The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity

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The Christian emphasis on faith is of a piece with the emphasis on Mercy. But faith is not opposed to knowledge, nor can it justify absurdity—as though faith in an absurdity demonstrates piety.

Faith is in fact nothing else than the “bhaktic” mode of Knowledge and of intellectual certitude, which means that Faith is a passive act of the intelligence, its immediate object being not the truth as such, but a symbol of the truth. This symbol will yield up its secrets in proportion to the greatness of the Faith, which in its turn will be determined by an attitude of trust or emotional certitude, that is, by an element of bhakti or love. Insofar as Faith is a contemplative attitude, its subject is the intelligence; it can therefore be said to constitute a virtual Knowledge.… (from “The Particular Nature and Universality of the Christian Tradition”, pp. 20-22)

In its highest manifestation, Faith is certitude based in a Truth not empirically demonstrable. From this perspective it is indistinguishable from Knowledge. It is “essentially an intuition of the supernatural brought about by Grace, which is actualized by means of the attitude of fervent trust.”

In the case of man there is a distinction—or a complementarism—between love and knowledge, but in God their polarity is surpassed and unified. (from “The Dialogue Between Hellenists and Christians”, p. 64)

…Faith is, to say the least, not contrary to gnosis; doubtless not all faith is metaphysical knowledge, but all metaphysical knowledge, being an “evidence of things not seen”, is of the domain of faith. Gnosis is the perfection of faith in the sense that it combines this knowledge with the corresponding realization…The most external expression of…[which] is works…without which it is “dead, being alone” (James 2:17). (from “Some Observations”, p. 39)

The perceived tension between faith and works is illusory—for the fruit of sincere faith is works: salvation is not achieved through mechanical technique: this is the error of Simon Magus.

…It is only sincere faith—proven precisely by moral effort and works—which is faith as such in the eyes of God. In other words, sincerity necessarily manifests itself through our desire to please Heaven, which, having saved us from evil, obviously expects us to practice good.…The ancient Churches and the Reformation both make use…of the idea of our fundamental helplessness as the springboard of a method founded upon saving faith. (from “Christian Divergences”, p. 82-3)