[语言讨论] implicit faith 及 explicit faith

implicit =>
        With no qualification or question; absolute

explicit =>
        Stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt

implicit (= implied) functions as a correlative of explicit (= express or expressed), just as implied is a correlative of express〔no warranty, either express or implied〕. H.W. Fowler called implicit “a shifty word” and suggested that the language would be better off without it. The problem, he pointed out, is that while implied and express are neat opposites, implicit and explicit seem to overlap when they mean “complete, unmitigated”〔implicit trust〕〔explicit pornography〕. In this sense, the words can sometimes become interchangeable

Logic is on the side of this usage: if one has implicit faith in something, no evidence or rationalization is needed to bolster that belief. The Century Dictionary recognized this sense of implicit in 1895: “involved in or resulting from perfect confidence in or deference to some authority or witness; hence, submissive, unquestioning, blind.”

IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT FAITH.

We see from this that it is, of course, quite possible for a person to have a true and firm belief in God and whatever he has revealed, and yet not to have studied and learned up all the different things that God has revealed. Such a person believes, as we say, implicitly everything that God has said, so far and as soon as he knows it. And this is the sort of faith that most persons have; for there are not many who are so well instructed as to have a complete and accurate, or as we call it, explicit knowledge of each particular thing that God has revealed. To believe whatever God has revealed without knowing what those things are, is called implicit faith. To believe things that God has revealed, knowing what those things are, is called explicit faith.