Motives of Credibility and Predispositions to Faith, by Dr. Jeff Mirus

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, July 18, 2025

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

A couple of posts back I briefly mentioned “motives of credibility” that can draw a person to faith in Christ and entry into the Catholic Church. These “motives” operate at a potentially deeper or at least more personal level than the basic apologetical arguments which establish the necessity of God and the soul, the Divinity of Christ, and the role of the Catholic Church in continuing to make Christ present down through history.

A motive of credibility is not so much an argument as an attractive aspect of Christ or the Church or the Faith which engages the personality of those who find that aspect of things particularly attractive or even suggestive of the Divine. A good example is the power and attraction that many feel when encountering the Gothic architecture characteristic of so many medieval churches which appear to soar toward Heaven. …

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