Arthur C. BrooksThe Art and Science of Happiness

Faith and questions are not opposites

17 Jun 2026 · 2 min

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In this monologue, Arthur C. Brooks reflects on how his experience of aging has deepened both his faith and his capacity for questioning. He contrasts the binary, certainty‑driven mindset of youth with the more nuanced, messy reality that emerges in middle age. Brooks cites sociologist James Fowler’s research on stages of religious development to explain why many people abandon faith in their twenties when faced with suffering, yet often return to a more mature, questioning faith later in life. He uses the biblical story of Job as an illustration of how a righteous person can suffer without clear answers, emphasizing that mature believers can love God while openly acknowledging they do not understand divine purposes. Brooks concludes that as people reach their 40s, 50s, and beyond, they can simultaneously hold deeper love for God and a willingness to admit uncertainty, aligning their will with God’s despite unanswered questions.

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As I get older, I've started to question more. You seem to only be getting more faithful and more convinced. Why? I am more faithful, but I also question, and I question at a deeper level as well, and those things are not incompatible. On the contrary, this is actually something from the sociology of religion. There's a great sociologist named James Fowler who looks at how people tend to evolve in their religious life. The reason that a lot of people who come from religious homes, they fall away, is 'cause they learn that there's a good and merciful God, who's all love, but then they see a lot of suffering in the world and they say, "It doesn't add up." Here's the problem. Thinking tends to be very binary in your 20s. And when things don't add up, you gotta get rid of one or the other. And so a lot of people cast off their faith because it doesn't make sense in the world. By the time you're in your 40s and 50s, of course, you realize nothing makes sense. The world is really, really messy. The Book of Job is something that people often talk about when they look at suffering. So Job, this biblical Old Testament figure, he's a man of God, he's a righteous figure, and he suffers. Everything is ruined, and at the end of the book, he asks God, "Why did you do that to me?" God says, "Well, I mean, obviously you're so smart, then I'll tell you. I'll tell you why you suffered as soon as you tell me why I created the heavens and the earth. If you know so much, then you will understand why you suffered." And the truth is, by the time you're in your 40s and 50s and 60s, I'm 61 years old, life's messy, man. And so the result is there's a lot that I don't know, and at the same time, I can love God more and say, Lord, I don't understand your ways. I don't understand your ways, but I conform my will to yours.