Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Despite Doubt: Embracing a Confident Faith

Rate this book
Many Christians struggle with the concept of walking by faith, especially in a world that says faith is all about taking risks―leaping into uncharted territory and expecting everything to be okay. In Despite Doubt , Michael E. Wittmer reexamines this popular viewpoint and encourages readers to get a clear understanding of their assurance in God and salvation. Readers will examine the flip side of doubt that opens the door to questions, answers, and knowledge about securing their trust in God. Helping readers to discover how to embrace a confident faith, Despite Doubt includes questions for reflection and discussion and is a perfect resource for small group study.

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

6 people are currently reading
58 people want to read

About the author

Michael E. Wittmer

21 books22 followers

Michael Wittmer is currently Professor of Systematic Theology at GRTS in Grand Rapids, MI. He is the author of Heaven Is a Place on Earth, Don’t Stop Believing, The Last Enemy, and Despite Doubt. He and his wife, Julie, live in Grand Rapids, Michigan with their three children: Avery, Landon, and Alayna.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
22 (40%)
4 stars
25 (45%)
3 stars
7 (12%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Stefy Arul Brabhaher.
17 reviews
April 23, 2025
The central idea of Despite Doubt is that faith is not a leap into the unknown, but rather a reliance on what we do know. I appreciated this take, especially as it was unpacked more clearly in Part 2, which I found much stronger overall.

Part 1 was a bit confusing for me. While the intended audience is Christian, Wittmer spends a lot of time addressing doubts that seem more relevant to non-believers. Doubts about God, Jesus, and Scripture. What made this even more tricky was that he often builds arguments on assertions that Christians can readily accept, but not non-believers. For instance, citing Paul’s assertion that God’s authority is visible to all, even while also saying that humans suppress this truth in ignorance. It’s not a significant issue as there is bound to be overlap between doubts that arise before coming to belief and doubts that persist within belief itself.

Part 2, on the other hand, was incredibly helpful. It's more practical and pastoral in tone, focusing on the quality of our faith, especially questions like “Am I really saved?” Wittmer handles this with a lot of care, and the anecdotes he includes were genuinely insightful and reassuring. The parts on Martin Luther were particularly well written.

Overall, Wittmer writes quite simply and accessibly, even when dealing with philosophical material. His breakdowns of Hume’s scepticism and Kant’s fideism were distilled really well, and I think readers from various backgrounds would find them approachable.
Profile Image for Jeanie.
3,091 reviews1 follower
May 8, 2015
Why is it so hard to believe today? Why does the Christian Faith seem like it’s merely one option among many, and often not even the best option? How did we get here?

Our longing for understanding can lead to doubt and a harden heart to unbelief. As a Christian we need to be aware of what are doubts are based on and what the root of our unbelief is. In this study there is two parts – Part 1 addresses the doubts we have about the objects of our faith: God, Jesus, and the Scripture. Part 2 examines the doubts we have about the quality of our faith. Do we really believe in Jesus? How do we know we are following Him?

Doubt is not the fuel of faith however; it is an indicator that we may lack knowledge on our object of faith. With faith, we must have and it requires our commitment. Faith and commitment go together like peanut butter and jelly. So the question then becomes are you committed. Are we committed to obedience? Every act of obedience comes to trust. When I believe that God is for me, I gladly want to do what He says. Our faith begins to cost us something when we are in the will of God. When we choose what He has called us too. If you have a family what has called you too? A spouse? A parent? Where ever we are placed, there is a calling whether it is where we work or our family, church, and community.

Our object of our faith is not in our selves. (that only leads to narcissism.) It is not about believing in ourselves but in the work of Christ. How much I have done but what Christ has done for me.

The doctrine of faith was gospel and God centered all throughout this study. I highly recommend to strengthen your faith or to say in better terms, the object of your faith. In Christ Alone Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("Christ alone" or "through Christ alone")

A Special Thank You to Discovery House Publishers and Netgalley for ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
37 reviews15 followers
October 13, 2017
I loved this book and the viewpoint in which Professor Wittmer writes. Many Christians today talk of "jumping into the unknown" in regards to our faith, but the unknown cannot be the driving force of our faith. We CAN have assurance in our salvation, in our Savior, and in our God. "Faith is being SURE of what we hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1, emphasis mine). Wittmer says, “The point of this book is that faith means to commit to what we know, not to what we don’t. So the foundational question, the question that will lift your faith off the ground, is, What do you know? If you’re not sure what you know, ask yourself what you believe. Are these beliefs true, and do you have good reason for holding them? Then you are entitled to claim that you know them. And once you realize that you know them, you are obligated to commit appropriately to them." And these commitments, when done unto the Lord, WILL honor Him - whether that's traveling to foreign countries sharing the Gospel or caring for your family at home.
Profile Image for Carol Blakeman.
350 reviews7 followers
September 25, 2019
This is a book for everyone. It doesn't matter who you are or what you believe. It doesn't matter if you believe or not. This book is for you. Everyone needs to read it and process the information honestly.

It brings up the questions that people are asking.
Is there truth?
Where does truth even start?
Isn't faith just a leap in the dark?
What if I don't have enough faith?

The only person who can't benefit from the book is the one who will not question doubt as much as they question faith.
Profile Image for Violet.
Author 5 books14 followers
December 11, 2013
In his book Despite Doubt: Embracing A Confident Faith, Michael E. Wittmer sets out to counter the popular myth that faith is stepping blindly into the unknown. Real faith, he says, is based more on what we know than what we don’t. He makes his argument about faith and doubt within the realm of believing in the Bible and the tenets of the Christian faith.

Wittmer tackles this challenge in a two-pronged way, dividing the book into two parts. In Part One—“Belief In God”—he analyzes skepticism and shows how a belief in the existence of God is not only credible but that it is virtually impossible to live consistently as if no God existed. Some of the titles of chapters in this section give us a sense of his range of topics: “God,” “Jesus,” “Bible,” “Belief,” “Disciplines,” and “Faith.”

Part Two—“Following God”—deals with the nitty gritty of living out one’s faith. In chapters such as “Trust,” “Faithfulness,” “Promise,” “Call,” “Assurance,” and more, he deals with issues like how do we know we’re hearing from God? What sets us apart as people of faith? How can we have assurance of Salvation? Who are heroes of faith?

Wittmer says much that is practical and applicable to everyday life. Here are some of his useful insights that I underlined:

From the chapter “Unbelief” (Part 1):
“We must always be at least a little suspicious of doubt, for while not all doubt is sin, all doubt does come from sinners. Sinners have an ax to grind. We are not morally neutral. We have a vested interest in disproving Jesus, for if He is Lord, then we can’t be” – p. 86, 87.

“If we plan to continue our rebellion, we’ll need to conceal our sin beneath a thick smoke screen of intellectual problems” – p. 89.

From the chapter “Trust” (Part 2):
“Every act of willing obedience comes down to trust” – p. 109.

From the chapter “Jump”:
“Faith starts from assurance and proceeds to risk. … Counterfeit faith starts from uncertainty and leaps for assurance” – p. 115.

From the chapter “Fruit”:
“Faith means to commit to what we know and what we know for sure is what God has revealed in Scripture” p. 145.

Though I did enjoy the book, at the deepest level it left me unstirred somehow. Perhaps that’s because it downplayed the possibility of hearing from God personally and glossed over the Holy Spirit-empowered lifestyle pictured in the early church of the New Testament. Rather, Wittmer seems content with a towing-the-line, status quo faith that plods on dutifully following the Bible but lacks the warmth of personal friendship with God:
“Comfort can easily become an idol that we pursue above God, but a comfortable, middle-class existence is not necessarily an indication of sin. It may simply mean we’re prudent. Paul never commanded Christians to take radical risks for God ... Rather than focus on how much we’re risking for God, we should concentrate on God’s promises and commands” – pp. 169,170.

Despite my reservations, I would say Despite Doubt is a worthwhile read. It would be a valuable addition to the library of apologists, pastors, teachers, and anyone dealing with seekers, especially if they’re of a philosophical bent. A study guide with three questions per chapter is included at the end of the book, making Despite Doubt a good choice for study groups.

I received Despite Doubt as a gift from the publisher for the purpose of writing a review.
Profile Image for Chris.
201 reviews5 followers
October 24, 2014
I’m quite sure that we all have doubts one time or another in our christian lives, but what do with do with them? And after hearing sermons on doubting Thomas, some might even think that they shouldn’t be doubting. Some might just sweep it under the carpet, others may thrive in it, some fall away because of it. So what do we do with these doubts?

Michael Wittmer wants us to ‘doubt away’. This is a deliberate play of words, he wants our doubts to be away, and he wants us to be honest with our doubts. This book can be spilt into 2 portions. The first portion deals with doubts that most people have, doubts about God, Jesus, Bible, etc… and the second section deals with some questions (doubts) that christians have about their lives, about trust, promise, assurances.

In the first section, Wittmer answers most of the common questions people have against or about christianity. Wittmer does this by taking up their stand and showing the readers about what their belief entails or implies in our lives, if we are to take up such system of thought. Essentially Wittmer wants us to doubt our doubts away.

Wittmer also has a very written very helpful on the definition of faith and doubts. One example: when dealing with the topic on knowledge, he argues in order for our faith to grow, we need knowledge, but even a greater or fuller knowledge will never be able to obliterate faith. Uncertainty it not the opposite of faith, but rather the lack of knowledge.

In the next section, Wittmer deals with the common christians usually have or face. I especially like how he dealt with the topic of why the church is full of hypocrites (found in chapter 20). He answers this lucidly by showing that the church has hypocrites, simply because the church is good. No one fakes a bad stuff. But hypocrites doesn’t ‘prove’ that Christianity is not real. (Read the book for the fuller answer with explanation)

Finally, this is why I think this book is excellent. Often books dealing with apologetics, they do a great job answering questions, Wittmer does this too, but he goes further than that. He calls readers to re-examine their lives, he calls them to put their trust in Jesus, shows them what it means. And therefore, what he is really doing is to deal answer their doubts, and then to slowly lead them to Christ and discipling them into a church. This book would be fine for either christians or non-christians, and any teenager should be able to understand this book since there are not many technical terms, and they’re usually explained in a very layman language also. Wittmer has also provided discussion questions at the end that would be helpful for group studies, and the division into small but numerous chapters would be appealing to groups who wants to spend more time discussing about them. Or they could be group into multiple chapters and discussed, since the chapters flow very well one after another.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Josh.
613 reviews1 follower
February 4, 2017
Despite Doubt is a forthcoming work by Michael Wittmer that aims to deal with the discussion about the role of doubt in the Christian's faith. I am not sure if the timing of its release is strategic or Providential, or a bit of both, but it serves as a great counterpoint to Gregg Boyd's latest work, The Benefit of Doubt.


Wittmer is Professor of Systematic Theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, where he also directs the Center for Christian Worldview. He is the authored multiple books including Heaven Is a Place on Earth, which is on my “to be read” list.

Wittmer sets out to argue against the idea that faith is a leap into the unkown, that it is as Elizabeth Gilbert puts it:
Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be... a prudent insurance policy.
This false dichotmomy that pits faith agaisnt knowledge is a large portion of what Wittmer addresses. He argues against the idea that risk, rather than simply accompanying faith, is the essence of faith. Scripture nowhere commands or affirms a faith as a "blind leap" and Wittmer presents a formidable case agaisnt this notion. Wittmer affirms the Reformation tri-fold formulation of faith(notia, assensus, and fiducia) where faith is knowledge of God and His salvation, acknowledging that the case presented in Scriptures is objectively true, and wholeheartedly trusting this truth. He quotes the Heidelberg Catechism that "(t)rue faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in his word true, it is also a hearty trust."

Witmer's work is a pleasant blend of exegesis, philosophy, and apologetics. It is a helpful and sincere look into the topic of faith and doubt. It is simultaneously theological and practical, utilizing Scripture, arguments, and real life anecdotes to make the point that faith is trusting in what we know rather than a blind leap into the unknown.

Despite Doubt features a wide variety of topics, concise chapters, a clear and engaging style of writing, and a respect of and submission to God's word as our ultimate source of truth and knowledge.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley.com for review purposes.
Profile Image for Mary-ann.
163 reviews3 followers
August 6, 2016
Many Christians struggle with the concept of walking by faith, especially in a world that says faith is all about taking risks, leaping into uncharted territory and expecting everything to be okay. In Despite Doubt, Michael E. Wittmer reexamines this popular viewpoint and encourages you to get a clear understanding of your assurance in God and salvation. You will examine the flipside of doubt that opens the door to questions, answers, and knowledge about securing your trust in God. Helping you to discover how to embrace a confident faith, Despite Doubt includes questions for reflection and discussion and is a perfect resource for small group study.

Michael Wittmer has written a great tool for Christians to use. Most of us have difficulty with walking by faith, it isn't something that comes easy. Mr. Wittmer, helps us to put one foot in front of the other and walk in faith. He teaches us some basic steps in overcoming doubt.

This would be great to be used for personal study, but also in a group setting. There is a section in the back of the book with some discussion questions, based on each chapter.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Profile Image for Matthew Mitchell.
Author 11 books37 followers
November 26, 2014
A unique book on the subject of doubt and Christianity. Wittmer encourages us to "Doubt Away" in the first chapter by which he means (1) allow yourself to ask the questions of doubt (and struggle toward good answers) and yet (2) don't make doubt a virtue, instead send unbelieving doubt packing. I've heard the first message from others before but not as much about the second. Interestingly, Wittmer argues that biblical faith is trusting in what we KNOW and teases out some of the implications of that, blowing away the typical fog about faith being a leap into the void.

Wittmer's style is popular, hilarious, quotable, and fairly easy to read (though he references erudite sources from far and wide). He sprinkles in stories that underscore his point and inspire at the same time. I admit that I didn't understand every twist and turn in his argument, but that's probably just my need to read it again, not his writing. I know that what I understood was very good. Recommended for those who want bolstered in their faith, for those who want to understand what faith is and isn't, and for those who struggle with doubt.
Profile Image for Cole Brandon.
171 reviews5 followers
May 10, 2021
Whittmer handles doubt brilliantly. He understands the common Christian experience of doubt, and explains how questioning the existence of God and assurance of salvation are connected by doubt; doubt is the product of an incorrect conceptualization of faith. Whittmer re-articulates faith using Scripture, great illustrations, lessons from church history, and easy-to-follow logic. His conclusions contrast to popular evangelical understandings faith that implicitly celebrate doubt. In his discourse of doubt and faith, he touches on the entire Christian life. Whittmer's style is as if he having a casual conversation. A personal and apologetic treasure.
Profile Image for Melissa.
870 reviews91 followers
March 24, 2015
This was helpful to me, showing that Christians sometimes do doubt in big ways, but it is not the quality of faith that saves, but faith at all. I'm still struggling, but I am thankful to have read this book. The author quotes from the Bible and from others in history who struggled, such as Martin Luther and John Bunyan. There were some good thoughts about knowledge vs. faith, and how some people think that faith has to be a leap in the dark, the more precarious the better. The main thing is to focus on Christ, to go to Him and His Word with our doubts. Church can be helpful, too.
Profile Image for Cassie VD.
3 reviews
February 15, 2016
Really enjoyed this book. If you enjoy a very logical approach you will like this book but if you are looking for polished persuasion against doubt you will not find it here. I read it with a group and often people found the author's way of breaking down the logic hard to follow, although both my husband and I liked the logical and practical approach.
139 reviews1 follower
October 29, 2014
Great book for you to read! Wittmer provides encouragement and challenge for your life whether you are a Christian or not.
Chapters are short enough that you can read the book quickly or pick it up and read a chapter a day without breaking a sweat.
Profile Image for Jonah.
365 reviews1 follower
December 26, 2013
Everyone one (Christian and non-Christian) should read this book. This is one of those books I wish I had written. Well done, Dr. Wittmer.
Profile Image for Mike.
675 reviews8 followers
January 26, 2016
Very good book. Well laid out and logical.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.