Homo Fidei: A Critical Understanding of Faith in the Writings of Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Its Implications for the Study of Religion

A renowned Islamicist and historian of religion, Wilfred Cantwell Smith is one of the most important contemporary voices in the study of religion. This book critically examines the idea of faith in Smith’s writings and explores the relevance of his conception of faith for the future study of religion. Smith’s distinctive notion of faith calls forth a new religious anthropology of homo fidei or the human as faith-ing. The idea of faith is, in short, a generative concept that implies a new and potentially revolutionary methodological approach to the study of religion. Special attention is paid to the implications of Smith’s ideas for the phenomenology of religion and the postmodern age.