Mojtaba Zarvani / Associate Professor at the Department of Religions and Mysticism, The University of Tehran
@ Milad A'zami Maram / PhD student of Religion and Mysticism, The University of Tehran
miladazamimaram@gmail.com
Received: 2018/09/24 - Accepted: 2019/01/30
Abstract
Faith is both the subject of philosophical and theological investigations and the actual behavior of believers. But what is faith itself? By reflecting on the concept of faith itself, it is possible to distinguish three inner and interrelated concepts: (1) the belonging of the faith; (2) the believer; (3) the faith. Without believers, faith has no meaning; and believers show their faith in different ways. Hence, we are faced with different representations of faith, and this shows the necessity of presenting models of faith. The history of Christianity shows that the church fathers considered the Gospel of John as the "spiritual gospel" and regarded personal spiritualism as its main characteristic. Using William Led Sessions’ faith model, and adopting a personal relationship model, this paper seeks to review the personal spiritualism model of the gospel of john. The study and analysis of the sayings, allegories, and signs in the Gospel of John shows that this Gospel emphasizes a personal, mutual, affectionate, dynamic, and vibrant relationship between the individual Christians and Jesus Christ.
Keywords: faith, models of faith, Christianity, personal relationship.
