On page 178 it says: “Faith is the distinctive way we know God.” Through his text, Wilken redefines what we mean by faith. Rather than blind trust or an ignorant’s belief, faith is an essential step one must take to know God. To better explain what he means, Wilken also states “Belief, that is, faith is a constituent part of historical knowledge.” Wilken compares the faith we must have in God and with the apostles and with the authors of the bible with the faith we must have in historical evidence or past testimonies. In either case there are no living first-hand witnesses, and so we can only believe in what has been passed down to us. We understand the importance of faith since “Without faith there is no seeing and hence no genuine knowledge of God,” as said in page 178. Augustine and Wilken then come to the understanding that what used to be disregarded as the unrighteous use of authority to defend God, actually has a higher level of importance. As described on page 174: “Authority invites belief and prepares man for reason. Reason leads to understanding and knowledge.” The real question at hand is not what to believe, but rather who to believe and that is why authority plays such an important role in learning about God. Faith is unavoidable and beneficial because it is only by having faith that we can know the Word of God. A passage that thoroughly reflects the importance of faith is the response from God to Thomas:
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:29
