith in humanity isn’t something you lose or find. You can empower yourself to be optimistic and make positive change in the world.

Step 11 Ask people to tell you about the happiest moments of their lives.

People love talking about what they care about, what motivates them, and what makes them happy, but it doesn’t come up in conversation very often.

Targeting the Cause of Your Lost Faith

Step 1 You’ve been consuming lots of bad news:

Limit your social media use to stop “doomscrolling.” Only check the news once a day to stay informed without taking a toll on your mental health.
Look for uplifting stories to balance the coverage about pandemic updates, climate change, war, and more.

Step 2 You’ve been betrayed by a person or system you trusted:

It’s difficult, but remember that there are trustworthy people out there and that you deserve to have trustworthy people in your life.
Invest in your relationships with others and gradually open yourself up to them to work on building trust with new people.

Step 3 You were conned or scammed out of money or belongings:

Remember that falling for a scam does not make you stupid or gullible—everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and scammers are good at what they do.
Accept your emotions to move past them. Let yourself feel angry or sad—those feelings will fade away faster if you don’t resist them.
Lean on your friends and family while you recover. There might be scammers out there, but you have many times more good people in your corner.

Step 4 You’ve been discriminated against:

Focus on your strengths, core values, and beliefs. This will help you to succeed despite other peoples’ biases and make you resilient to future challenges. [13] X Trustworthy Source American Psychological Association Leading scientific and professional organization of licensed psychologists Go to source
Open up to your support system about your experiences and to prevent internalizing other people’s beliefs about you.
Try not to dwell on episodes of discrimination. Instead, create a plan for how to cope with future incidents and go on with the rest of your day.

Step 5 You witnessed or experienced past cruelty, abuse, or violence:

Remember there’s no right or wrong way to feel. It’s understandable that you’d be angry with humanity, so let yourself feel it in order to work through it. [15] X Trustworthy Source HelpGuide Nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free, evidence-based mental health and wellness resources. Go to source
Try not to relive the experience in your head or consume media about similar incidents. Take a break from news outlets that remind you of your trauma.
Volunteer to connect with others and feel helpful and friendly. If volunteering feels overwhelming, simply help out a neighbor or hold a door for a stranger.
Be patient with yourself—recovery from abuse or violence takes time. Give yourself time to heal and mourn any losses you’ve experienced.

Community Q&A

Try not to confuse dysfunctional social or political systems with human values. Institutions can get stuck in time or become ineffective, no matter how well-intentioned the people running them are. The best way to help is to advocate for institutional or systemic change. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 5
Read stories and reports about what the people who work for your favorite charities are doing. Learning about the real, on-the-ground work people do to better the world will improve your overall outlook. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 6
Try making a list of people who inspire you and how they’ve positively impacted the world. The list will remind you that there are plenty of good humans out there who want to make a difference. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 7

Be optimistically cautious as you work to trust others more. Putting too much faith in a person you don’t know well and having it backfire can make you lose even more faith in humanity. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 5

↑ https://www.sciencealert.com/seriously-stop-doomscrolling-here-s-how-to-make-your-social-media-a-happier-place
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm
↑ https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/16334/how-to-change-your-outlook/
↑ https://www.rootsofaction.com/role-model/
↑ https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/random_acts_of_kindness
↑ https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-compassionate-mind
↑ https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_stories_change_brain
↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/202201/how-believe-in-yourself
↑ https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/science-doomscrolling/story?id=74402415
↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-be-yourself/202101/how-trust-people-again
↑ https://www.lifepathscounseling.com/emotional-support-fraud-scams/
↑ https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/discrimination-can-be-harmful-to-your-mental-health
↑ https://www.apa.org/topics/racism-bias-discrimination/types-stress
↑ https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2002/1201/p2052.html
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/traumatic-stress.htm

About This Article

If you need to restore your faith in humanity, spend some time with children, if you can, because children tend to see the good in the world. Similarly, try searching online for uplifting and inspiring news stories that will remind you of all the good people have done for each other. If you can, spend time helping people less fortunate than you by volunteering and practicing random acts of kindness. This will help you to feel good about your own contributions to the world. You could also practice feeling thankful by making a list of the reasons you are grateful. To learn how to make the world a little better, keep reading. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Faith and resilience

Published: 08 January 2022
Volume 91 , pages 205–241, ( 2022 )

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Daniel Howard-Snyder ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6912-3875 1 &
Daniel J. McKaughan 2

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In this short essay, we sketch a theory of faith that features resilience in the face of challenges to relying on those in whom you have faith. We argue that it handles a variety of both religious and secular faith-data, e.g., the value of faith in relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness, how the Christian and Hebrew scriptures portray pístis and ʾĕmûnāh , and the character of faith as it is often expressed in popular secular venues.

On the value of faith and faithfulness

Daniel J. McKaughan

Community Resilience and Spirituality: Keys to Hope for a Post-Apartheid South Africa

Yolanda Dreyer

Theological Virtues, Health, and Well-Being: Theory, Research, and Public Health

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction

When you put your faith in someone for something, you rely on them for it, or you are at least disposed to do so. This much seems obvious. We will take it for granted here. When you put your faith in someone for something, you are also at least somewhat resilient in the face of challenges to relying on them for it. This is not as obvious. Nevertheless, we aim to make a case for it here.

We develop our case in six stages. First, we state a theory of relational faith, define its key terms, and adumbrate our methodology. Second, we argue that, because our theory posits faith’s resilience, it can handle several items of data regarding both faith and faithfulness, most notably faith’s role and value in relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness. Third, we substantiate our claim that relational faith bears a necessary relation to resilience. Fourth, we argue that our theory handles positive correlations between faith and resilience in secular contexts, specifically in expressions of pístis and fides in the ancient Greco-Roman world and expressions of faith in a wide variety of contemporary secular venues. Fifth, we argue that our theory handles positive correlations between faith and resilience in religious contexts, specifically in expressions of pístis in the New Testament and ʾĕmûnāh in the Hebrew scriptures, and in the role of faith in the biblical themes of covenant and salvation, the lives of exemplars of faith in God, and the lives of ordinary people of faith today. Finally, we zoom-in on resilience itself. What, exactly, is the nature of the resilience involved in faith? The psychological literature informs our answer.

In doing all this, we aim to understand the faith God desires of people, according to the Abrahamic tradition, and the faith that permeates a variety of human relationships, viewing them as similar phenomena. We focus on relational faith, specifically the claim that it involves resilience. We do not discuss its status as a virtue or vice, or other manifestations of faith, e.g., propositional faith.

A theory of relational faith

Put abstractly, our proposal is this:

Resilient Reliance For you to have faith in someone for something is for you to be disposed to rely on them to come through with respect to it, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so, because of your positive stance toward their coming through.

So, for example, for Samuel to have faith in God as providential governor of the universe is for him to be disposed to rely on God to come through in that capacity, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so, because of his positive stance toward God’s governance.

Several comments are in order. We begin with the notion of a positive stance , explaining why we include it in the theory.

Like fear, hope, anger and other complex psychological states, faith has built-in to it what’s needed to explain behavior. By way of illustration, all you need to know to understand why Christina behaves in certain ways—confessing her sins, praying regularly, studying the Bible, gathering with Christians, helping the disadvantaged, relying on the two Great Commandments to make moral, social, and political decisions, taking the sacraments, observing the holy days, and so on—is that she has faith in Jesus as her Lord. Naturally, we might wonder why she has faith but, once we’ve learned that she does, we can understand why she performs actions that constitute relying on Jesus as her Lord.

But Christina’s faith can explain her behavior only if it involves both conative and cognitive states. However, not any old states will do. We cannot explain her relying-on-Jesus behavior by saying that she wants to follow Jesus as Lord and she believes that he will not come through on that score, or by saying that she believes that Jesus will come through as Lord and she wants him not to do so. Disbelief and disdesire are too “negative” to explain her behavior; more “positive” cognitive and conative states are required.

At a first approximation, for Christina to be in a positive cognitive state toward Jesus coming through as her Lord is for her to be in some cognitive state or other that represents him as coming through, with three features: (1) it has the propositional content that Jesus will come through, (2) it disposes her to take a stand on behalf of the truth of that proposition, and (3) it is responsive to her evidence for its truth and/or it is the output of a cognitive faculty the exercise of which is aimed at forming true positive cognitive states. Belief that Jesus will come through has these features but—crucially—there are other candidates, e.g., a high-enough credence or confidence that he will come through or, depending on the details, accepting, trusting, hoping, or belieflessly assuming that he will; and propositional reliance and imaginative assent might also be candidates. Footnote 1 Two qualifications. First, just as you can put your hope in a forgetful friend to fetch you at the airport even though you only believe the “thinner” proposition that it’s more likely than not that they will do so, so Christina can have faith in Jesus as her Lord even though she only believes a “thinner” proposition. Second, for all we know, it’s possible for a creature capable of faith to have non-propositional representations of the relied-upon coming through, e.g., imagistic representations. Footnote 2 We include these two options under the rubric of a positive cognitive state. Upshot: a wide variety of states can be a positive cognitive state.

Note well: the positivity involved in a positive cognitive state is a disposition to take a stand on behalf of its truth in contrast with taking a stand against its truth, or no stand at all. Nothing else. You can be in a positive cognitive state toward a proposition without regarding its truth as good or desirable. Suppose you believe that you will be unjustly executed tomorrow. Then you are in a positive cognitive state toward that proposition, and so you are disposed to take a stand on behalf of its truth. Even so, you regard its truth as bad or undesirable.

For Christina to be in a positive conative state toward Jesus coming through as her Lord is for her to be in some conative state or other that motivates her to rely on Jesus to come through in that capacity. Wanting him to come through counts but—crucially—there are other candidates. By way of illustration, and switching examples, imagine a meth-addict who does not want to stop taking meth but who, upon coming to recognize how much better his life might be if he were to stop, wants to want to stop taking meth . He has a second-order desire to change his first-order desire. Nevertheless, he might have faith in himself to stop. For, although he has no first-order desire to stop, it still matters to him that he stops since he wants to want to stop. In addition to first- and second-order desires, other options for a positive conative state, in Christina’s case, include looking with favor on Jesus coming through, being for it, a felt attraction to it, caring about it, it mattering to her, being emotionally invested in it, affection for him in that capacity, and a commitment to him as Lord, among other possibilities, all of which have been mentioned in the literature. Footnote 3 We include these under the rubric of a positive conative state. Upshot: a wide variety of states can be a positive conative state. We also allow that some conative states can be brought about by an act of volition, e.g., Christina might choose to make a commitment to Jesus as Lord.

Notice that, on Resilient Reliance, relational faith is a role-functional psychological state , not a mere combination of four items. For a psychological state to be an instance of faith in someone for something is for it to take as input any of a wide variety of combinations of positive conative and positive cognitive states toward them coming through with respect to it and to give as output a disposition to rely on them to come through with resilience in the face of challenges.

So then, Christina’s faith in Jesus as her Lord can explain her relying-on-Jesus behavior, and that’s because her faith involves both positive conative and positive cognitive states toward doing so. For convenience, we collect both under the label of a positive stance , which appears in our theory.

Just a word on “a disposition to rely”. “Rely” can be used as an active and stative verb. We use it as an active verb denoting a certain sort of non-basic action, one you perform by doing other things, e.g., relying on a personal trainer by following their advice and attending their sessions. Footnote 4 On our view, you can have faith in someone for something even while you are not performing the act of relying on them for it—as when you are fast asleep or absorbed in something else—provided you have a disposition to perform the act of relying on them for it.

Later, we’ll say more about the resilience involved in faith. For now, note that it need not dispose us to overcome all possible challenges. We can be more or less resilient depending on the range of challenges to which we would respond by overcoming them. This is one way in which we can have more or less faith.

We are now in a position to assess Resilient Reliance, specifically its claim that faith involves a disposition to rely, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so. But first, a word on methodology. Footnote 5

A theory of faith will strive to somehow handle the data of faith. A faith-datum is, in general, any consideration about faith that does not belong to a well-formed theory of faith and which pistologists—those who study faith and related phenomena—collectively have good reason to affirm. At a first approximation, a theory of faith handles a faith-datum just when it accommodates and explains it. It accommodates a faith-datum just when the datum is likely to hold or be true given the theory, and it explains it just when it posits something such that, if it holds or is true, then the datum holds or is true because the posited thing holds or is true. (We leave open the varieties of good reason, likelihood, and because-relations.)

Here’s a wrinkle. Suppose a theory of faith posits something such that, if it holds or is true, we are unable to tell whether the datum holds or is true because the posited thing holds or is true. That might be due to the fact that, to justify the because-claim, advances in empirical psychology must first occur. Even so, a datum might be pre-theoretically plausible, and a theory might explain its plausibility. Let’s say that a theory explains the plausibility of a faith-datum just when it posits something such that, if it holds or is true, then it is plausible that the datum holds or is true because of the posited thing holding or being true. So, we must modify what we said earlier: a theory of faith handles a faith-datum just when it accommodates and explains it or, if we are unable to tell whether it explains the datum, it explains its plausibility. Footnote 6

Accommodation, explanation, and rendering-plausible focus on how well a theory of faith handles the faith-data. In principle, the claims that constitute a theory might do well on that score even though there is no positive reason to think those claims are true or they face serious objections. A theory of faith, therefore, must substantiate its claims. A theory of faith substantiates its claims just when it gives both good reasons for them and adequate replies to objections. While there are other criteria of assessment—e.g., integrating the claims of a theory with our best picture of the world, or evaluating simplicity, naturalness, fruitfulness, elegance, and beauty—we will focus on accommodation, explanation, rendering-plausible, and substantiation.

We now turn to our first source of data: faithfulness and its relation to faith.

Faith and faithfulness

A theory of faith will aim to handle the data of faithfulness: what it is, how it relates to faith, and their role and value in relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness.

The nature of faithfulness and its relationship to faith

We begin with an observation: for you to be faithful to someone is not for you to be full of faith or especially “faithish”. Rather, as William Alston says, “[a] faithful person is one who is worthy of faith being reposed in [them], trustworthy, reliable, loyal, steadfast, constant, and so on”. Footnote 7 This is exactly right. Call it Alston’s Axiom .

We can use Alston’s Axiom to reveal the nature of faithfulness given a theory of faith. On our theory, faith, in slogan form, is resilient reliance , by which we mean a disposition to rely with resilience in the face of challenges. Now: if faith is resilient reliance, then, on Alston’s Axiom, a person is worthy of faith being reposed in them for something only if and because they are disposed to come through reliably with respect to it, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so. Further, just as our faith in someone for something can explain our behavior because faith involves a positive stance toward them coming through, so our faithfulness to someone for something can explain our behavior because faithfulness involves a positive stance toward our coming through for them. It follows that:

Resilient Reliability For you to be faithful to someone for something is for you to be disposed to come through reliably with respect to it, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so, because of your positive stance toward your coming through.

In slogan form, faithfulness is resilient reliability , by which we mean a disposition to come through reliably with resilience in the face of challenges. So, for example, for David to be faithful to God, in keeping the Torah, is for him to be disposed to keep it reliably, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so, because of his positive stance toward keeping it. Notice that, like faith, faithfulness is a role-functional psychological state. It takes as input any of a wide variety of combinations of positive stances and gives as output a disposition to come through reliably, with resilience in the face of difficulties in doing so.

Taken together, our theory of faith and faithfulness can handle three items of faith-related data. The first is this:

Relying-and-Coming-Through Just as faith in someone for something is somehow related to relying on them for it, so faithfulness to someone is somehow related to coming through for them for it.

After all, when you put your faith in someone for something, what could be going on if you are not in some way or another relying on them for it? It is implausible in the extreme to suppose that faith is not in any way at all related to relying. Mutatis mutandis , the same goes for faithfulness. Our theory accommodates and explains Relying-and-Coming-Through . For, if faith involves a disposition to rely, then not only is it likely that faith is somehow related to relying, it is also because it involves that disposition that it is so related; and, if faithfulness involves a disposition to come through reliably, then not only is it likely that faithfulness is somehow related to coming through, it is also because it involves that disposition that it is so related.

Our second faith-datum arises from the observation that people identifiable as “faithish,” i.e., those characterized by a tendency to have faith in others, and people identifiable as faithful, i.e., those characterized by a tendency to be faithful to others, tend not to be fickle or flighty in their relationships. While this phenomenon can be observed in many secular relationships, it can also be observed in people of religious faith, i.e., those who structure and unify their lives around their devotion to God or some other religious ultimate reality. We can put it like this:

Neither-Fickle-Nor-Flighty Faithish people and faithful people tend not to be fickle or flighty in their relationships.

Our theory accommodates this datum. For, if faith is resilient reliance, it is likely that faithish people will tend not to be disposed to rely on others in a sporadic fashion and tend not to be disposed to stop relying on them. Mutatis mutandis , the same goes for faithfulness. However, we cannot justify from our armchairs the claim that the faithish and the faithful tend not to be fickle and flighty because of the dispositions our theory posits. Perhaps these correlations hold for some other reason. To settle the matter, empirical psychologists must create valid measures, and design and conduct relevant, reliable, and replicable studies—which they have yet to do. Footnote 8 Still, Neither-Fickle-Nor-Flighty is pre-theoretically plausible, and our theory can explain its plausibility. For, if faith and faithfulness both involve resilience in the face of challenges, it is plausible that they are negatively correlated with fickleness and flightiness because of their resilience.

Our third datum is this:

Reciprocity Faith and faithfulness are reciprocals,

at least when all goes well—a qualification we will leave implicit in what follows. The reciprocity of faith and faithfulness consists in their complementing each other, answering each other, so to speak. Our theory accommodates and explains Reciprocity . For, first of all, on our theory, when you have faith in someone for something, you have a positive stance toward them coming through with respect it, which their faithfulness answers with a positive stance toward the same, and it is (partly) because of your shared positive stances that your mutual faith and faithfulness answers each other. Second, on our theory, when you have faith in someone for something, you are disposed to rely on them to come through with respect to it, which their faithfulness answers by them being disposed to come through reliably, and it is (partly) because of these dispositions that your mutual faith and faithfulness answer each other. Third, on our theory, when you have faith in someone for something, you’ll be resilient in the face of challenges to relying on them to come through with respect to it, which their faithfulness answers by their being resilient in the face of challenges to coming through reliably, and it is (partly) because of your mutual resilience that your mutual faith and faithfulness answer each other. So it is that our theory accommodates and explains Reciprocity .

We now turn to the role and value of faith in relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness.

The role and value of faith in relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness

We human beings are deeply familiar with relational faith. That’s because it is the rare one among us who can survive—much less flourish—without placing faith in others. Oftentimes, when we place our faith in someone, e.g., when we place our faith in someone as a spouse, we bind ourselves to them in a particular way, and, when all goes well, our faith in them is met by their faithfulness to us as a spouse, and their faith in us as a spouse is met by our faithfulness to them in that capacity, all of which enhances the bond between us. We find such relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness not only between spouses, but also between lovers and between friends; between parents and their children; between siblings and between other relatives, e.g., spouses and their in-laws; between caretakers and dependents, teachers and students, employers and employees; between associates, teammates, and soldiers; and between people and their gods or God. We also find such relationships between groups, e.g., citizens and political representatives, businesses and customers, and one state and another, e.g., in interstate commerce and in the making and keeping of pacts and treaties. Footnote 9

Relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness are constituted by the role that faith and faithfulness play in them. What role does faith play in such a relationship? We submit that, at a first approximation, faith’s role is to help bind together its partners by enabling them to rely on each other. When all goes well, the result is that they both experience the goods that can arise from within the relationship by relying on each other. For example, when people marry, they place their faith in each other as spouses, and thereby rely on each other for emotional intimacy and support, companionship, care for personal well-being, sexual fulfillment, and shared domesticity, among other things, depending on cultural, personal, and other expectations. And, when all goes well, they are faithful to each other as spouses, and thereby come through for each other with respect to these goods.

But not always does all go well. Spouses can at times be aloof, distracted, uncaring, uninterested, and lazy, among other things, thereby diminishing these goods, sometimes even putting them in peril. Even then—indeed, especially then—faith’s role is to help bind together spouses by enabling them to continue relying on each other, despite difficulties , in the hope that things will change for the better. Of course, our spouses are not the only ones who can put our faith in them to the test. Our own devils and demons can have a hand in it too. For any number of reasons—fatigue, anger, revenge, disappointment, petulance, bitterness, or an impoverished ability to forgive, to name a few—we might withdraw from relying on them, and instead rely on someone or something else for the goods of marriage, or forego them altogether. No doubt, other things can have a similar effect, e.g., serious disagreement and deep change.

The value of faith in a marriage, therefore, consists in its enabling its partners to continue relying on each other through difficulty, so that they might experience those goods together, in the short-term and the long-run, through fair weather and stormy seas. (Of course, we don’t mean to deny that other things, e.g., faithfulness and love, contribute to their experience of those goods. Our focus is faith.) But there’s more to the value of faith in marriage. For, just as there can be impressive works of art and nature, so there can be impressive works of humanity, among which we sometimes find marriage. We often marvel at a long marriage, one good on the whole even if not in every temporal part. The goodness of a good, long marriage consists not only in the goods that can arise from it but also in the goods its partners display, e.g., integrity and solidarity, and the goods the relationship itself displays, e.g., stability, each of which is partly due to the faith they place in each other, faith retained through the assaults of chance, choice, and change, about which more in a moment.

Although the specifics of the role and value of faith in a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness will vary according to the kind of relationship it is, e.g., friendship, marriage, collegiality, etc., we can generalize from these observations about marriage, as follows:

Role The role of faith in a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness is to help bind its members together by somehow enabling them to continue relying on each other despite difficulty. Value The value of faith in a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness consists in goods that can arise from or be exhibited by the way in which faith helps to bind its members together.

Our theory accommodates Role and explains its plausibility since, if faith is resilient reliance, then we will be disposed to rely on those in whom we place our faith, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so, in which case not only is it likely that the binding-role of faith in such relationships will be well-served, it is also plausible that, because of that constitutive disposition, faith’s binding-role will be well-served. Our theory accommodates Value since, if faith is resilient reliance, then, given its constitutive disposition, it is likely that the value of faith in those relationships will consist in goods that can arise from or be exhibited by the way in which that disposition helps to bind its members together.

That leaves explaining the plausibility of Value . Let’s focus first on the aspect of the value of faith that involves goods that can arise from relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness. Our theory explains the plausibility of this aspect since, if faith is resilient reliance, then given its constitutive disposition, it is plausible that (partly) because of the way in which that disposition helps to bind its members together, those goods that we rely on others for can arise within such relationships. Now let’s focus on the aspect of the value of faith in relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness that involves goods that can be exhibited both by its members, e.g., integrity and solidarity, and by features of the relationship itself, e.g., stability. We will illustrate with a good, long marriage. If faith is resilient reliance, then, given its constitutive disposition, it is plausible that partners to a good, long marriage can exhibit the goods of integrity and solidarity because of the way in which that disposition helps to bind them together, and the same goes for the stability of the relationship. Consider, first, the good of integrity . Footnote 10 By repeatedly exercising resilient reliance, partners to a good, long marriage glue together their earlier selves, who committed to relying on the other—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part—and their later selves, who kept that commitment, an integrity all the more admirable for each partner having continued to rely on the other even when the other’s coming through was more like the tide’s ebbing than its flowing, and even when they felt the strong pull of withdrawing wash away the ground from under their feet. Likewise for the good of solidarity . By repeatedly exercising resilient reliance, they threw in their lot with each other, again and again, thereby creating, fashioning, and sustaining their own we’re-in-this-together-ness, a solidarity all the more unyielding for their having overcome not only the seismic events of shared life but also the cumulative effect of its daily drip-drip-drip. Footnote 11 And the same goes for the good of stability . By repeatedly exercising resilient reliance, they contributed to their marriage being something that would not only endure the test of time, but something that possessed the sustenance out of which could grow both the support each needed to explore their potential and interests, and the security to pursue long-term joint ventures, e.g., a family, a farm, a business, or a fearsome doubles-team, among many other possibilities.

What we’ve said here about marriage in showing how our theory renders-plausible the second aspect of Value can be said, mutatis mutandis , about other kinds of relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness. Footnote 12

Here’s another observation. While we recognize that unfaithfulness can harm a relationship, we rarely recognize that faithlessness can do the same. But it can. Indeed, a surefire way to destroy a marriage is to rely on others, and not on your spouse, for the goods of emotional intimacy and support, etc., just as failing to come through for them for those selfsame goods can. And the same goes, mutatis mutandis , for other relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness. That is,

Faithlessness Faithlessness can destroy relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness just as unfaithfulness can.

Our theory accommodates and explains Faithlessness . For, if faith is resilient reliance, then not only is it likely that a marriage, friendship, etc. can be destroyed when its partners fail to be disposed to rely on each other for the goods that can arise from it, it is also because partners fail to be so disposed that faithlessness can destroy that relationship.

We now turn to substantiate our claim that faith is not only contingently, but necessarily, related to resilience.

Reason to think faith essentially involves resilience

We offer three considerations which together suggest that faith essentially involves resilience.

First, a consideration that we will not develop here: our theory—a theory that includes the claim that faith essentially involves resilience—better accommodates, and explains or renders-plausible, the faith-data than competing available theories. Absent the posit of faith’s essential resilience, our theory does not fare as well on that score.

Second, consider faith-resilience conjunction-tests, cases in which an attribution of faith is paired with an attribution of no disposition at all to rely with resilience in the face of challenges. Assertions of the form “I have faith in them, but I’m inclined to stop relying on them at the first sign of their not coming through” are puzzling, whether uttered by a fair-weather spouse or a spineless theist. To our ear, at any rate, what these folks say is jarring. What do you mean you have faith in them as a spouse, but you’re going to stop relying on them at the first sign of their not coming through? What do you mean you have faith in God , as providential governor of the world, while you live a comfortable life, but you’d stop relying altogether on God in that capacity if things got even a wee bit difficult for you? Assertions of faith sound at loggerheads with denials of any tendency whatsoever to be resilient in the face of challenges to continue to rely, which provides us with defeasible reason to think that faith essentially involves resilience.

The third consideration begins with our earlier observation that relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness are constituted by the role each plays in them. As we indicated there, the role of faith in such a relationship is to help bind its members together by somehow enabling them to continue relying on each other despite difficulties. Similarly, the role of faithfulness is to help bind its members together by somehow enabling them to continue coming through for each other despite difficulties. Here we focus on the role of faith. Based on our observation, we can put the third consideration simply: if faith is only contingently related to resilience, then there could be a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness in which nothing plays the faith-role, in which case it really wouldn’t be a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness. We can unpack this simple thought into a formal argument.

Suppose, for reductio, that faith is only contingently related to its capacity to somehow enable people to continue relying despite difficulty. If faith is only contingently related to this capacity, then there could be an instance, r , of a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness such that, in r , faith exists; in r , faith lacks the capacity to somehow enable its members to continue relying despite difficulty; and, in r , nothing plays the faith-role. Thus, by logic, r is a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness and, in r , nothing plays the faith-role. But, necessarily, for any x , if x is a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness, then, in x , something plays the faith-role. (Why necessarily? Because a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness is constituted, in part, by there being something that plays the faith-role.) So, by logic, in r , something plays the faith-role, and, in r , nothing plays the faith-role. Reductio complete. So, faith is not only contingently related to its capacity to somehow enable people to continue relying despite difficulty—which is to say, faith essentially involves resilience. Footnote 13

So it is that faith essentially involves resilience. We now return to the data of faith. We have argued that our theory accommodates, and explains or renders-plausible, Relying-and-Coming-Through , Neither-Fickle-nor-Flighty , Reciprocity , Role , Value , and Faithlessness . In doing so, we have, in effect, given a recipe for drawing this conclusion. It would be tiresome to mix the batter for each of the remaining items of faith-data. We leave it to the reader to follow the recipe.

Faith and resilience in secular contexts

We begin with faith and resilience in secular contexts, specifically pístis and fides in the ancient Greco-Roman world and faith in a wide variety of contemporary secular venues.

Pístis and fides in the ancient Greco-Roman world

Historian Teresa Morgan has done us a great service in her study of the practice of pístis and fides in Greek- and Latin-speaking peoples of the two centuries surrounding the birth of Jesus. Here we summarize some of her main findings, what we will call.

Pístis and Fides in the Greco-Roman World In the ancient Greco-Roman world, pístis and fides , on the one hand, and resilience, on the other hand, are widely positively-correlated.

According to Morgan, by the time of the period of her study, the complex terms pístis and fides shared central meanings, e.g., faith, trust, faithfulness, trustworthiness, and “good faith”. Footnote 14 She argues that (1) pístis and fides were portrayed as crucial to sustaining relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness that permeated the Greco-Roman world “at every socio-economic level, between individuals and groups”. Footnote 15 “ Pístis/fides … is everywhere understood as a basic building block of societies, emerging from the need of individuals and groups to make and maintain relationships”. Footnote 16 Morgan also reveals how (2) pístis and fides were regarded as a “social virtue” which helped to glue people into cohesive social units. Footnote 17 In addition, she shows how (3) pístis and fides were especially evident in times of relational crisis involving risk, fear, doubt, and skepticism. Footnote 18 Furthermore, she describes how (4) various practices facilitated relationships of pístis and fides —e.g., written contracts between two parties, witnessed by a third party, a practice familiar to us today—which helps people to both continue relying on each other and to continue coming through for each other despite difficulties. Footnote 19 She also explains how (5) in light of the value placed on pístis and fides , it is little wonder that they were elevated to gods in the Greek and Roman pantheons. Footnote 20

Interestingly, Morgan also observes that the pístis and fides lexica appear on coins in ancient Greece and Rome, accompanied by shaking hands, fruit, vegetables, and grains, among other things indicative of peace, prosperity, and the public good. Here’s such a coin (Fig. 1 ):

Coin from Rome (73 CE). Image retrieved from forumancientcoins.com (2020)

On the obverse side (left), we find the image of Vespasian, the Roman emperor between 69 and 79 CE, while on the reverse side (right), the words FIDES PVBL appear. Clasped hands symbolize mutual faith and faithfulness, as in a handshake agreement; moreover, soldiers cannot easily shake hands unless they lay down their weapons and thereby rely on each other not to use them. The winged caduceus is a symbol of successful trade and commerce, and the poppy and corn were important commodities of the time. On our theory, it is not the least bit surprising that such imagery would accompany the pístis and fides lexica; moreover, it can explain its plausibility. For, if faith is resilient reliance and faithfulness is resilient reliability, it is plausible that it was by pístis and fides (faith) that the public relied on the emperor and his allies for the social goods depicted, and that it was by pístis and fides (faithfulness) that the latter came through, resulting in the imaged peace, prosperity, and public good, despite difficulties both parties experienced in the relationship, e.g., taxation and conscription, and the occasional rebellion. Footnote 21

Our theory accommodates and renders-plausible Pístis and Fides in the Greco-Roman World .

Faith in contemporary secular contexts

We now turn to positive correlations between faith and resilience in contemporary secular contexts—specifically, in politics, music, sports, biography, the movie industry, agriculture, and journalism—a datum we will call

Faith in Contemporary Secular Contexts Faith and resilience are widely positively-correlated in contemporary secular venues.

We haven’t the space for thorough documentation, but what we document here exemplifies what we find many times over in these venues. In examining them, we find it useful to enter sympathetically into their context, and then to ask ourselves a question: if we were to inquire of these people whether what they express involves resilient reliance, would they respond, “No. No. Not at all”?

We begin with politics. In his Farewell Speech in February 2017, President Barack Obama commends faith to his fellow citizens: “faith in reason and enterprise, and the primacy of right over might,” “faith in America and in Americans,” and “faith… in the power of ordinary Americans to bring about change”. Pretty clearly, he commends relying on these things and, in light of the preceding 2016 election, what he commended involved continuing to rely on them despite what he regarded as adversities presented by the incoming Trump administration.

Something similar occurs in Representative Hakeem Jeffries’s closing remarks at Trump’s impeachment trial in February 2020, when he repeatedly commended to all Americans that they “walk by faith,” “faith in the Constitution; faith in our democracy; faith in the rule of law; faith in the government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” which would help people “[t]hrough the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows, the peaks and the valleys, the trials and the tribulations of this turbulent moment”. Footnote 22

Likewise, in the aftermath of the 2020 election, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris repeatedly urged their supporters to “keep the faith,” as the foundations of American democracy were shaken by those who sought to overturn the election results. “Faith in what?,” we might ask them. No doubt their answer would be faith in the people integrally involved in the electoral process, Congress, the military, and other institutions of a representative democracy. Clearly enough, the faith to which they called Americans involves relying on these people despite difficulties posed by Trump and his allies. Footnote 23

Next, consider faith expressed in popular music, especially its lyrical content, but also its performance, which we recommend for full effect. We focus on just one example, what MLK named “the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement,” a song he “often used to get people marching or to calm and comfort them,” Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready . Footnote 24 It was the Impressions greatest hit, written when resistance to the Civil Rights Movement was dug in, recorded in 1964, and released in 1965.

People get ready, there's a train comin'. You don't need no baggage; you just get on board. All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'. You don't need no ticket; you just thank the Lord. People get ready, there's a train to Jordan, picking up passengers, coast to coast. Faith is the key, open the doors and board them. There's hope for all among those loved the most. There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner, who would hurt all mankind just to save his own. Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner, for there is no hiding place against the kingdom’s throne. [Chorus].

In African-American culture from the early nineteenth century on, railroads image escape and hope; hence, the naming of the Underground Railroad. Footnote 25 Mayfield taps into this hopeful image, connecting it to another, the River Jordan, through which the Israelites passed en route to the Promised Land away from Egypt’s oppression. In the 1950s and early 1960s, with the South exerting states’ rights over federal law, it was not a foregone conclusion that the racism buried in judicial, penal, and law-enforcement institutions would be exhumed, just as it is not now, six-plus decades later.

In the song, Mayfield identifies faith as “the key,” both to hearing the “train comin” and to responding appropriately, i.e., opening the doors and getting on board, relying on it to take them “to Jordan” and the justice imaged by “the kingdom’s throne”. Of course, as Mayfield well knew, the Movement faced resistance from without, from “the hopeless sinner who would hurt all mankind just to save his own”. Moreover, as MLK indicates in his writings from 1964 to 68, resistance stiffened after his 1963 I-have-a-dream speech. Further, the Movement struggled from within to maintain nonviolent protest among its members. Against this background, Mayfield calls on people to hear and act by faith , thereby enabling themselves to cope with internal strife, to defy Jim Crow, and to overcome a thousand other obstacles thrown up by the pitiable, those who reject “the kingdom’s throne,” those who seek the “hiding place” in slavery’s long insidious shadow. Footnote 26

Unsurprisingly, faith shows up in the world of sports. In this connection, recall “The Shot”. At the end of the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Championship, Michael Jordan stole the ball, with his team, the Chicago Bulls, trailing by one point. Moments later, he buried the game-winner. During the ensuing on-court mayhem, the camera caught him clutching his coach, Phil Jackson, declaring “I had faith! I had faith!” Faith in what? Himself? His teammates? The Lord above? Well, whoever it was, Jordan relied on them in the face of a serious challenge—the Stockton-Malone Utah Jazz—to take a sixth championship, the second three-peat (Fig. 2 ). Footnote 27

Michael Jordan to Phil Jackson. Image retrieved from Hehir ( 2020 ), Episode 10, 18.49

Next, consider Nelson Mandela’s description of what kept him going during his 27 years of imprisonment in apartheid South Africa:

I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture. I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lay defeat and death. Footnote 28

Mandela notes here that it was his “faith in humanity”—faith in the humanity of the international community and even his oppressors, we learn—that pulled him through “many dark moments,” that kept him from giving in “to despair” and “defeat and death”.

The theme of faith in humanity appears in Chloe Zhao’s acceptance speech at the 93rd Academy Awards (2021), for best director, for Nomadland , the story of a woman, played by Frances McDormand, who, in her ‘60 s, loses everything after the Great Recession of 2007–2009, and sets out on the road, living in her van, searching for, and occasionally finding, seasonal work. After the customary thank-you’s, Zhao recounts a Chinese poem she memorized as a child whose first words were “people at birth are inherently good”. She continues:

[T]hose six words had such a great impact on me when I was a kid and I still truly believe them today, even though sometimes it might seem like the opposite is true…. So, this [award] is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves and to hold onto the goodness in each other, no matter how difficult it is to do that. And this is for you, you inspire me to keep going. Thank you. Footnote 29

Here Zhao expresses faith in the goodness of others, and herself, a faith that, in part, enables her “to keep going when things get hard,” “even though sometimes it might seem like the opposite is true,” and “no matter how difficult it is” to “hold on” to that goodness. Footnote 30

The Editorial Board of Agweek describes what they find in those who work in the ag-sector. “It goes by many names,” they write: “act of faith and leap of faith, among them”. They continue:

Farmers aren’t the only ones who made it, of course. The businesspeople who sold them seed, fuel, chemicals, fertilizer and more, the bankers who lent them money, the agronomists and other ag-sector employees who provide expertise and labor all have a stake of some sort in [it]…. Ranchers also require faith…. If the weather doesn't cooperate, they won't have enough hay and pasture to feed their livestock. The drought of 2017 provided an awful reminder of that…. Footnote 31

These authors find that the faith of the people of the ag-sector is what keeps them relying on each other for expertise, funding, labor, and products—and on Nature’s cooperation—despite difficulties and setbacks such as the 2017 drought.

The Aspen Weave Project , founded by journalist David Brooks, documents how Americans are more united than divided, contrary to what we might suppose. Brooks and his researchers interviewed “weavers,” people intent on remaining in urban neighborhoods, creating connections, bridging divides, and building relationships. Interviewer Charlayne Hunter-Gault asks him how the weaver-solution to fragmentation and polarization will continue. Having noted how neighbors showed up for each other in the first few weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the collective outrage at the murder of George Floyd, Brooks replies:

When I look at the marches, when I look at the people I speak to through the Weave Project, when I look at the people I interview through my journalism, I just see such a desire for a new era. And such a sense that this is a portal to a different future. I have faith in that. Footnote 32

At the end of an op-ed covering the same ground, Brooks writes:

We also need to have faith in each other. Right now, millions of people all over are responding to the crisis we all feel. We in the news media focus on Donald Trump and don’t cover them, but they are the most important social force in America right now. Renewal is building, relationship by relationship, community by community. It will spread and spread as the sparks fly upward. Footnote 33

Brooks says he has faith in the marchers and weavers, faith in their desire for a new era, faith in their sense that we are at “a portal to a different future”. And, he says, “We also need to have faith in each other” to build that “different future” “relationship by relationship, community by community”. Note that Brooks expresses faith as something that disposes us to rely on each other for “renewal” and other goods in the face of the all-too-familiar forces that would fling us apart.

Our theory of faith accommodates and renders-plausible Faith in Contemporary Secular Contexts . Importantly, we have not found in this source any instance of faith negatively correlated with resilience.

Faith and resilience in religious contexts

We now turn to religious contexts. While there are many different religious contexts, and a variety of faith-data in each of them, we will focus on expressions of pístis in the New Testament and ʾĕmûnāh in the Hebrew scriptures, the role of faith in the biblical themes of covenant and salvation, the lives of exemplars of faith in God in the Abrahamic tradition, and the lives of ordinary people of Abrahamic faith today.

Pístis in the New Testament

Several NT authors closely associate pístis and relying despite difficulties. We focus on the Synoptics and the Epistles.

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus explicitly commends someone’s pístis three times, and on each occasion their most salient feature is relying despite adversity. Consider the unnamed woman with a hemorrhage, whom we will call “Veronica,” in accordance with tradition. Footnote 34 A synagogue leader named “Jairus” begs Jesus to come to his home to heal his dying daughter. Jesus consents and, as they walk together, a “large crowd” follows. At the rear is Veronica, who suffers from continuous uterine bleeding, unable to find a cure, and getting worse. Mark says she knew of Jesus’s ability to heal. So, she weaves her way through the crowd, which is “pressed in on him,” trying to get close. When she does, she secretly touches his cloak from behind and, immediately, she is healed. Jesus senses that “power [has] gone forth from him,” stops, pivots, and asks who touched him. The disciples balk at the question, given the proximity of the crowd. Jesus persists. Eventually Veronica falls down before him, “in fear and trembling,” and tells him “the whole truth”. As she finishes, he says: “Daughter, your pístis has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease”.

The narrative emphasizes how Veronica relied on Jesus to heal her despite the fact that, as Mark says, “[s]he had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse”. Her medical condition, her feeling of hopelessness induced by twelve years of medical failure, her getting worse, and her anemia-burdened struggle in approaching Jesus through the “large crowd” were all difficulties she overcame to get to him. Footnote 35 Moreover, the purity laws prohibited an unclean woman from mixing with the crowd and from touching non-familial men. In reaching out to Jesus, relying on him to heal her, she overcame her internalization of these prohibitions and fear of reprisal. She may have also overcome a Leviticus-inspired fear that in touching a holy man she would die. Footnote 36

Jesus knew of her relying on him despite difficulties when, as she finished her story, he commended her pístis . Indeed, this feature seems the most evident fact about her. So, it seems plausible that Jesus fastened on it when he commended her pístis . The same goes for the characters in two other stories in which Jesus commends someone’s pístis : blind Bartimaeus and the friends of the paralytic. Footnote 37

Very briefly, six considerations underscore the centrality of this feature to pístis in Mark’s Gospel. First, as we just indicated, in three stories in which Jesus commends someone’s pístis , he fastens on their relying on him, despite adversity, to heal on their behalf. Second, in no other story does Jesus commend someone’s pístis ; relying despite difficulties always attends his commendation. Third, on four other occasions when Mark uses the pístis lexicon, he twice associates this feature with pístis —in the stories of Jairus and the father of the demon-possessed son—and he twice associates its lack with a lack of pístis —in the disciples’ lack of pístis in him on the stormy sea and their lack of pístis in God to heal the demon-possessed boy. Footnote 38 Fourth, in two other stories—the Syrophoenician woman and the woman who anoints Jesus at Bethany—Mark does not use the pístis lexicon but when Matthew and Luke, who relied on Mark as a source, retell these stories, they see them as exemplars of pístis , having Jesus explicitly commend them for their pístis and, when he commends them, he plausibly fastens on relying despite difficulty. Footnote 39 Fifth, Mark encourages us to view Jesus as a role-model. When we do, we see him modeling a pístis closely associated with this feature, e.g., in his prayer in Gethsemane and his execution on Golgotha, about which we’ll have more to say below. Footnote 40 Sixth, according to Morgan, in the Greco-Roman world surrounding the early churches and from which they mainly derived its understanding of pístis , it centrally involves relying on others—especially, she repeatedly notes—in the face of risk, fear, doubt, and skepticism. As such, pístis kept people together in times of crisis. Footnote 41 These six points together suggest that, in the words of Christopher Marshall, the foremost expert in the English-speaking world on pístis in Mark’s Gospel, “Without doubt, the leading characteristic of Markan faith is sheer dogged perseverance” in relying on Jesus and/or God. Footnote 42

Something similar can be said for pístis exhibited in Matthew’s Gospel. Consider the story of the Canaanite woman. Footnote 43 She approaches Jesus: “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon”. But he doesn’t answer her, and his disciples urge him to send her away. Eventually, Jesus does answer: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. But she persists, begging him on her knees: “Lord, help me”. He answers again: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs”. But she doesn’t give up: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table”. “Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your pístis ! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly”. Plausibly enough, Jesus commends her for relying on him to heal her daughter; further, she overcomes several obstacles in doing so: the historical hostility between Jews and Canaanites, the culturally-built barrier between men and women, Jesus’s initial silence, the disciples’ animosity, and both of Jesus’ insults. And her pístis is vindicated.

The narrative structure in these two stories is typical of miracle-stories in the Synoptics: someone has a need, they or a proxy rely on Jesus to help, they continue to rely despite difficulty, Jesus recognizes their pístis , he performs a miracle, and they or others respond. Footnote 44 A similar analysis of many of these stories throughout the Synoptics is arguably justified.

The Epistles also closely associate pístis with relying despite difficulties. James says pístis in the face of opposition is a mark of maturity. Footnote 45 Paul encourages the Corinthians to “stand firm in your pístis ”. Footnote 46 2 Thessalonians praises Jesus-followers “for your steadfastness and pístis during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring”. Footnote 47 Colossians commends people for “your morale and the firmness of your pístis in Christ”. Footnote 48 1 Peter connects this feature with authentic faith: “for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your pístis …may be found to result in praise and glory and honor…”. Footnote 49 Hebrews compares continuing in pístis to running a race: “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our pístis ”. Footnote 50 Indeed, Hebrews connects pístis and perseverance so tightly that, according to Dieter Lührmann, in it “ pístis means above all ‘perseverance,’ the holding fast to a promised hope; it is threatened by apistia as the loss of such a hope”. Footnote 51 Notably, the famous characterization of pístis in Hebrews 11:1 as “the substance [ hypostasis ] of things hoped for, the evidence [ elenchus ] of things not seen,” is both preceded and followed by material that emphasizes relying through difficulties and explicitly contrasts pístis with “shrinking back”. Footnote 52

The NT data adduced here strongly suggests an important faith-datum:

Pístis in the NT According to many NT authors, pístis often involves relying on Jesus and/or God despite adversity.

Our theory accommodates and explains Pístis in the NT . We now turn to expressions of ʾĕmûnāh in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Emûnāh in the Hebrew scriptures

Cognates in the Hebrew ʾĕmûnāh lexicon—which derive from the root ‘aman (sometimes abbreviated ’mn )—point to stability, firmness, loyalty, constancy, and reliability, meaning ‘to rest secure’, ‘to be firm’. Footnote 53 Firm with respect to what , we might ask? As it turns out, the ʾemûnāh lexicon points to firmness in faithfulness and in faith, depending on how its verb form, ’aman , is conjugated.

The passive niphal verb form, ne’ĕmān , is most often glossed “to be faithful” or “to endure,” and thus the participle means “enduring, lasting,” and when applied to persons “stable, reliable”. Footnote 54 Deuteronomy represents “the faithful ( ne’ĕmān ) God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” while a Psalm says the covenant itself “will stand firm ( ne’ĕmān )”. Footnote 55 The niphal can also express someone’s faithfulness to God, as when Hosea says “Judah still walks with God, and is faithful ( ne’ĕmān ) to the Holy One,” and Nehemiah describes why Abraham pleased God: “a faithful ( ne’ĕmān ) heart” in response to God. Footnote 56

In contrast, the active hiphil verb form, he’emin , expresses action, “to be firmly set in/on something, to hold firm” and “is used especially of a person or his word: to build steadfastly on someone, or to rely on his word,” as in “to stand firm,” “to trust,” “believe in,” or “place confidence in”. Footnote 57 Isaiah portrays God as laying a stable foundation on which one can rely: “thus says the Lord God, See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone…. ‘One who trusts ( he’emin ) will not panic’”. Footnote 58 John Barton writes that “ he’emin has as its main meaning reliance on the reliable” and he favorably quotes Egon Pfeiffer, who speaks of “the active side” of he’emin as “‘holding secure’—the person relies on the security, faithfulness, and reliability of God, and lives accordingly”. Footnote 59 The active hiphil characterizes Abraham’s exemplary response to God: “And he he’ĕmîn [believed, relied on, or “faithed,” to adopt an anthimeria] the lord ; and the lord reckoned it to him as righteousness”. Footnote 60

Interestingly, the Hebrew noun ʾĕmûnāh consistently connotes faithfulness rather than faith in each of its 49 occurrences in the Hebrew scriptures, Footnote 61 with one possible—though controversial—exception: “Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their ʾĕmûnāh ,” often translated “faith”. Footnote 62 Edmund Perry notes:

The Gordian knot of the statement [‘the righteous live by their faith’] is the word 'emuna, translated “faith” here, but elsewhere and more often translated “faithfulness”. Is it the reliance or the reliability of the righteous which is intended in this passage? Footnote 63

Or both at once? After all, as Perry continues, the ʾĕmûnāh -response to God involves both relying and faithfulness:

[T]he Old Testament does not set trust and obedience in contrast to each other as separate ways of satisfying the demands of God…. [T]he one who pursues ʾĕmûnāh in a way that would be pleasing to God, as in Jeremiah 5:1, must seek to both trust and obey God. Footnote 64

In a famous wordplay, Isaiah issues the lord ’s warning to King Ahaz, using first the active hiphil and then the passive niphil form of the verb he’emin . Barton comments: “The NRSV renders, ‘If you do not stand firm in faith ( he’emin ), you shall not stand ( ne’ĕmān ) at all,’ in an attempt to capture the pun: the sense is that those who do not rely on God will not be held firm by him”. Footnote 65 Similarly, in 2 Chronicles we find: “ he’emin the lord your God and you will ne’ĕmān ; he’emin his prophets [and you will succeed],” with the JPS Tanakh using “stand firm” for the passive niphil and “trust firmly” for the active hiphil. Footnote 66

Bernhard Anderson sums it up well: “In the Old Testament faith is steadfast reliance on God amid the uncertainties and insecurities of life”. Footnote 67 It appears, therefore, that our foray into the Hebrew Scriptures reveals another faith-datum, which, following Anderson, we can put like this:

ʾEmûnāh in the Hebrew Scriptures . Insofar as the ʾĕmûnāh lexicon expresses faith, it expresses continuing to rely despite difficulties.

Our theory accommodates and explains this datum. Footnote 68

The biblical themes of covenant and salvation

For many people, no theory of faith is worth its salt unless it can handle the biblical themes of covenant and salvation and, specifically, their relation to faith. We agree. After all, in the Abrahamic tradition, covenant and salvation are closely associated with faith, although exactly how they are related varies extensively within the tradition. We have then two more items of faith-data.

Covenant In the Abrahamic traditions, faith is somehow central to covenants, specifically the stories of the covenants between God and people. Salvation . In the Abrahamic traditions, faith is somehow central to salvation, specifically the stories of salvation of people by God.

We begin with Covenant .

In the ancient Near East, covenants emerged as a way of extending familial relationships. They “functioned as a legal means to integrate foreign individuals or groups,” and to receive kin-in-law, into a network of privileges and obligations ordinarily reserved for blood-relations. Footnote 69 As in many human societies, in cultures of the ancient Near East, kin tended to rely on each other, and to come through for each other, in ways that bound them together, ways that were extended to others via oaths and rituals that formalized expectations to the relationship. In this cultural context Semitic tribes took it that God and people entered into covenants.

In the Hebrew scriptures, God sometimes unilaterally—and without explicitly laying down any conditions—enters into covenants, as when God vows to Noah and humanity more generally never again to destroy life on earth by a flood, or God promises to give Abraham descendants and to bless all nations through them. Footnote 70 However, implicit in these unilateral covenants are obligations on the part of humanity and Abraham, e.g., to never again sink to the level of pre-Noahic depredation, or to follow God’s instructions. Sometimes these obligations are made explicit, and the covenant is explicitly conditional, holding only so long as the obligations are kept, as in God’s covenant with the nation of Israel, which occurs after God leads them out of slavery in Egypt and promises them protection and prosperity on the condition that God alone is their God, and they live in accordance with the Torah. The familial character of God’s covenant with Israel is evident in the recurring declaration “I will be your God and you will be my people”. Footnote 71

Ideally, God relies on Israel to keep its terms of the covenant, and Israel comes through for God; and, ideally, Israel relies on God to keep God’s terms of the covenant, and God comes through for Israel. In truth, however, the story of Israel in the Hebrew scriptures falls short of the ideal. For while the story has God continuing to rely on Israel throughout the centuries despite its fits and starts at coming through, and it has God continuing to come through for Israel despite its fits and starts in relying on God, by contrast it has Israel relying on God in fits and starts despite God’s continuing to come through for Israel, and it has Israel coming through for God in fits and starts despite God’s continuing to rely on Israel. This is the basic storyline of the covenant between God and Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures. (What we’ve said here applies, mutatis mutandis , to God, the Church, and the “new covenant”.)

Clearly enough, since, on our theory, faith is resilient reliance, it accommodates and explains the plausibility of Covenant . Footnote 72

Now we turn to Salvation .

On the salvation stories of the Abrahamic traditions, we humans tend to fail in multiple ways: we don’t live up to our ideals, we seek our own power, we prefer self-interest over the common good, we squander our talents, we neglect to steward creation well, and by acts of commission and omission we thwart the establishment of a just and harmonious global community. These and other failures are at odds with God’s purposes, resulting in alienation from God and each other. At our best, we are aware of our failings and we own them, with regret and an intention to improve. But improvement is difficult, fraught with setbacks, greed, malaise, uncooperativeness, disrespect, and a hundred other things, as a look at any history book, or the nightly news, or our own lives will confirm. Left to our own devices, failure is not only our past—it is our future. Footnote 73

Fortunately, say these traditions, God has not left us to our own devices but has rather provided a path to reconciliation. Naturally, these broad traditions and their sub-traditions tell different stories about what, exactly, that path is and how to walk it, individually and collectively. Still, they all share the idea that God draws us into a relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness, calling us to rely on the resources God provides—whether that involves obeying the Torah, or receiving God’s grace and following Jesus, or submitting to Allah—and continuing to rely on those resources despite difficulties. So it is, these traditions say, we may, eventually, undo the alienation that plagues us and become reconciled with God and each other.

On our theory, faith is resilient reliance, and so it accommodates Salvation and renders it plausible. Our theory also helps us to understand why these traditions would value restoration of a flourishing relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness between God and people, while leaving it open how such reconciliation might be accomplished.

Exemplars of faith in God

We now turn to expressions of faith in the lives of exemplars of faith in God. Different traditions offer different exemplars. We will focus on two: Abraham and Jesus. Footnote 74 Moreover, we will zero-in on one kind of difficulty: intellectual doubt. Of course, this is not the only kind of difficulty exemplars face. As with everyday people of faith, exemplars struggle with emotional, social, and other sorts of difficulty. But we see a benefit to focusing on doubt. For, everyday people of faith sometimes struggle with doubt, and they might find comfort in learning that, in this respect, they struggle in the company of exemplars of faith in God.

We start with Abraham.

Abraham’s story begins in Genesis 12, when God visits him and commands him to leave his family and homeland, promising to make of him a great nation that will bless the world. According to Raymond Brown, “Abraham recognized that in responding to God’s demands he must place his entire reliance on the God who not only called him, but would guide his steps, meet his needs and prepare his future”. Footnote 75 We agree. In obeying the command, Abraham not only relies on God to make a great nation of him, and to bless the families of the earth through him, he also relies on God as one with the standing to issue the command in the first place, as one who has in view his own good and the good of his immediate family, and as one who will keep the promise even as they travel through hostile territory.

While the narrative arc of Abraham’s story has him relying on God to keep the promise, he sometimes seems not to rely on God as much as he might have, which suggests that, lurking in the background, lies some doubt about whether God will come through. This tension between the reliance to which God calls Abraham and the intellectual difficulty Abraham experiences in relying on God arguably drives the narrative and keeps readers riveted. The narrative highlights, with striking frankness, ways that Abraham falters in his reliance on God, ways plausibly connected with doubt about whether God will keep the promise, through the decades of waiting for God to make good on it. Footnote 76

Indeed, right from the start, when God calls Abraham, he—already 75 years old and well past his prime—hedges his bets. God says, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you,” but Abraham brings some kindred along, notably his much younger nephew Lot—plausibly in the hope that Lot will produce an heir should the aging Abraham prove not up to the task. Footnote 77

Moreover, both immediately before and immediately after Abraham is so memorably commended for putting his faith ( he’ĕmîn ) in God, in 15:6, he expresses doubt. He points out the obvious fact that “You have given me no offspring” and requests reassurance of the promise: “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess [the land]?” Footnote 78 One who has no doubt needs no reassurance. Instead, the narrative explicitly ties, on the one hand, Abraham’s taking of Eliezer as his heir to, on the other hand, both his continued childlessness and his lack of confidence in response to God’s reassurance that Abraham need not fear that God will fail to keep the promise. Footnote 79 And, not long after Abraham’s faith is commended, “a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him,” prompting further reassurances from God. Footnote 80 God would not have needed to provide these reassurances if Abraham had not been in considerable doubt.

In addition, both Sarah and Abraham have difficulty believing that the heir will come through her womb, and difficulty relying on God to deliver in this way. That’s why Abraham takes Hagar as a mistress, who finally bears Ishmael when, as the narrative calls to our attention, Abraham is 86 years old. Footnote 81 Fathering Ishmael also bespeaks doubt.

Further, Abraham twice tells foreign leaders that Sarah is his sister rather than his wife, once before and once after God’s specific promise (in Genesis 17) that Sarah will bear a son, Isaac, and that he will be the heir. Footnote 82 God afflicts Pharaoh with plagues and threatens King Abimelech with death, for taking her into their houses. In neither case is it clear that Abraham relies on God to protect her; instead, he hatches his own plan of protection. Footnote 83 As Walter Brueggemann puts it, “even this model figure of faith was tempted to form an immediate alternative future of his own making”. Footnote 84 Making his own plans likewise bespeaks doubt.

Further still, Abraham’s laughter—in direct response to God’s promise that Sarah will bear their heir—expresses serious doubt if not outright disbelief: “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, ‘Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’”. Footnote 85 Sarah laughs too, and then tries to hide it. Footnote 86 After several lengthy and disturbing detours which prolong the fulfillment of the promise, the heir is born and given a name which commemorates that laughter: “everyone who hears will laugh with me”. Footnote 87 Isaac’s name reminds the narrative audience that nothing is “too wonderful for the lord ”. Footnote 88 But not because doubt was uncalled for. After all, as Sarah eloquently puts it, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age”. Footnote 89 Yes, indeed; who would ever have said that ? Again: the story bespeaks doubt.

Finally, in Genesis 22, Abraham’s relying on God to keep the promise is put to a climactic test. God issues a command that will apparently destroy the basis for any lasting fulfillment of the promise: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you”. Footnote 90 Now, whether Abraham’s confidence in God at this point is maximal given their history together, or whether it isn’t and he is nonetheless resolved to obey God—and to withhold nothing despite the apparent absurdity and immorality of the command—Abraham’s relying on God to keep the promise despite numerous occasions of doubt has made his reliance complete. He raises the knife to sacrifice his son.

We have, therefore, on a plausible reading of Abraham’s story, an exemplar of faith in God who, despite recurring doubt, continues to rely on God to keep the promise.

Now to Jesus.

Mark’s Gospel presents Jesus as a role-model, and so we should expect Jesus to model something as important as faith, especially since, right at the outset, he proclaims that faith in the good news is what God desires from those who hear it. Footnote 91 While we might explore how Jesus displays faith in the Twelve, as his disciples, we will focus instead on how he models faith in God, especially in Gethsemane and on Golgotha. Footnote 92

In Gethsemane, Mark exhibits Jesus’ continued reliance on God as he comes to terms with how his execution will serve the new way in which God’s rule will be established through him. Mark tells us that, after taking Peter, James, and John aside from the others in the garden, he became “distressed and agitated” at the prospect of the manner in which God’s purposes involved him, so much so that he was “deeply grieved, even to death”. Footnote 93 Walking a bit away from them to pray, he throws himself on the ground, begging God to find another way, saying “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me”.

To be sure, there is terror here but, plausibly, there is also doubt: doubt about the wisdom of God, doubt about what God’s purposes require, and doubt about his own role in their fulfillment. Even so, Jesus leans into his faith in God’s wisdom and purposes, thereby overcoming his terror and doubt, and resolving to do God’s will no matter what: “yet, not what I want, but what you want”. Footnote 94 Notably, he returns to the three disciples to find them asleep and, after awakening and rebuffing them, he returns to pray alone where he “said the same words”. Apparently, Jesus’ struggle to continue relying on God despite his terror and doubt was not only intense but also recurrent.

Now to Golgotha. When Jesus was being crucified, Mark says that, near the end, “at three o’clock,” Jesus screamed, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Footnote 95 In the world of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has an explicit, conscious relationship of mutual faith and faithfulness with God, his “Abba, Father”. Footnote 96 And, here on the cross, Jesus expected God to be present to him in his hour of need—but his expectation is crushed. There is a sense of betrayal here, but there is also doubt, a “teetering on the edge between disillusionment and faith,” as John Neuhaus puts it, doubt about God’s care for and faithfulness to him. Footnote 97 Yet, Mark presents Jesus as an exemplar of faith.

In doing so, Mark seems to say, “Look. This is what faith in God is like in circumstances such as these”. You rely on God—to exercise wisdom, care, faithfulness, and love—and you continue to do so, despite your inability to understand, despite your feelings of betrayal, and despite the doubt induced by your situation.

So it is that, in Abraham and Jesus, we have another faith-datum:

Exemplars of Faith in God Exemplars of faith in God continue to rely on God despite a variety of struggles in doing so, even belief-cancelling doubt.

Our theory accommodates and explains the plausibility of this datum, notably with respect to two of the most prominent exemplars in the Abrahamic tradition.

People of faith today

People of faith today undergo a wide variety of religious struggles, e.g., a sense of alienation from God or their religious community, anger at God, fear, guilt, malaise, melancholy, shame, and spiritual fatigue, among other things. We will, however, continue our focus on doubt.

So then: why should we suppose people of faith today sometimes struggle with doubt? Because three sources suggest as much.

First, there’s your own experience as a person of faith (if such you be), as well as the experience of those you know personally (whether or not you are a person of faith). Haven’t you or someone you know experienced doubt, even belief-cancelling doubt, at some point in your/their journey as people of faith? We have, as have many who have shared their stories with us. Yet here we are: continuing to rely on God in a variety of ways, despite our past or current doubt.

Second, there’s the experience of people of faith you don’t know personally but whose experience you have access to through other sources. In this connection, many religious leaders, e.g., rabbis, ministers, and imams, as well as others, e.g., counselors, therapists, and spiritual directors, report that the people of faith they serve sometimes experience severe doubt. Just ask them. One pastor we know reported that, on average, throughout a twenty-year career at several churches, two people a week sought doubt-related counsel. Footnote 98 On a 2018 trip to Jordan, we spoke about faith and doubt to sixty professors and students, wondering aloud whether people of Muslim faith experience severe doubt, as Christians sometimes do. The response from the students was startling. They estimated that a third of their peers experience belief-cancelling doubt about the existence of Allah, among other things. Footnote 99 An orthodox rabbi recently spoke to us of many devout congregants who experience belief-cancelling doubt. Footnote 100 Or witness the scores of easily-googled self-help books that address doubting Christians, none of which would be written unless their intended audience experienced doubt severe enough to be addressed. In an unscientific sampling, students in our 2020 university seminar interviewed 20 adult evangelical Protestants. To our astonishment, 18 of 20 answered “Yes” to the question, “In the time that you have been a person of faith, have you ever been in doubt about whether God will come through with respect to what you put your faith in God for?,” while 17 of 20, answered “Yes” to “In the time that you have been a person of faith, have you ever questioned the goodness or faithfulness or even the existence of God?,” going on to describe their experiences in detail.

Of course, your own experience with people of faith, whether or not you know them personally, is anecdotal evidence. It would be desirable to have a more scientifically-based sample, so as to tell more reliably whether it is not unusual for people of faith to struggle with doubt, as our anecdotal evidence suggests. Fortunately, we have something like this already: sociological research on religious struggle and spiritual formation. This is our third source of evidence. According to Julie Exline and her team, being a person of faith bears a significant positive correlation to experiencing doubt at some time—whether mild, moderate, or severe—about God’s love, justice, and existence, in addition to many other struggles involved in relying on God. Footnote 101 Moreover, the most influential theory in developmental psychology of religion, James Fowler’s theory of the stages of faith—which was initially based on interviews of 600 hundred people of faith, not to mention many more than that since then—recognizes continuing to rely on God in the face of challenges, including severe doubt, as a rite of passage for post-adolescent “mature” faith. Footnote 102 Further, these bodies of research continue to grow, displaying similar results. Footnote 103

These observations highlight the plausibility of another item of faith-data:

People of Faith Today Many ordinary people of faith today continue to rely on God despite a variety of struggles in doing so, including intellectual doubt.

Our theory of faith accommodates and explains the plausibility of this datum. Footnote 104

The nature of faith’s resilience

Suppose faith is resilient reliance. We may well wonder: what is the nature of the resilience involved in faith, exactly?

Resilience has received a lot of attention from psychologists recently. However, when we turn to them for guidance, we’re greeted with a dizzying array of options. Sisto et al. ( 2019 ) surveys 126 “constructs” in the literature (in English), between 2002 and May 2019. On all of them, resilience involves a response to challenges, but they differ in how they characterize the response. Most of them, however, when applied to people, emphasize one or more of the following properties.

Unperturbedness A disposition to remain (virtually) unchanged in response to a challenge. Improvement A disposition to change for the better in response to a challenge. Recovery A disposition to return to the state one was in after initially giving way to the challenge. Footnote 105

None of these, however, is necessary for faith because each can be had without the other and having just one can be sufficient for the resilience required by faith.

By way of illustration, suppose Iman has faith in Allah to reward her submission. Then, on our view, she’ll be disposed to rely on Allah to reward her, with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so. Suppose resilience is unperturbedness but not improvement or recovery. When life poses a challenge to relying on Allah to reward Iman, she’s pretty much unfazed by it; it flows off her like water off a duck’s back. She’s not disposed to change for the better or to give way at all; she’s just disposed to remain unchanged, continuing to rely in pretty much the way she always has. That, we submit, suffices for the resilience required by faith. Mutatis mutandis , the same goes for improvement and recovery: each suffices and neither of the other pair is required.

Something similar can be said for “constructs” in the neighborhood of resilience found in the psychological literature, for example grit , i.e., “perseverance and passion for long-term goals,” spiritual fortitude , i.e., “a character trait enabling people to endure and make redemptive meaning from adversity through their sacred connections with God, others, and themselves,” hardiness , i.e., “a pattern of attitudes and skills that provides the existential form of courage and motivation needed for learning from stressful circumstances, in order to determine what will be the most effective performance,” persistence , i.e., “voluntary continuation of a goal-directed action in spite of obstacles, difficulties, or discouragement,” and perseverance , i.e., “the ability to pursue one’s goals to completion, even in the face of obstacles”. Footnote 106 None is necessary for the resilience involved in faith, although each is sufficient. And the same goes for other items pointed to by English: endurance, firmness, steadfastness, tenacity, pluck, moxie, stick-to-itiveness, resistance, determination, doggedness, resolve, indefatigability, diligence, tirelessness, drive, stamina, pertinacity, mulishness, pigheadedness, stiffneckedness, obstinacy, etc.

We might go disjunctive here but, in our view, we would be better-served by positing that the resilience involved in faith is an unspecific general disposition to overcome challenges to continuing to rely on those in whom we have placed our faith, one that can be instantiated by any of a variety of different specific particular things, e.g., unperturbedness, improvement, recovery, grit, spiritual fortitude, hardiness, persistence, perseverance, and the like. For otherwise we will face what we might call the problem of particularity , i.e., the problem of identifying the resilience involved in faith with some particular thing that is sufficient but unnecessary to dispose us to overcome challenges to continuing to rely on those in whom we have placed our faith. So why do we pick “resilience” to point to this multiply-realizable unspecific general disposition? For its alliterative value: “resilient reliance” has a nice ring to it.

Other pistologists see a deep connection between faith and resilience, although none we know of have spilt much ink defending it, as we have here. Footnote 107 Indeed, it’s the rare bird who even pauses to consider the nature of faith’s resilience. Finlay Malcolm and Michael Scott are a happy exception. Like us, they note the plurality of ways in which psychologists theorize about resilience, and they land on a way to unify that plurality. When we apply it to our theory of faith, the result is that, for you to have faith in someone for something is, in part, for you to be “disposed to resist, at least to some extent, factors that would [otherwise] lead you to cease” relying on them for it. Footnote 108

This is a welcome suggestion. Even so, we prefer our proposal, for two reasons. First, we’d like to avoid any appearance of aligning ourselves with Freudian psychoanalytic theory, which talk of “resistance” might suggest. Second, and more importantly, their proposal faces the problem of particularity. For although resistance is sufficient to play the needed role in faith, it is not necessary. That’s because it is possible to have faith in someone for something even though you are disposed to welcome —and not resist to any extent—factors that would otherwise lead you to cease relying on them for it. After all, you might be disposed to welcome—and not resist to any extent—the opportunity to confirm and strengthen your disposition to rely on them for it. Athletes with faith in their abilities or coaches who have faith in their teams, for example, might welcome—and not resist to any extent—contests and challenges in which their faith is tested. People of faith might likewise welcome analogous challenges. In our opinion, a theory of faith—or, more specifically, a theory of faith’s resilience—should allow for this possibility.

Summing up and looking ahead

We began with a theory of relational faith according to which it is, fundamentally, resilient reliance, i.e., a disposition to rely with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so, and a theory of relational faithfulness according to which it is, fundamentally, resilient reliability, i.e., a disposition to come through reliably with resilience in the face of challenges to doing so. Moreover, we sketched a methodology for assessing a theory of faith based on a more general philosophical methodology. In addition, while pistological research remains to be done on the secular and religious contexts to which we have drawn attention, we submit that, since our theory posits faith’s resilience, it can handle several items of plausible faith-data: Relying-and-Coming-Through , Neither-Fickle-nor-Flighty , Reciprocity , Role , Value , Faithlessness , Pístis and Fides in the Greco-Roman World , Faith in Contemporary Secular Contexts , Pístis in the NT , ʾEmûnāh in the Hebrew Scriptures , Covenant , Salvation , Exemplars of Faith in God , and People of Faith Today . Further, we substantiated our claim that faith essentially involves resilience. Finally, when it comes to the nature of the resilience involved in faith, we argued for an unspecific general disposition that avoids the problem of particularity.

But there’s plenty of work left to do. For example, we might wonder what competing theories of relational faith there are, and whether they can handle the faith-data we have presented as well as ours does. And we might investigate which better handles other faith-related data, better substantiates its theoretical claims, and better integrates with other things we know. In this connection, we might consider which more naturally extends to manifestations of faith other than relational faith, e.g., faith in ideals and causes , and propositional faith , and the life-unifying-and-structuring faith exhibited by those who are people of faith, orientational faith , and which more plausibly unifies these diverse manifestations of faith under a theory of faith simpliciter , something that is faith, rightly and strictly speaking, of which these are its manifestations. And we might inquire after which more successfully steps up to the plate of an evidence-based empirical psychology of faith, e.g., by providing valid measures that can be used to confirm or disconfirm differing predictions, or by shedding light on how faith is related to other phenomena of interest. And we might assess which more plausibly solves the problems of faith, e.g., the value problem, the problem of faith as a virtue, the problem of faith and reason, and the problem of the trajectory, among others. Footnote 109 And we might investigate which provides new plausible solutions to problems in other areas of philosophy, whether in the philosophy of religion, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, or elsewhere. Finally, we might explore which provides a more useful theoretical framework for clinical applications, e.g., in therapy, counseling, and spiritual direction.

As we said, there’s plenty of work left to do. In any event, we hope that what we’ve said is at least somewhat on target. For, if it is, we’ll be that much closer to understanding the nature and value of the faith in God to which the Abrahamic traditions call people, as well as the nature and value of the faith we find in human–human relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness. Footnote 110

See Alston ( 1996 ); Audi ( 2011 ); Howard-Snyder ( 2019 ), McKaughan ( 2013 ; 2016 ); Pojman ( 1986 ); Rath ( 2017 ); Schellenberg ( 2005 ).

Cf. Beck ( 2013 ).

Cf. Alston ( 1996 ), Adams ( 1999 ), Audi ( 2011 ), Buchak ( 2017 ), Howard-Snyder ( 2013 ), Jackson ( 2021 ), Kvanvig ( 2018 ), McKaughan ( 2016 ; 2017 ).

We explore the nature of the act of relying in Howard-Snyder and McKaughan (unpublished).

We follow Bengson et al. ( 2022 ), with simplification. See their book for details and defense.

We thank Dennis Whitcomb for this modification. Cf. Whitcomb et al. ( 2017 ). Notice that we can show that a theory accommodates, and explains or renders-plausible, a faith-datum even though we do not show that it does so better than competing theories, a task we leave for elsewhere.

Alston ( 1996 ), 13, emphasis added. Cf. Audi ( 2011 ) and McKaughan and Howard-Snyder ( 2021 ).

For an evaluative review of psychological research related to trust in God and proposals for future research on trust and faith in God more attuned to investigating their potential relations to reliance, resilience, and associated cognitive and conative states, see Hook et al. ( 2021 ).

Objection Our theory applies to individual people, not groups of people. Reply Correct. Fortunately, on a common view of collective responsibility, collectives can have a psychology beyond that of their members, and so, on that view, our theory can be easily extended to groups of people. However, if there are no collectives, then no group of people can enter into relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness. Still, sentences like “Vermont has more faith in the CDC than Mississippi does” or “Israel is more faithful to God than it was” can express truths since, arguably, their truth-makers can be understood wholly in terms of the psychology of individual citizens. For details, see Smiley ( 2017 ).

Cf. Cox et al. ( 2021 ).

Cf. Preston-Roedder ( 2018 ).

Objection Even if faith is resilient reliance, and even if we have faith in our spouses, it is more plausible that we are disposed to continue behaving in ways that constitute our relying on them for the goods of marriage, despite difficulties, because of our love for them and not because of our faith in them. Reply . Suppose Eleonore Stump ( 2006 ) is right: our love of our spouses consists in, most fundamentally, two desires: a desire for their well-being and a desire for a specific sort of union, marital union. Label them the marital desires . Then, on Stump’s view, marital love just is the marital desires. Now, in the context of a marriage, either the marital desires entail a disposition to continue behaving in ways that constitute our relying on our spouses for the goods of marriage, despite difficulties, or they do not. If they do not, then marital love cannot explain the plausibility of the disposition in question as well as faith in them can, given that faith is resilient reliance. If, however, the marital desires do entail a disposition to continue behaving in ways that constitute our relying on them for the goods of marriage, despite difficulties—say, because the desire for marital union entails that disposition—then marital love will explain the plausibility of the disposition in question, but it will not do so better than faith in them does. Rather, they will do so because and only because faith in them does, given that faith is resilient reliance. So, on Stump’s view of marital love, the objection is false. Mutatis mutandis , the same goes for other views of love.

One might wonder how, on our theory , relational faith is distinct from relational trust. The long answer is in McKaughan and Howard-Snyder (unpublished a). Here’s the short answer. (1) The experts on trust offer many theories. Some say a disposition to rely is unnecessary, in which case trust is not even close to faith. Others say that a disposition to rely is necessary for trust but not sufficient, while yet others that it is necessary and sufficient. But none says trust essentially involves resilience in the face of challenges to relying. So, the experts on trust implicitly distinguish trust from faith. (2) Of course, the experts could all be wrong. Is there some reason to suppose they’re right, i.e., to suppose trust does not essentially involve resilience in the face of challenges to relying? We think so. That’s because it seems we can trust someone for something even when we are not the least bit resilient in the face of challenges to relying on them. We trust our pharmacist to provide our medication but, if they don’t have it, we aren’t the least bit disposed to continue relying on them to provide it, we just go to at another pharmacist; we trust the oncoming driver to stay on their side of the road but, if they don’t, we aren’t the least bit disposed to continue relying on them to do so, we just get out of the way; etc. (3) On the disputed assumption that trust involves a disposition to rely, trust has a valuable role to play in personal relationships. It enables us to rely on each other for things that matter to us. However, on our theory, faith has another valuable role to play. It enables us to continue relying on each other for things that matter to us despite difficulties .

Morgan ( 2015 ), chapter 1, 5–7, passim .

Morgan ( 2015 ), 6, 117–118.

Morgan ( 2015 ), 75.

Morgan ( 2015 ), 45, 118–119, 130, chapters 1–3 passim .

Morgan ( 2015 ), 17, 20, 22, 45, 63, 64, 74, 75, 78–79, 104, 117, 121, 124, 154, 170, 180–181, 209–210, 502.

Morgan ( 2015 ), 6, 20–21, 104–116, 181.

Morgan ( 2015 ), 83–85, 106–107, 127–135.

Cf. Morgan ( 2015 ), 38, 77, 82–86, 129–130; see also, McKaughan ( 2017 ).

Jeffries ( 2020 ).

Google “Biden keep the faith” to view multiple occasions, including his Covid-19 anniversary speech (Biden, 2021 ). From the other side of the aisle, see Romney ( 2020 ), McConnell ( 2020 ), and Cipollone ( 2020 ).

Erickson ( 2015 ).

Kornweibel ( 2010 ).

Other pop songs linking faith and resilience: (1) John Hiatt’s Have a Little Faith in Me , released in 1987, written after “a trail of wreckage,” personal and professional, wrought by his drug and alcohol addiction (Hiatt ( 2019 ); cf. Joe Cocker’s ( 1997 ) Berlin cover); (2) Have a Little Faith , written by Jim Tullio and Jim Weider, and performed by rhythm-and-blues icon Mavis Staples; (3) Faithful , performed by rapper Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson, aka Tyga.

Google “faith” and the name of your favorite sports team. You’ll find players, coaches, sportswriters, and/or fans expressing continued reliance on others despite difficulties. See, e.g., Silver ( 2015 ), Dutta ( 2021 ), and Daily Mail ( 2021 ).

Mandela ( 1994 ), Kindle Locations 6561–6563.

Zhao ( 2021 ).

See Preston-Roedder ( 2013 ) for more on resilience and faith in humanity.

Agweek ( 2018 ).

Hunter-Gault ( 2020 ).

Brooks ( 2019 ).

Mark 5:21–34.

Cf. Williams ( 1994 ), 116; Black ( 2011 ), 104, 149; Marshall ( 1989 ), 104; Marcus ( 2000 ), 357.

Cf. Kinukawa ( 1994 ), 45; Marshall ( 1989 ), 107; Black ( 2011 ), 141; Marcus ( 2000 ), 357–358; Miller ( 2004 ), 158.

Mark 10:46–52; Mark 2:1–12.

Mark 5:21–24, 35–43; 9:14–29; 4:40; 9:19.

Mark 7:24–30, 14:3–9; Matthew 15:21–28 and Luke 7:36–50.

Mark 14:32–42; 15:21–37.

Morgan ( 2015 ), 7, 117, 120, 121.

Marshall ( 1989 ), 237. For more on these six points, see Howard-Snyder ( 2017a ).

Matthew 15:21–28.

Ryken ( 2016 ), 56–57.

James 1:2–4.

1Corinthians 16:13.

2 Thessalonians 1:3–4.

Colossians 2:5.

1 Peter 1:3–9.

Hebrews 12:1–2; cf. 2 Timothy 4:7–8.

Lührmann ( 1992 ), 755.

Hebrews 10:36–39; cf. 12:1-4ff, 16:12. For more on the NT data, see McKaughan & Howard-Snyder (forthcoming).

Sovran ( 2014 ), 91; cf. Jepsen ( 1977 ), 322–323.

Brown et al. ( 1977 ), 52–53; Moberly ( 1997 ), 427–433; Jepsen ( 1977 ), 322–323.

Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 89:28.

Hosea 11:12; Nehemiah 9:8. Jubilees 17–23 celebrates Abraham for his ne’ĕmān (Swanson ( 2014 ), 701). Cf. 1 Samuel 2:25, 3:20; Psalm 101:6.

Healey ( 1992 ), 745; Jepsen ( 1977 ), 322–323; Barton (unpublished), 4; cf. Brown et al.( 1977 ); Clines ( 1993 ).

Isaiah 28:16; cf. 53:1. Paul quotes this twice, Romans 9:33 and 10:11; cf. Betz ( 1990 ), 443–444.

Barton (unpublished), 8–9; Pfeiffer ( 1959 ).

Genesis 15:6. Barton (unpublished), 4.

Clines 1993 ; Brown et al.( 1977 ).

Habakkuk 2:4; quoted by Paul from the LXX as pístis , in Galatians 3:11 and Romans 1:17.

Perry ( 1953 ), 252.

Perry ( 1953 ), 255.

Isaiah 7:9; Barton (unpublished), 6.

2 Chronicles 20:20.

Anderson ( 1999 ), 3.

For more on the Hebrew-scriptures data, see McKaughan & Howard-Snyder (forthcoming).

Hahn ( 2009 ), 3; cf. 28.

Genesis 9:8–17; Genesis 12:1–3, 7; 13:14–17; 15:4–21; 17:4–16; 22:15–18.

Jeremiah 7:23, passim .

Objection If God has faith in Israel to keep the covenant, then, if our theory is correct, God resiliently relies on them to keep the covenant. But God knows what Israel will do on that score, in which case it is false that God resiliently relies on them to keep the covenant. After all, if God knows Israel will (ultimately) keep the covenant, what sense is there in saying God resiliently relies on Israel to do so? As an anonymous reviewer put it, “since there is no risk or uncertainty with [God’s] knowledge, where is the space for resilience?” Our theory entails a contradiction. Reply (1) With biblical scholars from all perspectives, we frown on reading perfect being theology into the text. (2) On Open Theism, God doesn’t know that Israel will keep the covenant; there’s the desired “space for resilience”. (3) Even if Open Theism is false, “space for resilience” can arise from non-evidential challenges. Suppose God has faith in Israel to keep the covenant, and suppose God knows that Israel will keep it. Then, evidential challenges to relying on Israel to keep the covenant will not arise for God. But, as Israel’s keeping the covenant waxes and wanes, God may well resiliently rely on Israel to keep the covenant in the face of other challenges, e.g., disappointment, anger, a sense of betrayal, etc., all in response to their unfaithfulness, which is what we actually find in the text.

For a more detailed display of these and other failures, see Hudson ( 2021 ).

On Mother Teresa as an exemplar of faith whose faith perseveres amidst doubt, see McKaughan ( 2018 ).

Brown ( 1982 ), 204.

Cf. Stump ( 2012 ); Pace and McKaughan ( 2020 ).

Genesis 12:1, emphasis added, 4–5.

Genesis 15:2–3, 8.

Genesis 15:1–3.

Genesis 15:12–16.

Genesis 16:1–4, 15.

Genesis 2:10–20; 20:1–18.

Genesis 20:11.

Brueggemann ( 1986 ), 148.

Genesis 17:17.

Genesis 18:11–15.

Genesis 21:6.

Genesis 18:14.

Genesis 21:7.

Genesis 22:2.

Mark 1:14–15.

Black ( 2011 ), 296; Rhoads ( 2004 ), 53–54. For a thorough treatment of Jesus as an exemplar of faith, see Tuggy ( 2017 ).

Mark 14:34.

Mark 14:36. Cf. Hartvigsen ( 2012 ), 470–471.

Mark 15:34.

Mark 14:36.

Neuhaus ( 2000 ), 232.

On faith in God and intellectual doubt from a Christian perspective, see Howard-Snyder ( 2017b ), McKaughan ( 2018 ), and Howard-Snyder and McKaughan ( 2021 ).

On faith in God and intellectual doubt from a Muslim perspective, see Aijaz ( 2018 ).

On faith in God and intellectual doubt from a Jewish perspective, see Lebens ( 2017 , 2020 , 2021 ).

Exline et al. ( 2014 ).

Fowler ( 1981 ); Peck ( 1987 ); Seel ( 2012 ).

Cf. Ögtem-Young ( 2018 ), Pargament and Exline ( 2020 ), and van Tonergan et al. ( 2019 ).

Further evidence for this datum can be found in Christian hymns. See (1) “Alas, dear God, how weak my faith!,” (2) “Oh, for a faith that will not shrink,” (3) “From noon of joy to night of doubt,” (4) “My faith still clings,” (5) “I need, O Lord, a stronger faith,” and (6) “He leads me still”.

Cf. Malcolm and Scott ( 2021 ), 24, for a different take on this literature.

Duckworth et al . ( 2007 ), grit; Van Tongeren et al. ( 2019 ), spiritual fortitude; Maddi et al. ( 2012 ), hardiness; Peterson and Seligman ( 2004 ), persistence; Kern et al. ( 2016 ), perseverance.

See, e.g., Buchak ( 2017 ), steadfastness; Matheson ( 2018 ), grit; Bishop ( 2007 ) and Jackson ( 2021 ) commitment; Wolterstorff ( 1990 ), firmness, tenacity, perseverance, steadfastness, resistance, resolve, and endurance.

Malcolm and Scott ( 2021 ), 24.

For first steps on these four problems, see Howard-Snyder and McKaughan ( 2020 ), 2021 ), (forthcoming), and McKaughan and Howard-Snyder (forthcoming).

A grant from the John Templeton Foundation supported this publication. The opinions expressed in it are those of the authors and might not reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. For helpful feedback on the ideas in this essay, we thank Jeff Cooley, Terence Cuneo, Frances Howard-Snyder, Teresa Morgan, Samuel Lebens, Christian Lee, Michael Pace, Benjamin Schliesser, Neal Tognazzini, David Vanderhooft, Ryan Wasserman, Dennis Whitcomb, and an anonymous reviewer for this journal.

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29 Beautiful Stories That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

In a time when the 24-hour news cycle bombards us with stories of tragedy, heartbreak and deceit, it can be difficult to keep our heads up and remain optimistic about the world we live in. But amid the tragedy and sadness, we receive daily glimpses of hope and happiness—moments when our spirits are lifted and we’re reminded of the generosity and kindness of others. The following is a mixture of tales, both personal and newsworthy, that restored our faith in humanity.

People Restoring Faith in Humanity

1. unsolicited help.

A Sudanese woman, Alik, who was pregnant and had two young children in tow, arrived in Fort Worth, Texas, without her husband, Dyan, in 2012. Upon leaving their refugee camp in Egypt, Dyan wasn’t able to make the journey with his family because the couple had no official proof of their marriage with them. Alik was processed as a single mother and was bumped to the top of the resettlement list. Her husband, a single man, was moved down to the bottom.

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Over the next four years, two women with The Village Church in Fort Worth helped Alik and her children get their lives started in the U.S—and helped restore faith in humanity. The women also called congressional representatives, spoke with attorneys and met with social workers in an attempt to help Dyan come to the U.S.

After four years, Dyan was finally reunited with his wife and three children, including the baby Alik was pregnant with when she left. Video footage shows Dyan dropping to his knees in a tearful prayer of thanksgiving once he was reunited with his family.

—Jamie Friedlander

2. All Are Welcome

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Justin Norman of Dallas held this sign in front of the Islamic Center of Irving—restoring our faith in humanity. He did it to “share the peace with his neighbors,” according to his Facebook page.

3. Neighborly Love

In the predawn hours of a Saturday morning in January 2017, an arsonist set fire to the Victoria Islamic Center, a mosque in Victoria, Texas. The fire gutted the building, but the shocked community immediately responded with love. The Jewish and Christian communities of Victoria quickly stepped up. They offered their churches and a synagogue for worship to the congregation of fewer than 150 people. When a GoFundMe account was set up to raise funds for rebuilding the uninsured structure, it surpassed the goal of $850,000 within days. More than $1 million was raised from people of all beliefs—including atheists.

—Sophia Dembling

4. Respect the Hustle

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Hijinio Camacho, a vendor who set up his cart on the University of California, Santa Barbara, campus, hung up a sign with his Venmo username one day. This way, students could pay for their elotes (Mexican street corn) and raspados (snow cones) through their cellphones. A photograph of him went viral online. Soon after, people from around the world began sending donations to applaud his hustle.

5. Let There Be Love

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In March 2017, Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Modern Love column, “ You May Want to Marry My Husband ,” appeared in print and online in The New York Times . In it, the accomplished author battling terminal cancer created a dating profile for her husband of 26 years. She shared her hope that “the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.” Her generosity of spirit in the face of adversity floored me. And although her death 10 days after her column was published is a tremendous loss for those who loved and admired her, Rosenthal’s unselfishness despite her own suffering was truly admirable.

—Elisa Zied

6. Lending a Helping Hand

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Impressed by his work ethic, Derrick Taylor’s UPS co-workers pooled their resources in order to buy the Alabama teen a Jeep Cherokee—and helped restore faith in humanity. Not wanting to burden or rely on others for rides, the teen walked an approximately 10-mile round trip commute to work, in the dark, for more than a year. Taylor, who was 19 at the time, had been working since the age of 14 to support his sick mother. He was moved to tears by his colleagues’ gesture.

7. Touched by an Angel

Stephen Parker found himself trapped under his Toyota Prius after the car fell on him while working underneath it. This is it , he thought. His 17-year-old son, Mason, was inside the house, leaving Parker’s 8-year-old son, J.T., to try to use the car jack to save his father. And he did. When J.T. was asked how he found the strength to lift up the car, the 50-pound boy said angels helped him.

—Jesus Jimenez

8. Trail Angel Mary

In 2001 Mary Parry was homeless and living in a tent in Pennsylvania when she began befriending hikers along the roughly 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail. Today she’s one of the trail’s most well-known “trail angels.” She routinely opens her two-bedroom apartment a block from the trail to strangers with backpacks. In a typical year she shelters or shuttles up to 800 hikers who text her or knock on her door, giving them home-cooked meals, rides, the use of her car, and a place to shower and sleep.

To weary, grimy, hungry “hiker trash,” Trail Angel Mary is a godsend. But she said God sent them first. “Helping them,” Parry said, “is my way of thanking God for him bringing those people to me when I was having a rough time in my life.”

—Robyn Passante

9. Up in the Air

In March 2017, Alaska Airlines pilot Jodi Harskamp donated a kidney to flight attendant Jenny Stansel and restored faith in humanity. “I lose a kidney and she gets to live,” Harskamp reasoned. “It’s pretty easy. There’s really no question.” The captain didn’t hesitate, despite the small chance she could never fly again if having only one remaining kidney left her too weak to pass stringent pilot health standards. But she was in luck. In July of the same year, both women were back at work on a flight to Seward, Alaska.

—Sally Deneen

10. Silent Struggles

A poem for a stranger

There is a man she sees weekly, when he visits her café, She hears the girls whisper “tall, dark, and handsome,” though she doesn’t see him in this way. A grin from ear to ear, and always a pleasant thing to say, She found that simply his presence alone could salvage greatness within her day. Yet there are times when he looks troubled, and once she was brave enough to ask why, He said his grandmother was very ill and his family struggles to get by. A shock because from appearances, he always looked just fine, Nice hair, a job and an AMEX, who would guess he had problems of this kind. Months passed and she noticed his lighthearted manner with customers or the occasional friend in town, Stuck behind a digital highlight reel, it was nearly impossible to spot the thorn in his crown. One afternoon, while mopping the floor, she overheard a phone call that left him in a terrible frown, Insurance asking for more money than he had, and her heart began to drown. She dashed to the bar and on his cup, scribbled a sharpie note spiraled all around, Then handed his drink with a closed-lipped smile, not making a single sound. He looked as his chaotic cup puzzled, struggling to understand, She pointed for him to read it with a swift gesture of her hand. The words looked a little bit awkward, some letters squished and not lined up just right, But to the man in the café this message changed his thoughts on what people call love at first sight: “I want to thank you, brother, for everything that you do, But especially for being gentle and patient when people assume things of you. Like when you smile from your lips to your eyes, and they believe you’ve never felt “real pain,” They see you standing so strong, they cannot imagine you so low as having to crawl through mud and rain. You carry this invisible burden, brother, and never speak of it aloud, Because the fact that you carry it is not of something you are proud. Though you’ve accepted the cards you’ve been dealt with, you wish that people knew, How much more effort the world demands for just simply being you. But I want you to know, I see you, brother, for ALL that you are, And be proud to know that to some you shine brighter than the other stars. Because you’ve not lost temper or heart, even though yes, the system is flawed, 10,000 hours just to be equal, 10,000 more to hear the applause. So all I ask is that as you open the door and begin to start your day, You say to yourself and truly believe, “I am already a success story today.” With watery eyes they smiled, he opened his mouth but she insisted, “You don’t need to say a word. This life is about feeling connected and seen, not just about being heard.” He nodded right then and he kissed her, ever so softly on the cheek, Replying, “I have not the words to express how grateful I am, sister, that our paths allowed us to meet.” They do not speak that often, but when they converse it is quite grand, Much deeper than quiet pleasantries and a soft shake of the hand. They share of dreams and struggles openly, and never is their talk just small, How wasted this life would be if we didn’t tend to the roots that help us grow tall. They laugh, they cry, they hug, and always before they part, They look at each other slyly and say, “Thank you for letting me see you today; truly from the bottom of my heart.”

—Megan O’Neal

11. A Toast to Charles’ Wife

Sitting on a cramped bench in the oldest pub in Dublin, I met Charles. He toasted his Guinness with mine in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday. Taking a hefty gulp, Charles said, “This is the second-to-last surprise.”

I was intrigued. “Each month leading up to my birthday, my wife has surprised me with something off of my bucket list,” he elaborated. She’d said time wasn’t slowing down, but I could tell in his tone it meant more to him than the satisfaction of a checkmark. The surprises began with dinner at the swankiest restaurant from their hometown in Brussels and progressed to skydiving, matching tattoos and a “bachelor’s” weekend in Ireland. She woke him up at 5:30 a.m. that morning with plane tickets and his two best friends at the doorstep.

Thirty-six years after their marriage, they’re still best friends. It made my chest flicker, which I promptly pushed aside because even happy tears aren’t allowed in a pub. Their story wasn’t exaggeratedly fairy tale blessed—they’d met at the bank. But it was real and unselfish.

I asked Charles about his wife’s birthday and he chuckled. “I have 10 months to try and top this,” he gestured around the room, live music bouncing off of every wooden stool and pint glass. “I’m screwed.”

12. Good Day to You

Commutes can be the bane of city dwellers’ existences, but not for commuters at the Armitage train station in Chicago. In the coldest of winter mornings, Janet Martin, with Chicago Transit Authority, mans the turnstiles, welcoming customers with a smile.

Slowly, zombielike commuters open their eyes, lift their chins and rip out their headphones to return her greeting.

“Good morning, everyone! Have a fantastic day!” Martin bellows. She’s eager to help someone with questions or a problem.

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Janet has given me pep talks for job interviews and has helped me when I have forgotten my train pass. If it’s a rainy day, she asks me if I’ve packed my umbrella.

When I moved and took a different train, my commutes were lackluster without Martin. But when I returned, she embraced me like an old friend.

“You’re back!” she exclaimed. “Welcome home.”

Yes, I was home.

—Ellen Kobe

Restoring Faith in Humanity by Helping Kids

13. by your side.

Los Angeles resident Mohamed Bzeek encompasses what it means to be selfless. He has taken in terminally ill children who are in the L.A. foster care system for over 20 years. He started with his wife, Dawn, and has been doing it alone since her death in 2014.

Bzeek, originally from Libya, has cared for over 80 children, including a blind, deaf and paralyzed 6-year-old girl. He said that although she couldn’t see or hear him, he always held her and talked to her so she knew she was not alone in the world.

— Jamie Friedlander

14. News to My Ears

In March 2017, someone anonymously donated $1 million to pay for students across the country to receive free access to The New York Times online, according to a press release from the New York Times Company.

15. Scraps for Cash

When Johnny Jennings visited Georgia Baptist Children’s Home, he felt it was his life’s mission to help the children. He was 18 at the time and not ready to adopt a child, so he started helping financially. Jennings began collecting scrap paper and aluminum so he could cash in his collections for money. At the time of Jennings’ passing in September 2022, the 91-year-old had donated more than $400,000 over the course of his lifetime.

16. Adoption Advocate

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Saroj Sood’s Indian Society for Sponsorship & Adoption (ISSA) helps lost, abandoned and orphaned children in Kolkata, India. For nearly five decades, Sood has upheld this motto: “Adopting one child won’t change the world. But for that one child, the world will change.” One boy famously paid it forward. Sood took in a lost 5-year-old who was later adopted by Australians. Decades later, as depicted in the six-time Oscar nominated film Lion , the boy found his impoverished birth mother and began to financially support her and ISSA.

—Mary Vinnedge

17. Sunshine on a Ranney Day

In 2012 Holly Ranney combined her background in interior design with her husband’s construction expertise to give an 11-year-old cancer patient in Macon, Georgia, a bedroom makeover they paid for themselves. His reaction to the room changed the couple’s lives.

“Pete and I looked at each other and said, ‘Wow, this is definitely something we were meant to do,’” Ranney said. Today the duo heads Sunshine on a Ranney Day . It’s an Atlanta-area nonprofit that offers free makeovers of child bedrooms, therapy rooms and bathrooms for kids with long-term illnesses.

“A lot of these families don’t feel like they deserve it or think that there are others out there who need it more than them,” Ranney said. With the support of generous sponsors, volunteers and donors, the couple has overseen a multitude of makeovers, giving families under incredible stress a huge home blessing and a new reason to smile. In 2020, the couple opened the Sunny & Ranney Home Furnishings & Decor store in Roswell, Georgia, which helps to fund Sunshine on a Ranney Day.

Good News Stories That Restore Faith in Humanity

18. relationship goals.

As the sister of a brother with Asperger’s syndrome, love stories like that of Florida couple Nico Morales and Latoya Jolly are by far my favorite kind. After meeting on a dating site for those on the autism spectrum, the two connected quickly. They built a deep relationship based on mutual understanding and support. Morales described their dynamic as being “even more extraordinary together.”

—Karin Vandraiss

19. (Inter) Stellar News

A welcome break in the 24-hour news cycle came one morning in the form of an announcement from NASA. Seven Earth-size planets, were discovered, three of which are “firmly located” in the habitable zone where life is most likely to thrive. Unexpectedly cheered by the positive, uplifting headlines focused on innovation and good old-fashioned science, my faith in humanity was restored. I channeled my inner Neil deGrasse Tyson and took it upon myself to share the news with everyone I encountered for the rest of the day.

20. Walking Tall

In the summer of 2010, Chris Leeuw took a break from kayaking to climb a truss bridge and dive into a deep southern Indiana river. Ten seconds later, he couldn’t feel anything from the neck down. Another guy had jumped with Leeuw and drifted over mid-fall, landing on Leeuw’s neck and leaving the 28-year-old a quadriplegic by the time he surfaced. In the ensuing weeks and months, the wheelchair-bound Leeuw traversed a dizzying network of hospitals, outpatient centers and nursing homes. But he found the maze of his care complicated, expensive and not focused enough on his goal: walking again.

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Low on traditional options, Leeuw discovered Neuroworx , a low-cost therapy center in Utah founded by a former quadriplegic, that allowed him to recuperate at his own pace for a tiny fraction of what traditional care would have cost. Eighteen months after his accident, Leeuw walked again. Then, in 2015, fueled by the revelatory experience, he opened NeuroHope . It’s a low-cost clinic near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, that provides affordable therapy, equipment and facilities to patients with spinal cord and other neurological injuries.

In its first two years, the facility expanded twice. It also received a state grant to expand its services and spearheaded legislation that funds affordable long-term therapy programs. “We’ve helped 36 patients on their road to recovery,” Leeuw said—a road that still stretches on.

—Jeff Vrabel

21. Open Seating

While attending school, Natalie Hampton was snubbed when she asked to join others at their lunch table. In September 2016, Hampton aimed to wipe out that painful experience by creating the Sit With Us app. Using it, kids agree to be lunchtime ambassadors and post available seating. That way, lonely students, through their smartphones, can subtly find welcoming tablemates and make friends. The free app was quickly embraced when it launched, and it spread internationally within days.

22. Finding Forgiveness

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Iceland native Thordis Elva, then 16, knows there are 7,200 seconds in two hours. She knows this because she counted every single second of those two hours while being raped by her then-boyfriend, Tom Stranger, an exchange student from Australia. After nearly a decade of written communication following the crime, the two found peace, forgiveness and a drive to open society’s eyes to the realities of sexual violence and the misplaced blame that perpetuates the problem. In their TedWomen talk, viewed more than 6 million times, Elva asks tough questions that society has yet to answer.

“How will we understand what it is in human societies that produces violence if we refuse to recognize the humanity of those who commit it? And how can we empower survivors if we’re making them feel less than? How can we discuss solutions to one of the biggest threats to the lives of women and children around the world, if the very words we use are part of the problem?”

—Cecilia Meis

23. Beautifully Different

Talli Osborne is different. Her multicolored mohawk and multiple piercings make her look more like a band member than a motivational speaker. She rides a hot-pink scooter with skulls on it. To other “punx” in the punk rock community, she’s known as “Nubs,” based on the song “She’s Nubs,” written about Osborne. She believes that differences should be embraced .

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Embracing the different is nothing new for Osborne. She was born without arms and the majority of bones in her legs, which is why she requires the scooter. But rather than letting this difference be a limitation, she embraces it. In her words, she “lets her difference sparkle.” Before becoming one of the most sought-after inspirational speakers on the TEDx roster, she rose through the ranks at Virgin Mobile Canada to earn the title Best Customer Service Agent in the Americas. Richard Branson even included her in his list of top 10 most inspirational people in the world.

With a natural gift for storytelling, her presentations weave humor, wit and grace into powerful messages about acceptance and tolerance. “I want people to leave my presentations feeling inspired and motivated, to be the best person they can be, to learn to love themselves , dream big and live life to the fullest,” Osborne says.

—Mary Carlomagno

Charitable Causes that Restore Faith in Humanity

24. secret santa.

Pat Rydzy, a retired dental hygienist from upstate New York, discovered a need one day in January 1997 when an adult male with developmental disabilities sat down in her hygienist’s chair. The man was sad because “Santa Claus couldn’t come.” It was three weeks after Christmas, so Rydzy knew the lack of presents made a dent in the man’s heart. She discovered there were not enough extra funds to buy holiday gifts for the adults in the county’s Arc program, which helps people with mental and developmental disabilities.

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“This seemed like a niche that was being missed,” Rydzy said. So, she began playing Secret Santa and restored faith in humanity. Each fall she asked group home coordinators to procure Christmas lists from their residents. Most are between 30 and 60, and many have outlived their own families. Rydzy scours sales flyers and stakes out Black Friday deals to fill every list, every year.

Now, over two decades into this Secret Santa endeavor, Rydzy, her youngest daughter and some elves from her church use their own money and some donations to buy and wrap presents for around 25 “kids at heart” each December.

“I feel like I’m doing something more than just Christmas gifts,” said Rydzy. “These are members of our community that we should be taking care of.”

25. A Ripple of Hope

When Aidan Thomas Anderson got involved with charity work at age 8, he thought he’d be inspiring his generation to give back.

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“But adults are coming into the picture,” said the now 21-year-old, who speaks and performs music at corporate events for thousands of people. “The need is so great for people to learn how to give .”

By the end of 2017, he had worked with 500 charities thanks to his Aidan Cares movement, which helps others find their passion for service. He’s also spoken alongside Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, has given his own TEDx Talk and released multiple singles on iTunes. “We don’t need to be a big deal,” insists Anderson. “Just a ripple.”

26. Scrolling for Kindness

Scrolling through Facebook one evening, I landed on a video that I thought might intrigue me. But unless something really grabs my attention, I don’t press the audio button. So, I tentatively watched the soundless footage of a young girl interacting with a women experiencing homelessness on the street.

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Intrigued, I turned on the sound to hear the voice of Khloe Thompson, a then-9-year-old humanitarian who donates hygiene essentials to those in need. During “Kare Bag Day,” she—and the organizations and churches she collaborates with—deliver enough essentials to last two to three months in colorful, handmade totes called Kare Bags.

Witnessing her charity work, Khloe Kares , in action restored my faith in humanity.

—Lydia Sweatt

27. Forward, Together

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Multiple Sclerosis affects more than 2.8 million people worldwide. Each year, more than 100,000 people participate in Walk MS events, many requiring assistance to complete the 3.1-mile walk. Since the founding of the National MS Society in 1946—the organization which hosts Walk MS, among other events—more than $1 billion has been raised for MS research.

Restoring Faith in Humanity by Helping Animals

28. a rescue mission.

Dogs that have been beaten, abused, run over or left to die have a guardian angel and advocate—Jennifer Smith. Her Noah’s Arks Rescue charity pays the medical, rehabilitation and caregiving costs for dogs that otherwise would be euthanized. Thanks to numerous small donations and an undisclosed amount Smith kicks in, Noah’s Arks Rescue drops around $1.5 million each year to make miracles happen for these pups.

And when a dog can’t be saved, they throw a party for it before they say goodbye.

“When that dog passes,” Smith said, “he’s gonna have so much love around him that he’s gonna think he lived his whole life this way.”

29. All Dogs Go to Heaven

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More people are adopting or fostering old dogs than ever, restoring faith in humanity. One such dog is Danny Boy, an Australian cattle dog diagnosed with blood cancer once he landed at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in San Francisco. Foster parents Russell Utley and Marie Macaspac checked off a bucket list for the pup. They took happy-go-lucky Danny to Half Moon Bay, California, to eat crabs bought off a boat, dressed him for fancy fundraisers, fed him homemade food and took road trips. Given three to six months to live, Danny stretched that to 15 months. During that time, Danny transformed the lives of his owners.

“Old dogs have a wonderful spirit,” said Utley. He later fostered 16-year-old blind, deaf Chachito for Muttville, which pays for veterinary care and which rescued over 1,000 dogs in 2021. Senior dog rescue groups have popped up around the country in the past two decades, including the Thulani Senior German Shepherd Rescue in California. It has a goal of finding homes for 100 German Shepherds every year, according to the rescue’s website.

This article originally appeared in the July 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine and has been updated. Photo courtesy of Holly Ranney (see No. 17 for the story)

SUCCESS Staff

SUCCESS is your guide for personal and professional development through inspiration, motivation and training.

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Are You Losing Faith In Humanity? Here’s How To Restore It.

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woman looking through rainy window having lost faith in humanity

If you’ve come across this article, chances are that your current levels of faith in humanity are at a record low.

Your belief in our species is waning.

But you haven’t given up hope.

If you’re looking for an explanation as to why you might be feeling this way, and for ways to change your outlook and regain a bit of the faith you once had, you’ve come to the right place.

This article starts by discussing a few of the reasons that people might legitimately start feeling down about the state of humanity.

Then it looks at what this loss of faith might be leading you to feel.

If any of it rings true for you, you’ll want to keep reading for some advice on how to alter your outlook, rebuild your faith in humanity, and start feeling generally more positive about the state of the world.

6 Reasons Why You Might Be Losing Faith In Humanity

Some people start feeling this way because of things happening in the world at large.

For others, it’s their personal interactions and experiences that bring about these feelings.

Or, it might be a big, complicated mix of all kinds of things.

Let’s have a look at some of the most common reasons why people lose faith in humanity.

1. You’ve watched the news

Okay, so this one might seem a bit pessimistic, but the majority of news is, as we all know, bad.

Bad news gets people watching and listening and clicking.

Good news isn’t as likely to make headlines.

If you follow the news closely, you might have started to feel a bit overwhelmed by all the negativity, struggling to understand how human beings can be capable of such awful things.

2. You’ve witnessed violence or cruelty first-hand

If you’ve been unlucky enough to witness an act of violence or cruelty against humans or animals or even the planet, then your brain might decide that that means all humans are evil.

3. You’ve been let down by someone you trusted

A friend, family member, or romantic partner failing you can really rock your foundations and your belief in the goodness of people.

Being abused, controlled, manipulated or lied to by someone close to you can be hard to handle.

It’s sometimes difficult to maintain your faith in humans as a species when one of your favorite humans has treated you badly.

4. You’ve been let down by the powers that be

It’s not just the people we’re closest to that can let us down.

We can also be disappointed by the behavior of governments or organizations that are meant to protect or advocate for us.

5. You’ve been conned

Sadly, there are plenty of con artists out there. If you’ve fallen victim to one, it can be hard to trust again .

6. You’ve experienced discrimination

If you’ve been the victim of disrespect or discrimination due to your beliefs or views, where you’re from, or your physical appearance, you may well be feeling pessimistic about the human race.

4 Things You Might Feel If You’re Losing Faith In Human Beings

This outlook on the state of humanity can stir up all kinds of negative feelings.

You might just experience one of these, or you might feel a whole cocktail of them all at once.

1. Hopelessness

If your faith in humanity is shaky, you probably haven’t got much hope for the future.

You’ll struggle to see a light at the end of humanity’s tunnel, let alone your own. This can lead to apathy or despair.

This is a pretty common reaction to a loss of faith in humanity.

You’re frustrated about the way that things are going and this manifests itself in directionless anger.

3. A sense of not belonging

If you have no faith in humanity as a whole, chances are that you don’t feel particularly connected with our species.

You might feel like an outsider, or like you’re on the outside looking in at all the madness.

4. A yearning for change

It might be that this loss of faith is manifesting itself in the desire to see a change in the world, and maybe even a drive to make that change happen yourself .

You may also like (article continues below):

Why Is Life So Hard?
9 Things To Do When You Feel Defeated Or Discouraged
What Is The Purpose And Point Of Life? (It’s Not What You Think)
Why You Should Live One Day At A Time (+ How To Do It)
Why Letting Go Of Your Expectations Will Lead To Greater Happiness
7 Things Most People Take For Granted In Life

7 Ways To Restore Your Faith In Humanity

Now it’s time for the more optimistic section of this article.

After all, although these feelings can be somewhat justified and unavoidable, they aren’t helpful or constructive, and we shouldn’t hold on to them.

They won’t solve your problems or humanity’s problems as a whole.

All they’re going to do is get you down and prevent you from building healthy relationships and having a positive impact on the world.

So, if and when you experience these emotions, it’s important to know how to process them and how to restore your faith in humanity, for everyone’s sake.

1. Treat other people as you’d like to be treated

You can’t always control what happens in the world and to you, but you can control how you respond to things, and how you treat those around you.

You’re bound to slip up and make mistakes with this, because no one’s perfect, but the main thing is to try.

If you treat other people with respect , compassion, and dignity, chances are you’ll get it back many times over.

2. Actively seek out good news

We tend to just sit back and let news come to us, rather than going out and seeking it ourselves.

And the biggest stories are always going to be the bad ones.

Make an active point of ensuring the news you consume is more balanced, seeking out good news stories.

Simply googling that very phrase, ‘good news stories,’ could unlock a whole world of wonderful news that you’ve never even realized is there.

3. Don’t share negativity on social media

Moaning about the state of the world on social media or arguing with people that disagree with you isn’t going to achieve anything, or change anyone’s mind.

Instead, share positive stories about things that humans are doing and achieving.

Good news doesn’t normally reach anywhere near as far as bad news, so do what you can to magnify it.

4. Spend time with children

Children can be a breath of fresh air, seeing things for what they truly are with no bitterness or cynicism .

It can be extremely refreshing to see things through their eyes, noticing the beauty and joy, rather than viewing everything through a jaded haze.

5. Volunteer

Something that can really put your life into perspective is actively helping those who have it far worse than you do.

Spending time around people who have had a tough life but are still passionate and optimistic is the perfect way to start seeing your own situation, and the world as a whole, through different eyes.

You might be helping others, but you’re probably the one that will benefit the most. You’ll realize that, underneath it all, human beings are incredible and resilient , and that no one is all good or all bad.

6. Make gratitude a focus

You might find it extremely beneficial to write a gratitude journal. Many people do.

But even if you don’t want to write down what you’re grateful for, consciously making the effort to acknowledge all the things that other humans do for you every single day can really shift your focus.

From a stranger helping you carry a heavy suitcase up a flight of stairs to your mother ringing you to tell you how proud she is of you, be grateful.

Suddenly you’ll start to appreciate all the things, big and small, that your fellow humans do for you, and when you’re focusing on that every day, it’s tough to be too negative about humanity.

7. Be more trusting

Trust that your friend will return a book you lend them. The more faith you put in people, the more likely they are to live up to it, being grateful for your trust and returning it.

Make trust your default, without losing your common sense.

If alarm bells go off, listen to them, but try not to let negative stories convince you that your charity donation won’t be used for good, or that the money you give to a homeless person will be spent on drugs, not a bed for the night.

Be generous with your time, money, and material possessions.

Mahatma Gandhi once said:

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty”.

As bad as things might sometimes seem, there is so much good in the world.

It’s just a matter of choosing to make that goodness your focus, celebrating all the wonderful things that human beings do every single day, and, above all, being kind to others and to yourself.

Do these things and your faith in humanity will be restored.

About The Author

Katie is a writer and translator with a focus on travel, self-care and sustainability. She's based between a cave house in Granada, Spain, and the coast of beautiful Cornwall, England. She spends her free time hiking, exploring, eating vegan tapas and volunteering for a local dog shelter.

School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

Faith In Humanity Restored: Thoughtfulness During A Pandemic

The world is facing an entirely new reality because of coronavirus, and it’s one that at times can feel daunting. With so much flooding our minds, the anxiety and fear can sometimes feel overwhelming. Amidst the spread of the novel coronavirus and cities around the world shutting down, good news seems to hit differently these days. Yet, on this other side of darkness, the world has also had the chance to witness immense acts of thoughtfulness in a pandemic.

Before jumping into the ways in which you can display thoughtfulness and some examples of how people are helping each other, let’s remember some important facts. During these uncertain times, it’s good to remind yourself that:

Scientists, researchers, and doctors are working on a cure and vaccine
The majority of people are recovering from COVID-19
Every person who stays at home and practices social distancing is playing a major part in slowing the spread of disease
Creatives, artists, and businesses are connecting in new ways to people around the world
People are coming together to help their communities and those on the frontlines

Photo by Kate Trifo on Unsplash

How to demonstrate thoughtfulness in a pandemic.

Regardless of the circumstance in which you find yourself during this pandemic, you can play a part in spreading positivity and helping the world overcome this challenge.

Some ways to remain thoughtful for both yourself and others include:

Listen to others and allow people close to you to voice their concerns
Take time to care for yourself and disconnect from the news
Be thoughtful and consider the validity of information you hear before sharing it
Be kind and empathetic to those in need
Do what you can
Ask for help when you need it
Take it easy — this is new for everyone and no one really has all the answers so practice self-compassion

What Comes Out In A Pandemic

Dark times reveal character. They can shine a light on what has or hasn’t been working within a society. The things that are outside of our control may also offer insight as to what is within our control.

This could spark new modes of creativity or the urge to take charge of to-do’s that we’ve otherwise procrastinated. Along with the productivity aspect of being in a lockdown during a pandemic, this pandemic has also shed light on the following major societal elements:

1. The Value Of Life

Above all, we are trying to protect life. While this means every person has had to make some sort of sacrifice, we can see how the paramount concern is survival. This is a truth regardless of one’s socioeconomic level, race, gender, education level, or any other way the world may choose to categorize its people.

2. Human Rights

Along with the value of human life, we are coming to realize all the ways in which access to healthcare and inherent human rights are around the world and within smaller communities. Like education , adequate healthcare should be considered a basic human right.

3. Treating The Poor And Vulnerable

When this virus first hit, the data seemed to show that the elderly were more at risk. Additionally, it’s a fact that those with compromised immune systems are more vulnerable to complex complications and death at the hands of COVID-19. As such, there have been acts of kindness that show how people rally together to protect those most in need. Grocery stores have created earlier opening hours reserved for those who are vulnerable and immunosuppressed. Teenagers in communities are banding together to deliver groceries to their elderly neighbors.

4. Solidarity And Common Good

For the first time in many of our collective memories, everyone is facing a common (yet invisible) enemy. This has brought people together in unexpected ways. From Italians singing together on balconies to buildings lit up with flags from around the world, people are coming together to support one another.

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash

Ways to help people during a pandemic.

While it may not seem like much, every small deed can go a long way. This may come in the form of helping peers learn online to checking in with friends or relatives on FaceTime.

Here are some ways to help people from the comfort of your own home:

1. Virtual Hangouts

Consider putting together virtual hangout sessions with friends or family. This can help people from feeling isolated during these times. You can try a video conferencing app like Zoom , which during this time is offering their service for free.

2. Support Local Businesses

While you should stay indoors until your government tells you otherwise, you can still support local businesses by doing contactless pick-up of food or materials.

3. Ask People If You Can Help Them

Many people are prideful or nervous to ask for help. However, they may really need it. Be sure to check in with the people you love and ask them if there’s anything you can do to help them.

4. Avoid Spreading Misinformation

Something that is really important but easily overlooked is the spread of misinformation. In today’s digitally connected world, it’s easy to spread fake news without realizing it. Every person can take responsibility to check the credibility of their sources before sharing it across social media or with their circle.

5. Increase Communication

A lot of people have had to shift their workspace to home. While it’s easier for some than others, it’s a good practice to overly communicate with your team and managers during this time. By doing something as simple as sending weekly progress reports to your manager, you can alleviate a lot of their stress without them even having to ask.

6. Share Your Needs And Ask For Help

In the same vein as asking others if you can help them, be open to sharing your needs and asking for help. This is a time where people can come together and be stronger in numbers, even if we are socially distant from one another. Every person has a skill and talent that can be useful to another in this time of need.

7. Remember We Are Together

Lastly and importantly, take care of your mental health. Practice stress-relieving tips and take time to exercise (indoors, if possible). When your mind wanders into a path of negative thoughts, try to think about how we are all in this together. Then, reach out to someone you trust to talk or ask for help.

8. Volunteer Virtually

While it’s not a time to be close to people in proximity, you can still lend a helping hand virtually. There are so many ways to get involved with organizations and provide help virtually. From offering online tutoring to transcribing historical documents, now is a great time to volunteer from home!

Importance Of Thoughtfulness From Educators During A Pandemic

Our world is leaning heavily on certain professions at this time. From the government to doctors and first responders, we are relying on systems bigger than us to help us survive. In the same vein, educators have increased their role as their work with students via distance learning and online schooling.

For some educators and students, like those who attend the University of the People , this is business as usual. The online nature of our higher education programs means that people can still safely and securely earn their degrees.

But, for others, this is a totally new situation which can be overwhelming for both students and teachers. As an educator during this time, try to do the following for students:

Communicate with them and answer questions
Repeat some lessons for those who are having trouble understanding
Use optimistic language
Consider creating a discussion board so students can still socialize with peers
Promote group assignments and projects that can be done collaboratively and digitally
Take meditation and stretch breaks
Ask your students individually or collectively how they are feeling and if there’s anything you can do to help them

Examples Of Goodness: Restoring Hope In Humanity

On the bright side, there are many examples of how humans have been helping one another during this pandemic. Some of these include:

Restaurant owners selling food to raise money for employees
Neighbors bringing newspapers to the door of disabled residents
Loved ones who are taking on entire family businesses so that their significant others can stay safe inside.
Hotels opening their doors free of charge for healthcare workers (and also homeless people)

The Bottom Line

Coronavirus has changed the world dramatically. There’s an eerie sense of so much unknown flowing through the air and our minds during this time. Yet, despite all the worries and negative effects of this pandemic, there’s been a new layer of restored hope through the displays of thoughtfulness on behalf of people. On every level, from individuals to organizations, people are driving the world forward through their acts of goodness. You can be a part of the movement, too!

Restore Your Faith in Humanity: Here's How

New York based writer and activist.

In the wake of last week's attacks around the world, the people have taken to social media, as is standard for this generation, to express their grief, fear, anger, sadness. Indeed, it is a beautiful thing to see humans coalesce for a common cause, despite the disheartening circumstances.

But there is a quote circulating that says, "I see humans, but I see no humanity." And we, as a society, will be going nowhere with that defeatist attitude. Undoubtedly, humanity is nonexistent in the evil done by these so-called humans, but letting the sick actions of a few define the rest of our great, big world is allowing these terrorists' legacy to thrive like mold in the dark, moist (yes, I said it) caves in which they often reside.

Whenever something terrible happens, us humans band together for what seems to be only a blink of an eye, shaking our heads in unison, and shortly thereafter settle back into our separate lives. Sure, that's natural, but why must we wait for something bad to happen to help each other?

Perhaps one reason we struggle to find and/or create positive, lasting change is our inertia, or our propensity to behave re actively instead of pro actively. The world can be a cruel place and so we demand change with a hashtag, but few of us want to put in the elbow grease required to put said change into motion. We are busy, we are tired, we are discouraged, we are lazy, etcetera, but nothing worth having comes easily. Sometimes it's the smallest acts, ones that do not even necessitate elbow grease, that echo the loudest. We cannot control the things that happen to us, but we can control how we treat other people. Sure, none of us are perfect, but it never hurts to try. And that's really where it begins. The incredible thing about treating one another with dignity, compassion, and respect is that it almost always acts as a boomerang. It will come back to you, acting as a beacon of light in even the darkest of days.

The cold-bloodedness of our world is devastating, overt, and seemingly omnipotent. But lest we forget, humanity exists in ways of which we are not always aware -- it just doesn't get as many hits. It exists among the first responders and good samaritans who assisted the victims of last week's attacks. Look for the helpers , as Mister Rogers said. It exists among the nations that have come together in solidarity. It exists in someone holding a door for a stranger. It exists when a group of friends coexist, paying no mind to one another's differences. It exists in treating one other with dignity, kindness, and respect. All of these things happen every day - watch for them. Humanity is not just giving money; it's giving time. It's giving heart. It's building one another up. It's holding out hope for humankind even when we are repeatedly disappointed. And finally, humanity exists when we each fulfill our moral obligation as fellow human beings to help one another, not only in times of trouble.

Humanity is everywhere, if and when we choose to see it. Here are a few ways to get your hands dirty and restore your faith in humankind, because often we need to see it to "be" it:

If you want to help fight poverty: The Robin Hood Foundation

If you want to help fight hunger: God's Love We Deliver City Harvest Food Bank NYC Meals on Wheels

If you want to help prevent suicide: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

If you want to help fight eating disorders: Project HEAL

If you want to serve milkshakes to oncology patients: New York Presbyterian Hospital

If you want to do crafts and play sports with children with disabilities: KEEN

If you want to help the elderly: Cobble Hill Health Center

If you want to aid in disaster relief: American Red Cross

If you love animals: Humane Society ASPCA

If you want to help LGBTQ youth: Hetrick-Martin Institute

If you want to help build housing for people in need: Habitat for Humanity

If you want to help the homeless: Coalition for the Homeless

If you want to fight brain tumors: National Brain Tumor Society

If you want to advocate for pediatric psychiatric patients: Children of Bellevue

If you want to help a young girl develop self-confidence: Lower East Side Girls' Club

If you want to provide career development and interview suits to low-income women: Dress for Success

If you want to help the blind: Lighthouse Guild

Or if you want to try a little bit of everything: New York Cares

My thoughts and prayers are with the whole world - particularly those affected by last week's heinous acts, and those who work to make the world a better place every day.

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Oh, Honestly!

Real Life for Real Moms

Losing Faith in Humanity

December 14, 2014 By Lauren

I originally wrote this post several days after the Newtown tragedy. I’m sharing it today, on the anniversary of that day, unedited. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the many families affected.

Last week I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Losing faith in humanity one person at a time.” I laughed about it and went on my way. Later, though, I was disheartened to realize that it’s true. I am losing faith in people.

I suppose it’s been happening slowly over the past few years. As I get older I see more and more instances of our capacity to, on the ‘better’ end of things, just plain suck, and on the worse end of things, be horribly, horribly evil. I see people playing disgusting ‘jokes’ on others. I see business people willing to give up their ethics to make a few extra bucks. I see men and women satisfying their own momentary pleasures without a second thought of how it will destroy their families.

And then Friday’s tragedy happened and the true depravity of the human heart hit me full force. Why oh why am I having to write about children dying for the second time in a few weeks? When I wrote The Unthinkable it was about the horror of having a sick child. And now I can’t help but write about the horror of having your child murdered because I can’t stop thinking about it.

Our first job and desire as parents is to keep our kids safe. When they’re babies it’s a fairly easy thing to do because we hold the sole responsibility for that little life; we control almost everything that happens to that child. When they eat, where they go, who comes in contact with them. Everything goes through a screening process.

As they get older though, we have to relinquish some of that control because we realize that in order to raise children who become responsible adults, we have to let them out into the world. Most of the time this is okay. There are lots of wonderful people out there who have the same goal and are willing to help our children along the way. But I’m increasingly seeing people who do not have my children’s best interests in mind and it terrifies me.

Last year, my then 3 year old son had something happen to him in a place where he should have been safe. Thankfully he suffered no lasting ill effects, but it was an eye opener for Eric and I that the world is not a safe place. Still, we’ve moved on and we send him to various activities feeling as though he’ll be okay. Until now.

On Friday night Eli had his Christmas concert. As I sat in the packed auditorium, I could not stop looking around in suspicion at the people there. I knew that they were there to see their children perform, but how could I be sure there wasn’t someone with evil intentions? I breathed a sigh of relief as we walked to the parking lot.

This morning as Eli got ready to leave for school I wanted to tell him to be careful. To do everything his teacher tells him without hesitation. To run and hide if he sees someone come to the door. I know that last one is foolish even though I feel it with every fiber of my being, so I bit my tongue, gave him an extra kiss and an extra ‘I love you’, and said a prayer for his safety as he headed out the door.

And now I sit here, trying to sort out my thoughts and emotions, and struggling to know what direction this writing should go. How to restore our trust in others? Creating a safer world for our kids? Discussions on gun control and mental health? At the risk of starting a theological argument, which is not my intent, I will end with something that I hope can bring at least a small measure of peace to those of you who are struggling as I am.

On Friday night, as I cried for the families of the victims, I asked God how He could allow such a thing to happen. I won’t pretend that He gave me an answer to one of the most perplexing questions of all time. But I will say that as I cried I heard a still, small voice say, “I’m crying too.” Maybe before we can begin to rebuild our faith in humanity, we need to restore our faith in the Savior who understands our sufferings and weeps with us.

About Lauren

If you enjoy picture-perfect home decor, perfectly prepared recipes, and perfectly behaved children, you've come to the wrong place. Meet Lauren. She isn't perfect, but she's perfectly real.

Tricia the Good Mama says

December 15, 2014 at 12:09 am

It’s so scary and sad. My thoughts and prayers are with those families.

Sophia Kortig says

December 17, 2014 at 1:44 am

So scary!!..I can’t believe that this story really exist.,maybe we could easily say that in order for us to have faith in each other is we should remain the respect and the value we have in ourselves. This is really a good start for us to trust someone’s seeking for our faith..I read similar site to this that they are certain things we could give w/o spending too much money, as long it came from our heart., It would be the best you could ever give…It’s here http://www.exploretalent.com/articles/top-15-pics-puts-faith-humanity-back-track/

Jaime Buckley says

December 18, 2014 at 10:45 am

My Dear Little Sister Lauren,

You left a comment on my site, which I appreciated–but something nagged at me…and a small voice said I should click on your link and see who you are. To discover what you write about.

One of the best decisions I’ve made all year.

If I may be so bold, being a father of 12 and growing up with a vacation home in hell—I can completely understand the pains, doubts (or questions) about people, faith and the Lords plan when it comes to the lives of our children…but I believe there are reasons.

Deep, powerful reasons that only God in Heaven can truly see from end to end, even though our tiny lives are a part of these very plans.

Imagine standing on top of a mountain.

Before you is a valley you cannot see. It’s covered in a thick layer of fog, but in the far distance is a second mountain top. That is your destination. You know it, feel it with every fiber of your being…that is where you must get to.

Beside you stands the Lord.

“How am I supposed to get where you want me to go without seeing the path?” you say. “I’m ready to run,” you add with confidence.

“The mist is there for your protection my dear,” the Lord says softly. “There are perils I must guide you through.”

“But if I can see them, I can avoid them altogether,” you argue.

So the Lord waves his almighty hand and the mist vanishes.

You gasp and stumble back a step.

Below you, intertwined with the path of your life are stumbling blocks, hedges and various animals perched at key points. Further you see crowds of people yelling up at you, though you can’t hear what they’re saying, pumping their fists threateningly in the air. Even further, you see the path broken, large chasms gaping with flames shooting into the air.

Your heart sinks, because it looks utterly…

“Impossible,” you choke, the word falling from your lips. “There’s no way I can get through there!”

The Lord waves his hand and the scene is once more covered with the thick mist. All signs of the dangers vanish from view.

“No, you cannot,” the Lord says soberly, “without me.”

Stepping forward, the Lord places his arm about your shoulder and points out over the mist. “But together…we can do all things, you and I. Even navigate the hidden dangers of your life.”

You look up doubtful, but He smiles. “Do you trust Me?”

“Do you have faith in Me?”

“Then know that all things are for your good. Every bump, bruise, danger and loss is designed to shape you into the person you must become to fulfill the measure of your creation.” He turns you towards Him, placing hand squarely on your shoulder. “To become what your family and what the world requires most.”

You see, Lauren, this has never been about faith in humanity.

It’s about faith in God.

We cannot know sweet without tasting the bitter…and the safety, the love, the heaven in this world, I have learned, is the heaven I work to make myself.

There’s so much I don’t know. So much my heart breaks over. Loved ones…and yes, children, that I miss. People I’ve buried, people I’ve lost, people who have betrayed my faith, my trust, my confidence and loyalty. But it’s not about what they or the world chooses to do.

It’s about what I choose to do. Every day. Get up. Breathe in. Breathe out. Smile. Kiss my wife. Kiss my kids.

…and fight HARDER THAN HELL to change my environment…because they deserve more and God gave me the ability to affect change for the better. Mighty change.

Just like you.

You, my dear sister, inspired my heart in 60 seconds flat.

I can only imagine the phenomenal strength and potential God sees in you. So if you ever wonder why you see the troubles around you or experience such heartache in your own soul…it’s because it stirs a strength in you to reach for and attain something better for you and those around you.

I believe that to be true about you, because that’s what happens with me.

Thank you for sharing. Thank you SO much. Don’t stop. Ever.

Be real. Be open. Be honest. …and let God’s confidence in you suffice.

Signed, Your New Biggest Fan.

Lauren says

December 18, 2014 at 2:36 pm

Jaime, thank you so much for your kind words and the beautiful illustration. I truly appreciate it. When I re-published this post the other day, I almost edited it. I will never fully have faith in humanity because our sinful human nature makes us unfaithful in ways both big and small. I know the only One I can truly have 100% faith and confidence in is Jesus. That said, I decided to keep it the same because I wanted to keep the raw emotion I felt after Newtown. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t change the title. A lot of people find this post by searching for the term “losing faith in humanity” and if I can help them just begin to realize that our faith should lie in Someone greater than us, then maybe I’ve done what God intended for me when I started this blog. Thanks again!

Faith in Humanity Essay Example

Pages: 3 (639 words)
Published: August 1, 2018
Type: Case Study

Faith in Humanity Essay Faith in humanity is when a person has a belief that humans cannot do something so terrible, like burning people in mass ovens, because they are humane. This belief was used against the Jews, as well as the public, in the time of the Holocaust for Hitler’s benefit to pull a blind over their eyes in early stages of the Holocaust. There are many examples of faith in humanity from what was presented during this unit as well as belief of faith in humanity in modern day Thailand.

Faith in humanity was a practice that crippled the Jews into believing that the Nazis couldn’t, and wouldn’t, shoot mass numbers of people into mass graves. In Night, by Ellie Wiesel, the author talks about a person who disappears and comes back with injuries

. The person tells a sad tale about his misfortunes in his disappearing. He tells of foreigners having to offer up their necks to the Nazis so that they may shoot it, little babies being torn from their mothers’ arms, being tossed up into the air and shot down, as if they were just target practice and not actually living beings.

In Night, also the author talks about being at the concentration camp and seeing the mass grave pile, patiently waiting in a heap for the incinerator, but at first, in the dark, he couldn’t and chose not to believe it because he didn’t think, even after the horrific cattle ride where an old woman was viciously beaten by fellow prisoners because she wouldn’t shut up, that that anyone could burn bodies that had been gassed or shot.

He had a massive amount of faith in the Nazis’ hearts and consciences. The book Night and the book The Book Thief were both laced with faith in humanity.

The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, has many forms of Faith in humanity intertwined through the pages. In the book, Liesel, the main character, has faith in the Nazis but when her family turns out to be storing a Jew, she hears stories that compromise her original faith. The Jew, Max Vandenburg, tells her stories of his family in hiding, some gruesome tales about when he was captured, what he saw when he was hiding within the shadows of an abandoned warehouse, and what forced him to hide. Her faith in the Nazis dwindled but she still went to Hitler Youth where she was subjected to the lies that she had put her faith in.

She heard that all Jews that were not in hiding were deported and forced into horrible conditions when she got home but had to keep the picture of an innocent, oblivious German girl who goes along with the plan and keeps her faith in humanity. As well as Liesel, the main character in The Book Thief, and the Germans in the time of Holocaust, the Thai people also have a massive amount of faith in humanity in their own kind. The people in Thailand are, unless it has been committed near them, oblivious to the practice of sex and human trafficking.

Many young girls every year are taken from their families and cities to be sold into slavery and bondage without knowledge of the public. The Thais

have faith in the other Thais, so much that on the outside of the Reclining Buddha statue, there is a sign that says, “Warning: Not Thai Bandits and Pick Pockets around. ” Thais are unknowingly giving up the younger generation of girls because they are hidden behind a curtain of faith in the wrong thing, humanity. Faith in Humanity is, and has been, practiced all over in the world. From the Holocaust to Thailand, modern day, it reins true, we cannot imagine life where anyone could be so cruel.

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PDF Faith in Humanity1
Faith in humanity has both a cognitive and a volitional element, and I will begin by providing a rough characterization of each.7 Turning first to the cognitive element, when someone who has faith in humanity morally evaluates other people's actions, motives, or characters, she tends to give them the benefit of the doubt. She has a kind of
Faith Og Humanity
Faith in Humanity. Faith in Humanity. By Renee B. I believe that having faith in humanity is trusting other people to do the right thing. Having faith in humanity is trusting yourself, as well as the rest of civilization to make something of this world. Having faith in humanity is putting eternity into the cradled arms of trillions of people ...
What Restores Your Faith In Humanity?
There are two ways we might be able to increase our FIH: Commit small acts of kindness. And do so for our own good, trusting it matters, but without concern for a specific outcome. Look for others ...
Why we must have faith in humanity, now more than ever
We must choose our answer. I believe we MUST have faith in humanity.The thing about faith is it transcends proof or disproof. It is something you simply take to be true. Faith in humanity is not about believing that every aspect of humans is wonderful. It is believing that, fundamentally, the good in us outweighs the bad in us, and will win out ...
The Doctrine of Humanity
Humanity is the race made for God; humanity is the race fallen from God; humanity is the race made whole by God in Christ. In God's plan, everything bends toward Christ. Jesus comes as the fulfillment of all the promises of God (2Cor 1:20). He is the antitype; every promise is the type.
Talks to restore your faith in humanity
The family I lost in North Korea. And the family I gained. A refugee now living in the US, Joseph Kim tells the story of his life in North Korea during the famine years. He's begun to create a new life -- but he still searches for the family he lost. 1. 2. Sometimes it's easy to think the worst of human beings.
How to Restore Your Faith in Humanity: 11 Inspiring Ideas
3. Spread kindness and positivity on social media and online. Share kind or silly anecdotes from your everyday life, repost uplifting messages, and advocate for the positive change you want to see in the world. Throw some compliments to your friends and followers to make their day, too. [1]
Faith and resilience
In this short essay, we sketch a theory of faith that features resilience in the face of challenges to relying on those in whom you have faith. We argue that it handles a variety of both religious and secular faith-data, e.g., the value of faith in relationships of mutual faith and faithfulness, how the Christian and Hebrew scriptures portray pístis and ʾĕmûnāh, and the character of faith ...
Faith in Humanity
In this short essay, we sketch a theory of faith that features resilience in the face of challenges to relying on those in whom you have faith. We argue that it handles a variety of both religious ...
Ryan Preston-Roedder, Faith in Humanity
Abstract. History and literature provide striking examples of people who are morally admirable, in part, because of their profound faith in people's decency. But moral philosophers have largely ignored this trait, and I suspect that many philosophers would view such faith with suspicion, dismissing it as a form of naïvete or as some other ...
29 Beautiful Stories That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity
3. Neighborly Love. In the predawn hours of a Saturday morning in January 2017, an arsonist set fire to the Victoria Islamic Center, a mosque in Victoria, Texas. The fire gutted the building, but ...
Humanity: Ocean and World Essay
To Kill A Mockingbird Persuasive Essay. Mahatma Gandhi once stated "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.". This quote is illustrating that everyone is in life and the world together as a society. Just because there are a few negative and awful ...
Free Essay: Faith in Humanity
Faith in Humanity Essay Faith in humanity is when a person has a belief that humans cannot do something so terrible, like burning people in mass ovens, because they are humane. This belief was used against the Jews, as well as the public, in the time of the Holocaust for Hitler's benefit to pull a blind over their eyes in early stages of the ...
Are You Losing Faith In Humanity? Here's How To Restore It
1. Hopelessness. If your faith in humanity is shaky, you probably haven't got much hope for the future. You'll struggle to see a light at the end of humanity's tunnel, let alone your own. This can lead to apathy or despair. 2. Anger. This is a pretty common reaction to a loss of faith in humanity.
Faith In Humanity Restored: Thoughtfulness During A Pandemic
Faith In Humanity Restored: Thoughtfulness During A Pandemic. The world is facing an entirely new reality because of coronavirus, and it's one that at times can feel daunting. With so much flooding our minds, the anxiety and fear can sometimes feel overwhelming. Amidst the spread of the novel coronavirus and cities around the world shutting ...
Restore Your Faith in Humanity: Here's How
Humanity is everywhere, if and when we choose to see it. Here are a few ways to get your hands dirty and restore your faith in humankind, because often we need to see it to "be" it: If you want to help fight poverty: The Robin Hood Foundation. If you want to help fight hunger: God's Love We Deliver.
Faith in Humanity by Ryan Preston-Roedder :: SSRN
I argue that such suspicion is misplaced, and that having a certain form of faith in people's decency, which I call faith in humanity, is a centrally important moral virtue. To make this view intuitively more plausible, I discuss two moral exemplars - one historical and the other literary - whose lives vividly exhibit such faith.
An Introduction to the Essay on the Topic of Faith in Humanity
Faith in HumanityJust when you think society has reached the bottom, something happens to restore your faith in humanity.On Labor Day weekend, my family and I returned home from camping to receive a message that one of my closest friends had lost her house to a fire. She, her husband, and v...
I Believe in Humanity
Faith cannot be put in a box and labeled. Which brings me to why I am faithful. I am not faithful in the traditional sense of religion or believing in God. I am faithful in a way that can be seen throughout our history, the faith of believing in humanity. I put my faith in humanity for many different reasons, but there was a path that lead me ...
Losing Faith in Humanity
Losing Faith in Humanity. December 14, 2014 By Lauren. I originally wrote this post several days after the Newtown tragedy. I'm sharing it today, on the anniversary of that day, unedited. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the many families affected. Last week I saw a bumper sticker that read, "Losing faith in humanity one person ...
Faith in Humanity Essay Example
Faith in Humanity Essay Example. Faith in Humanity Essay Faith in humanity is when a person has a belief that humans cannot do something so terrible, like burning people in mass ovens, because they are humane. This belief was used against the Jews, as well as the public, in the time of the Holocaust for Hitler's benefit to pull a blind over ...
[Essay] Faith in Humanity: "I have faith in humanity. Faith ...
[Essay] Faith in Humanity: "I have faith in humanity. Faith that we as a species are as capable of utopia as we are deserving of it. Faith that we can overcome our systems, our overlords, and ourselves to force a new world into being. ... Faith in humanity is a nice thing to have, but I find it's less reliable than a scientific understanding of ...