Assent, Belief, Knowledge, and Faith

Assent is the acknowledgment that a claim may be true. It is purely intellectual agreement with the mind, not a volitional commitment of the will.

Belief is the acceptance of a claim as true with both the mind and the will, in a way that governs action. It is acceptance that involves commitment, not just intellectual agreement.

Knowledge is belief that is supported by evidence and sufficient warrant. It is belief grounded in reasons that justify taking the claim to be true.

Faith is the acceptance of a proposition as true without evidence. It is belief held and acted on even in the absence of such grounding.

We should walk by evidence rather than faith, acknowledging that genuine mystical experience constitutes experiential evidence.

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Dr. Jay Forrest

Jay N. Forrest (D.Min.) is a Deistic Buddhist philosopher trained in Zen and Vipassanā, with advanced Buddhist studies at Harvard, Princeton, UVA, Naropa, Columbia, and Universiteit Leiden. He is a certified meditation teacher and the author of over a dozen books on Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practice.