Faith: A Journey for All Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Brief Summary

For Carter, faith is a central goal that people ought to have on which to base their lives, and he has been heavily influenced by several well-known people in his life that have shaped his understanding of faith. For him, faith is something that must provide optimism for all people.

About the Author

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jimmy Carter was the 39th US president (1977-1981). In 1982, he and his wife Rosalynn Carter created The Carter Center, which focuses on improving life for people around the globe. His 30 books include A Call to Action, A Full Life, and An Hour Before Daylight.

Topics

Biography & Memoir Religion & Spirituality

Faith: A Journey for All Book Summary Preview

Key Insights

Jimmy Carter is a man of faith—hence the title of the book. Like many people in the United States, faith is central to him as a person, his understanding of the country, and upon which he encourages others to base their lives.

But, to understand what he means by the important word “faith,” we must see what he has to say. His understanding comes from evangelical Christianity.

He is also someone who readily admits that his faith influences his politics, what he thinks about other politicians, and that his faith is something that has been shaped by many other people.

“You got to have faith,” but what is it?

The well-known song lyric goes “you gotta have faith,” but what is faith, exactly?

People’s understanding of the word “faith” varies within religions and even among just one religion. Some of the synonyms for “faith” include belief, assurance, trust, and more.

For some people, “faith” is a kind of “leap,” as though someone was abandoning knowledge for something else unknown altogether.

All people have some kind of “faith,” e.g., faith in their parents. That begins at a very early age. Children automatically assume their parents have their best interests in mind.

What exactly does Carter mean? Having a clear definition becomes important.

Carter indicates that faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing or the observance of an obligation from loyalty. Faith is also fidelity to a concept, promise, or an engagement. Carter gains this definition from the Bible’s own definition of faith, “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Carter’s faith is based on Christianity. As a child, he learned about Christianity from studying the Bible and from his time attending a local church. His father was a deacon and teacher at Plains Baptist Church. Carter learned about who God is and who Jesus Christ is.

Like many people, Carter had doubts about his faith as his life went on, but he remained in his faith throughout his life until now. Skepticism is common in adolescence, as Carter himself found. One of the reasons why he struggled with skepticism is because his father died when Carter when in his twenties. He struggled heavily with that, asking God why would something so awful like that happen. But that is just part of the journey of faith, learning to overcome the uncertainties in life and figuring out what someone’s faith really is.

From this background, Carter identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. He has spent time teaching adult Bible studies in local churches as a result. Carter is a Baptist. Baptists believe that they should be free to interpret the Bible for themselves. This belief was especially important for him as he sought to form his faith from Scripture and from reading other authors, like Reinhold Niebuhr, who highly influenced him.

Faith is also something that ought to affect how we live each day. Faith is definitely called into question when someone’s actions do not match their faith profession.

Carter also claims that religious...