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Credition: From the Question of Belief to the Question of Believing

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Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions

Part of the book series: New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion ((NASR,volume 1))

Abstract

This article will argue why belief can be seen as ill-defined phenomenon and highlight some especially problematic aspects of our understanding of belief. It will introduce into the discussion a fundamental change from a more static notion of belief to an understanding of believing as a fluent process. The term “credition” was conceived in order to serve as a bridge between different processes such as cognition, affection, functions of believing, belief development, and even evolution. Under the general term “credition,” we can reflect all verbrelated aspects of beliefs and belief systems. Finally the chapter will give insights in the “model of credition” which seems to represent the believing process.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This is occurring mainly within the English speaking tradition because such discussion is difficult in many other European languages (e.g., German ) in which the linguistic preconditions of two different terms (“faith” and “belief”) do not exist.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Catechetics and Religious Education, Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Hans-Ferdinand Angel

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  1. Hans-Ferdinand Angel
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Correspondence to Hans-Ferdinand Angel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Catechetics and Religious Education, Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Hans-Ferdinand Angel

  2. Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome, Italy

    Lluis Oviedo

  3. Department of Psychology, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    Raymond F. Paloutzian

  4. Department of Theology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

    Anne L.C. Runehov

  5. Department of Neurology, Centre for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Rüdiger J. Seitz

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Angel, HF. (2017). Credition: From the Question of Belief to the Question of Believing. In: Angel, HF., Oviedo, L., Paloutzian, R., Runehov, A., Seitz, R. (eds) Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions. New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion , vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50924-2_2

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