Faith is a word that has been defined in different ways according to different people. In its earthy sense, faith has come to mean a strong belief in God. It is this belief in a supreme power that has held groups of people together, giving them an innate sense of right and wrong, and proving to be the basis to draw lines on acceptable and non-acceptable human behavior. As such, we find that having faith has helped man to live a disciplined life. Philosophy as we know is disciplined thinking with the unique faculty of reasoning. So, what does philosophy says of faith? This interesting question leads us to a wide spectrum of rationalized thoughts that range from total disbelief to fanatical belief in God.
“We may define “faith” as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of “faith.” We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence.”—Bertrand Russell [Author Unknown, 2004]

But early religions like Christianity called for total faith. A faith, that was free from doubts. To doubt was sin. To be intoxicated with religious fervor was a virtue. Under
such compulsions of society, philosophers alone dared to raise questions of doubt in their single-minded pursuit of unraveling the truth.

The Dane Soren Kierkegaard, (1813-1855) was a philosopher who analyzed reasons for his own existence and his writings are the ravings of a man tormented deep within. He felt that the very fact of existence underlined a subtle detachment from the rest of the world. According to Soren Kierkegaard, to be aware that an individual exists is a great tragedy as it makes him aware that his existence is a result of being a sinner. To redeem himself from this disgraceful existence, the man seeks grace through prayer. [McDonald, 2001] Kierkegaard, as a Christian Protestant, believed in the theory that man is essentially a sinner. This awareness created despair that in turn led to a deep faith, a faith that gives the individual hope of being redeemed from the sinful existence through diving grace and prayer. Kierkegaard revealed himself as a religious poet in his writings. Concepts of sin, guilt, suffering and individual responsibility for the very existence were the basis of all his religious musings.

Kierkegaard was infused with such beliefs through the religious upbringing he had through his father who was a very devout follower of Indre Mission (Inner Mission), a cult from Jutland. What sent young Kierkegaard apart from the other Christians of his time was that he was not just a person regurgitating church dogma. Rather he felt it was by virtue of his own individual mental deductions, free from the influence of the clergy or other devout friends. According to Soren Kirkegaard, faith was to be attained. Only by attaining faith can the true self be realized. The realization of the Self is the only way to reach God and attain eternal life. [McDonald, 2001]
"The knight of faith," he declares, "is the only happy one, the heir apparent to the finite."[ SHESTOV, 2004]

Between the points of choosing oneself or the imposed beliefs of existence, the individual has a choice to make, a choice that would decide his life path. The availability of such a choice imposes on the individual great responsibility and the realization of the importance of this choice creates anxiety.

Faith cannot be taken for granted. It needs to be nurtured continuously by constant religious practices and self reminders. It is important to note that Soren Kierkegaard lays stress on the fact that there can be no mediation by any power between the individual self and God. Only by careful cultivation of faith by the self, can man realize God. Kierkegaard felt that Christianity held paradoxes not acceptable to a reasoning mind. The belief in the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ in human form can give rise to either faith, or to offense. Reasoning cannot create this faith. Kierkegaard also feels that Christianity promotes the notion that everything is achieved by virtue of the absurd. [McDonald, 2001] This observation became an important topic of discussion for twentieth century existentialists.
Now let’s consider the views of another famous philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, on the concept of faith. [Cline, 2004] Born to a protestant clergyman in 1944 at Liepzig, Nietzsche became a professor of philology by the age of twenty-four. According to Nietzsche “will to power” was God. Each man is a center of the "will to power," and his existence can be represented as the will to dominate the whole universe. The human will know no obstacle, no limits. Further, Nietzsche felt that Christianity was a movement that called for self debasement, one that encouraged self denial and abstinence and took the individual away from living according to laws of nature. He found no meaning in human life and in the world around him. [Cline, 2004] His observations were initially agents of nihilism, holding power by negating existing ethics and religion in the society. At the same time, his words revealed a very passionate young man with a great zest for life and a very sensuous being who was sensitive to the beauty and love around him. He just felt that people needed to believe that there was no one who was judging us from above and realizing that would be freeing us from barriers in the mind.
“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove
anything.”—Friedrich Nietzsche
“Faith: not wanting to know what is true.”—Friedrich Nietzsche
“Faith, indeed, has up to the present not been able to move real mountains.... But It can put mountains where there are none.”—Friedrich Nietzsche[Author Unknown, 2004] Nihilism of Nietzsche soon evolved into a contrary state, one that affirmed all existence despite lack of meaning. While Nihilism seemed to rescue man from an all judging God, the evolving affirmation made him accept with tremendous joy every single moment of existence. By adopting these concepts, Nietzsche believed that man would finally evolve to be a “higher being” – the superman. [Cline, 2004]

Having discussed so far the philosophical musings of the two great philosophers, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, let us compare their ideas on the concept of faith. Faith is glorified in the works of Kierkegaard. The most important task of a human being was to cultivate the faith. Nietzsche differed in the sense he does not believe that faith is the only way to realize the self. He did not denigrate the idea of faith. In fact Nietzsche compares the state of faith to water and the state of doubt to land. He says that man needs to be able to live an amphibious life, comfortable both in faith and in doubt. Kierkegaard was a staunch Christian at heart. His teachings were founded in the seed of belief that man was created by God and he was made of nothing. Though he was raised as a devout Christian, Nietzsche did not conform to the teachings of the church.. He has observed that ascetic Christianity has been the bane of Europe and it has had “ a fatal impact on the history of Europe’s mental hygiene.”

Kierkegaard’s philosophy was based on the firm belief that man is a sinner. He existed because of sin. Contrasting this with Nietzsche, we find that Nietzsche believed that man existed so that he could enjoy life. Kierkegaard felt that existence detached man from God and he needs to overcome this by developing faith. His observations are filled with despair and guilt. [Baum, 1998] Also, Kierkegaard talks of man as a creature of great responsibility. Nietzsche’s man is a free man, free to do as he liked according to laws of nature. Further, Nietzsche feels a need to break out of the shell of negativities that shrouded the Christian religion. He preached that life is to be lived joyously moment to moment. There is no need to be afraid of a God waiting to judge and punish you if you did wrong. Nietzsche felt that man needs to be liberated from such thoughts of right and wrong and live life moment to moment spontaneously. The final evolution of man in his spiritual journey according to Kierkegaard would be the realization of the self and choice of his self would bless him with eternal life with God. Nietzsche talks of no such personal choices to be made. According to him, a life free from fear of judgment by a superior power called God, would cause man to transcend the limits of humanity and result in evolution of the superman. [Richardson, 1857]

Thus, we find that the teachings of the two philosophers on the concept of faith are very much different and diverse. What unites them is that both are philosophers who believed in personal freedom of choice to find the relationship between man, god and his religion. No routinely taught church rituals bonded them. They allowed no mediators come in between themselves and their religion.