Abstract

The study of how belief evolves and interacts with cultural and individual experiences can aid in exercises such as comparative theology and support interreligious dialogue. The Credition model provides a framework for understanding the phenomenon of believing and belief formation, which is a basic cognitive function essential to human mind and behavior. It acknowledges that believing is a dual phenomenon with a rational content and an emotional intensity. This model can be applied to artificially created belief systems in artificial intelligence, where mightiness can be extended to mean the importance given to a proposition by external valuation. It is possible to use this framework to improve our understanding of the dynamics of belief by drawing parallels with the dynamics of learning in artificial intelligence. In addition, in previous work I pointed to how beliefs are best understood as networks of interconnected elements, and a complex systems approach can provide a more comprehensive perspective on their properties. Complex systems have distinct properties such as nonlinearity, emergence, and adaptation that can help explain different phenomena, including the dynamics of belief networks. The study of belief networks and their dynamics can add a new language to the plurality of religious dialogue, that of formal sciences. Overall, the text presents the importance of understanding the complexity of belief formation and how it can contribute to religious dialogue and the study of comparative theology.