What Is Saving Faith?:

This book is a two-in-one deal, consisting of _Faith and Saving Faith_ and _The Johannine Logos_, two books that were published separately in the past. What each book obviously has in common with the other is a focus on saving faith. By "saving faith" is meant faith which is, in some sense, the cause of one's salvation. When Jesus Christ told a woman, "Thy faith hath saved thee," (Luke 7.50, KJV) he was making reference to what Christians today commonly call saving faith. Both books are written by one of the 20th century's most notable Christian philosophers, the late Dr. Gordon Clark. I know very little of Clark other than that a significant controversy took place within Presbyterian circles some years ago between him and another distinguished Christian philosopher, Dr. Cornelius Van Til. I also know that he was an authority on Greek philosophy, teaching at Butler University for many years. That said, I purchased _What is Saving Faith?_ solely on the recommendation of a friend. I'm quite impressed with _What is Saving Faith?_, I have to admit. For one, Clark is a very good writer for a philosopher. (Try reading Van Til if you don't believe me.) Secondly, Clark shoots from the hip when he believes something. He doesn't beat around the bush and muddle the issues with a thousand and one nuances. I find this approach a refreshing change (though admittedly there is such a thing as being too black and white on an issue). Thirdly, the thesis of this book has had a Copernican revolution on my thinking about saving faith. Clark's thesis is that saving faith is the act of believing: Assent to understood propositions; nothing more, nothing less. In some ways this is a departure from the Reformed tradition to which Clark belongs, since many hold to a three-layered understanding of saving faith: (1) Notitia, or understanding, (2) Assensus, or assent, and (3) Fiducia, or trust. Notwithstanding, Clark is quick to point out that Augustine understood saving faith as assent to understood propositions. According to Clark's thesis, the first two elements of saving faith as historically taught by Reformed theologians, namely, notitia and assensus, are of what saving faith consists. It's the third element, fiducia, however, that Clark dismisses. On logical grounds, it's redundant and, therefore, tautological since faith and trust - though one may try and insist otherwise - are synonyms. Clark surveys some of the Reformed theologians (e.g. Calvin, Manton, Hodge, Berkhof) and demonstrates that when they insist on saving faith as more than "mere belief," they are incapable of explaining in a meaningful way what that third element. The exegetical argument for Clark's thesis is what I find most engaging. In particular, Clark demonstrates from the biblical data that there's no difference between believing propositions and persons. When the Bible commands us to believe *in* Jesus Christ (John 3.16), it's equivalent to the command to believe *that* (Romans 10.9). In ot