Credition is a neologism derived from the Latin word credere (to believe) and designates processes of believing (Angel, 2013a). In many languages (and esp. in German) the term belief is widely associated with religion and religious beliefs. Indeed, the need for a new term became evident during the so-called Regensburg Symposia (1998-2005) (Angel, 2006a) that were aimed at increasing our understanding of the phenomenon of religiosity (see below) and the dynamics of 'religious beliefs'. Given this background, it is important to emphasize that credition is neither a religious nor a theological term. Rather, it was coined as a psychological term in analogy to other psychological terms including cognition, emotion, and volition. No religion is needed in order to understand "credition, " but knowledge about credition may help us to better understand religious beliefs. Although the intention of this article is to point to issues which appeared as crossroads and pathways in the emerging history of creditions, it does not present a chronology of events but focusses on theoretical issues.
Precursory hermeneutics as crossroads to credition Blind spot time-related beliefsTalking about belief or credition means initially to talk about notions, i.e., the notion of belief and the notion of credition. Both terms highlight related but different phenomena. Belief has been a topic discussed since Antiquity. It might have contributed to our lack of understanding that something like fluid or temporally evolving believing processes might exist because, at least since late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the predominant scientific practice has been to talk about 'belief ' as a static entity, i.e., as a noun (Angel, 2022a). But on a linguistic level we must address the relation between a noun and its corresponding verb. To proceed from a noun related understanding of beliefs to an action-based understanding of believing processes that can be expressed in terms of a verb (e.g., while believing) requires a paradigm shift. The paradigm shift that underpins going from understanding beliefs to understanding the processes of believing is a precondition Frontiers in Psychology frontiersin.org Angel . /fpsyg. .
