Faith Matters Podcast: When Faith Meant Trust, with Teresa Morgan

Date: February 22, 2026
Host: Zach Davis (Faith Matters Foundation)
Guest: Professor Teresa Morgan (Yale Divinity School)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Zach Davis interviews Professor Teresa Morgan, a distinguished scholar in early Christianity and theology, about the historical meaning of "faith" and how early Christians understood it primarily as trust—rather than mere belief. Their conversation explores the origins and evolution of the concepts behind the Greek word pistis and the Latin fides, both of which underpinned early Christian relationality with God, Christ, and each other. The discussion also delves into the shift towards an emphasis on cognitive belief in later centuries, what is lost in that transition, and how a greater focus on trust and entrustedness can revitalize faith communities today.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Teresa Morgan's Background

• [00:52] Morgan introduces herself as a British scholar now teaching at Yale Divinity School, with a background in classics (Greek and Roman history) and ordination in the Anglican Church. Her path to Yale was shaped by her increasing interest in the roots of Christian theology and patristics.

Faith as Relational Trust – The Meaning of Pistis and Fides

• [02:20] Morgan’s book Roman Faith and Christian Faith analyzes the Greek pistis and Latin fides.
• These words originally meant trust, trustworthiness, faithfulness, and entrustedness more than belief in doctrines. They were relational terms, broad in usage:
  • Family and friendship trusts
  • Commercial and political reliability
  • The reliability (or not) of rulers and the gods
• Quote:
  • “For very early Christians, pistis language, fides language centrally means trust. It means trust in God, trust in Christ, faithfulness to God and Christ. It means the trust that God and Christ put in us.” – Teresa Morgan [03:47]

The Christian Innovation: A Trustworthy God

• [04:59] In the ancient Mediterranean, gods existed but were not seen as trustworthy. Christianity (and Judaism before them) transformed this:
  • God is absolutely trustworthy.
  • Christians also use strong family language, calling each other "brother and sister," to signify a relational trust.
• Quote:
  • “For Jews and Christians, God is absolutely trustworthy. And that's a huge new thing, really, in that world.” – Teresa Morgan [06:26]

Faith as Belief: The Shift to Cognitive Assent

• [10:22] The shift from faith as trust to faith as belief (cognitive assent) happened primarily between the end of the 1st century and the Council of Nicaea (325 CE).
  • The Nicene Creed became the first binding statement where correct belief determined Christian identity.
  • This was influenced by apologetic debates with outsiders, intra-Christian disputes, and the adoption of Platonic philosophical language, which used pistis for "belief."
• Quote:
  • “The Nicene Creed ... was developed to test for heresy. ... That is the first moment when really believing defines you as a Christian, officially defines you as a Christian.” – Teresa Morgan [11:28]

What Is Lost When Faith Becomes Belief

• [14:17] Emphasizing belief over trust shifts the concept of faith:
  • Faith becomes merely cognitive, not holistic or relational.
  • Ordinary Christians have often kept a sense of trust and faithfulness, even when theologians emphasized belief.
• Quote:
  • “It is our relationship, it's our family relationship with God and with Christ that is central to our faith, and that's a relationship that we give the whole of ourselves to.” – Teresa Morgan [14:19]

Entrustedness—Faith as Stewardship

• [16:05] Entrustedness is a theme in the New Testament:
  • Parable of the talents: "The two good servants ... are described as pistos, trustworthy."
  • Paul is “entrusted by God with preaching the gospel.”
  • Leadership and spiritual gifts are viewed as trusts/stewardship, not just gifts.
• Quote:
  • “The language of being entrusted with something goes very well with the language of stewardship, especially in end time parables in the synoptic Gospels.” – Teresa Morgan [17:09]

Mutual Trust: God Trusts Us

• [18:47] The relationship is two-way. God trusts humanity, notably in sending Jesus as an act of trust, “hoping” people will recognize God in Christ.
• Quote:
  • “God trusts us to recognize Jesus, to recognize God with us in Jesus Christ, which is a big act of trust when you think about it ... It is a great act of trust by God.” – Teresa Morgan [19:02]

Trust and the Atonement

• [20:19] Paul’s writings connect trust with the atonement:
  • The act of reconciliation between God and humanity is possible because Jesus is trustworthy with both God and us (“mediator” role).
  • The ongoing process of “dying to sin and rising in newness of life” is relational, done “in trust with Christ alongside us.”
• Quote:
  • “Jesus is able to mediate between us and God and bring us back together ... by this double relationship of trust.” – Teresa Morgan [22:48]

Covenants as Relational Trust

• [24:16] Latter-day Saint emphasis on covenants resonates with early Christian understanding:
  • In Hebrews and elsewhere, covenant language meshes closely with trust.
  • Covanent shouldn’t be reduced to a legal or political contract; it’s rooted in joy and relationship.
• Quote:
  • “We think about [covenant] as something loving, as something generous, as something intensely relational as something that we live, we joyously live within.” – Teresa Morgan [25:02]

Practicing Faith Within Community

• [29:33] Ordinary believers (“the faithful”) have often been more attuned to faith as trust and faithfulness.
  • In liturgical traditions, many struggle with doctrines but still embrace trust in God and Christ and live faithfully by caring for neighbors.
• Quote:
  • “It's not an accident that the early Christians name for themselves was the faithful. ... Ordinary Christians are the ones who have kept the trust, as it were.” – Teresa Morgan [30:32]

Faith and Reason

• [32:56] Balancing faith and reason:
  • For Morgan, “all [her] intellectual exploring is just excited and joyful and fascinated ways of trying to understand God better.”
  • In times of doubt or spiritual “dark night,” community upholds individual faith—a “trust for each other” that carries people through.
• Quote:
  • “We hold our faith for each other. ... we hold that faith for each other, we hold that trust for each other, really.” – Teresa Morgan [34:54]

Personal Experience of Trusting God

• [36:49] Morgan’s story:
  • Felt a call to ministry from a young age but resisted it until it became overwhelming.
  • Pursuing ordination felt like risking and “throwing away” a planned academic career.
  • In hindsight, the act of trust led to fulfilling opportunities—including her current role at Yale—“vindicated a thousandfold.”
• Quote:
  • “Throwing everything into your trust in God might work out, I guess.” – Teresa Morgan [40:19]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “For very early Christians, pistis language ... centrally means trust. ... And all the other things that we associate with faith now are evolutions out of that.”
  – Teresa Morgan [03:47]

• “It is our relationship, it’s our family relationship with God ... that is central to our faith, and that’s a relationship that we give the whole of ourselves to.”
  – Teresa Morgan [14:19]

• “God trusts us to recognize Jesus, to recognize God with us in Jesus Christ, which is a big act of trust when you think about it ... It is a great act of trust by God, I think.”
  – Teresa Morgan [19:02]

• “We hold our faith for each other ... we hold that faith for each other, we hold that trust for each other.”
  – Teresa Morgan [34:54]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:52 | Teresa Morgan’s introduction | | 02:20 | The language of pistis and fides: faith as trust, not belief | | 04:59 | Trust’s place in Mediterranean society and difference in polytheism/monotheism | | 10:22 | Shift from faith-as-trust to faith-as-belief: Council of Nicaea and the Creed | | 14:17 | What is lost when faith is just belief | | 16:05 | Entrustedness and stewardship in New Testament | | 18:47 | God’s act of trusting humanity | | 20:19 | Trust, reconciliation, and the atonement | | 24:16 | Understanding covenants as relational trust | | 29:33 | The faithful: ordinary believers live trust | | 32:56 | Balancing faith and reason; communal trust | | 36:49 | Morgan's personal journey of trusting God |

Conclusion

Teresa Morgan masterfully demonstrates that, at Christianity’s core, “faith” originally meant a dynamic, relational trust involving God, Christ, and the faith community. Over centuries, the focus shifted to right belief, but much can be regained by emphasizing trust, faithfulness, and entrustedness—especially for modern believers wrestling with doubt and reason. Through history, scripture, and personal experience, Morgan affirms that real faith is not just thinking rightly, but living trustingly, and that God, too, entrusts us with divine work and relationship.