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Over the centuries the Christian faith, holding to a set of beliefs, has had an ongoing battle between the heart and the head. That is, many have understood the Christian faith as being about how one feels inside, how one feels in their heart.

On the other hand, many have seen the Christian faith as all about doctrine and the proper understanding of God. The Nicene Creed, for example had church leaders of the day spend much time debating over one word to use in the creed. In case you were wondering, the English translation of the word eventually settled upon is the word substance used in the older translation of the creed.

To say the Christian faith is one over the other is to deny the Incarnation. God comes to us through the human person; all the human person not just one aspect of the human person. Head is not against heart nor is heart to be ruler of the head. They are a team. Sometimes they are to work in tandem, other times they complement each other.

This in itself may seem like a theological head trip, but the implications are real. Is the Christian faith about what we think? Is it about what we feel? Do we have to think something may be correct or is just feeling something is right enough?

In psychology we are taught one can think their way into a new way of feeling and one can feel their way into a new way of thinking. What part of your thinking regarding your faith has changed because of how you felt about something? What part of your faith may have changed because of what you thought about something? Many of us as we mature in life and faith have changed our understandings of some part of our faith due to reasons of the heart or mind.

Of course, sin can and does infiltrate our thinking. That narcissistic world view we all have can color much thinking. Neither are our hearts completely pure, untainted by sin. There is much self-interest at work in our feelings as well. Sometimes heart and mind work in tandem in an effort to deceive us. Sometimes they work together to understand some part of God’s will for us and enable us to respond and serve as God desires.

Yet all is not lost. Sometimes it is our mind that works to correct our feelings and sometimes it is our feelings that orient our mind into a new way of understanding. It may be a good thing for our faith heart and mind have a tension between them. We need to recognize in ourselves which way we lean. Heart over mind? Mind over heart?
It can assist us in spotting our self interest in our understandings of faith. It can also help us realize even heart and mind are not the sole proprietors of our faith. Heart and mind are to have as their purpose a working together for love of the neighbor; for service. What we do, of course, is also a big part of our Christian faith. Thinking and feeling can lead us to doing, to serving as God would have us do.