Gordon Clark: Review of The Reasonableness of Faith by Diogenes Allen (The Presbyterian Journal)

1969. Review of The Reasonableness of Faith by Diogenes Allen. The Presbyterian Journal. 21 May: pg. 20.

THE REASONABLENESS OF FAITH, by Diogenes Allen. Corpus Publications, Washington D. C. 140 pp. $4.95. Reviewed by Dr. Gordon H. Clark, professor of philosophy, Butler University, Indianapolis, Ind.

This trivial book will not strain anyone's mind. It contains a few superficial remarks about Fairer, Antony Flew, John Hick, and some others.

Its interest to evangelicals will be only as an example of profound confusion concerning the nature of faith. The author's thesis is that "faith is a sound ground for religious truth claims independently of reasons which count toward establishing their truth."

For example, this means that one may believe that Christ rose from the dead, quite apart from any rea- sons such as the testimony of the disciples, merely on the basis of faith.

The belief itself is sufficient ground for belief.

Later he says, "Were religious beliefs truth claims which simply met our need for information ... it would be proper to require . . . reasons which count toward establishing their truth." But "religious truth claims" are more than this and do not require reasons. Note, however, that though they may be more, they are also and even basically this much, and therefore require reasons. Surely, believing that vinegar will cure warts, or that Nirvana is the goal of life, is not a sound ground for believing these things.