An important focus of the debate was the difference between reasoned conviction and blind faith or pistis. Celsus, following the Platonic tradition, saw reason as the only valid route to understanding the cosmos. Pistis was the state of mind of the ignorant who blindly accepted whatever they were told. And yet, to the astonishment of Celsus and his peers, pistis formed the foundation of the Christian approach.
Reasoned conviction or blind faith (pistis)
