21st Faith

What is Faith in
the 21st Century?
by Edward Green
and Rebecca Lardeur.
Introduction
The purpose of this essay is not simply an investigative or explanatory one,
the purpose of this essay is strictly teleological: to redefine Faith within the 21st
Century. This was the goal and brief each participant was given at the beginning
of this collaborative research project: What is Faith in the 21st century?
35 projects were undertaken for 21st Faith, each presented a wide variety of viewpoints
and understandings on the subject of faith. This essay aims to summarise the individual
findings and analyse their art pieces alongside various definitions of ‘faith’.
The participants are mostly comprised of young, creative-thinkers from a diverse
range of backgrounds. Each participant chose to approach the brief with a different
outlook and through a different medium, which culminated in a healthy, varied range
of responses.
To create a common ground for the understanding of Faith in our research
we looked at the etymology of the word ‘Fides’, established 3,500 years before year
0 in the Indo-European language. Fides, in its Latin origins, means ‘to command,
to persuade, to trust’. This, to us, implied a well-rounded, inclusive ‘feeling of Faith’,
which resonated well within our contemporary context. It denoted Faith to be
something felt, almost intrinsically, within the person themselves; a phenomenology
of being. Faith is not something that can wholly be theorised in books and dogmas.
Faith is, this paper argues, not only related to theology.
This essay will repurpose the word of Faith as such throughout its development.
First, a definition for a new understanding of Faith is developed according to the
common themes presented at 21st Faith. Secondly, the social aspects of Faith will
be investigated to understand where Faith is expressed. The third will research the
positive aspects of Faith before concluding on the challenges Faith can bring to the
society of today.
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