Final answer:
According to fideists, the Christian faith should not rely on historical inquiry, as faith is seen as independent of reason and evidence. They would agree with the statement that historical inquiry is irrelevant to matters of faith.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to fideists, the Christian faith should not be primarily supported by historical inquiry. Fideism is a philosophical view that posits that faith is independent of reason and that religious beliefs must be accepted without any reliance on reason or evidence. Fideism would therefore align most closely with option B) No, historical inquiry is irrelevant to matters of faith. According to this viewpoint, matters of religious faith are beyond the scope of historical evidence or logical arguments. As faith is considered to be a personal and subjective experience, it doesn’t necessarily require the corroboration of historical events or external validation.
Historical inquiry, in other contexts, involves the development of compelling supporting questions and construction claims based on evidence gathered during the inquiry process. However, in the context of religious faith and specifically within the perspective of fideism, historical inquiry does not serve as the foundation for beliefs. Instead, faith is understood to originate from a divine source and an individual's internal conviction, rather than from historical interpretation or evidence. This perspective is distinct from other views that seek to integrate faith with reason or evidence, whereby historical miracles or divine revelations are seen as supporting the belief in a deity, such as observed in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.