PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS FAITH IN THE SERMONS OF CHARLES SPURGEON

Abstract

The article offers an analysis of Charles Spurgeon's sermons, thematically ordered under the heading "religious faith". Theconfessiocentrism in Charles Spurgeon's understanding of religious faith is called into question. On the contrary, Charles Spurgeon's commitment to using a broad identification of the concept of "Baptism" is noted. The features of his homiletics arerevealed, the methodological guideline of which is phenomenologism. The paradoxical nature of his perception of the concepts of "faith" and "religious faith" is stated. On the one hand, we are talking about identifying three forms of faith in the context of a person's actualization of something potential. Charles Spurgeon considers religious faith to be the highest form among them. On the other hand, in his sermons there is a semantic convergence of the concepts of "faith" and "religious faith". In the perspective of discovering the cognitive potential of religious faith, the description of its structural components proposed by Charles Spurgeon is revealed (knowledge – belief – trust). Particular attention is paid to Charles Spurgeon's identification of trust in the Savior, actualized through its unique forms ("clinging to Christ", "dependence on another superior to us", "faith which grows out of love"). An analysis of the structural components of religious faith allows us to assert the Christocentrism characteristic of Charles Spurgeon. The importance for Charles Spurgeon of such cognitive guarantors of religious faith as mind and heart, associated with obedience to Christ, is demonstrated. For him, obedience to Christ contributes to the achievement of the righteousness that comes from faith. The Christocentrism noticeable in Charles Spurgeon's sermons is also a criterion for a person's justification by faith. The features of Charles Spurgeon's phenomenological approach applied by him to contextual identifications of religious faith are summarized.