Faith: Security and Risk

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Richard W. Kropf. Faith: Security and Risk

One feature, the “Questions for Reflection and Discussion” at the end of each chapter, which I had thought of dropping fearing that some readers might find a bit intimidating (or in some cases, in their original form, slightly outdated), I have decided to keep. Originally included as a stimulant for classroom and small-group discussion — having been a teacher myself, I realized how much these might enhance the value of the book for anyone faced with giving out home-work assignments — it is hoped that these might now serve even more as a means of helping the reader relate in a very personal way to the matter at hand. For this book is not so-much about religion or beliefs in the abstract, but rather, is about the psychology or even more, the psychodynamics of religion or the process of faith. Unless each of us can relate what we read to what we ourselves have gone through in terms of our beliefs, or even our doubts and disbelief, what I have attempted to describe in this book will have no relationship to the reality of our own life

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FAITH: SECURITY & RISK

The Dynamics of Spiritual Growth

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As we shall see, there is really nothing new in this statement. True meaning or purpose, if it is to be worthy of our capacity for full human existence, has to be found in a form that surpasses whatever level of existence that we now enjoy or suffer. Frankl used the word Logos (the ancient Greek term for the guiding reason or intelligence that directs the universe) for this meaning or purpose in life. It is this something that is greater than ourselves which alone can fully call forth our capacity to become fully what we are capable of.

If Freud’s approach to happiness or self-fulfillment is flawed, it is not just because it is defective psychologically speaking; it is even more lacking as a philosophy of life. It

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