CH3.3 knowledge of Gods existence

Question 1

what is meant by Faith?

Answer 1

the voluntary commitment to a belief without the need for complete evidence to support it

Question 2

what is empiricism?

Answer 2

a way of knowing that depends on the five senses

Question 3

what is natural theology?

Answer 3

drawing a conclusion about the nature and activity of god by using reason and observing the world

Question 4

what is revelation?

Answer 4

‘uncovering’
-in theological terms, this is when god chooses to let himself be known

Question 5

what is immediate revelation?

Answer 5

where someone is given direct knowledge of god

Question 6

what is mediate revelation?

Answer 6

where someone gains knowledge of god in a secondary non-direct way

Question 7

what is meant by Grace of God?

Answer 7

Gods unconditional and undeserved gifts

Question 8

what is wisdom literature?

Answer 8

a genre of writing from the ancient world, teaching about wisdom and virtue
-in the bible, books such as Proverbs and Job are classified as wisdom literature

Question 9

what does Plato say about the nature of knowledge?

Answer 9

-in ancient Greece, the puzzle was seen in terms of the difficulty of gaining certain and true knowledge of a world which is in a constant state of motion and change
-how could we know about something if, as soon as we thought we understood it, it was different again?
-for Plato, this question was addressed by hid Theory of Forms, where true knowledge is gained by the soul in a permanent, eternal world beyond this physical one.
-he thought we already have knowledge when we are born, and that when we think we are gaining knowledge we are in fact recognising things that we knew when we lived in the world of the Forms

Question 10

what does Aristotle say about the nature of knowledge?

Answer 10

-he thought that we can only learn anything meaningful through science, by looking at the physical world around us and conducting repeatable experiments.
-he thought that our knowledge develops the more that we experience things, through our senses
-this has led some people to the conclusion that the physical world contains all that is worth knowing about, and even all that can be known

Question 11

other than the ancient Greek ideas, what is another idea on the nature of knowledge

Answer 11

-as well as the possibility of being born with knowledge, and learning through sense experience, we can also learn through reason and logic, taking deductive steps such as those in mathematics to work out what is true.
-we also learn from sources of authority, such as teachers, parents, books and experts, where we have to have a degree of faith that what they are telling us is true.

Question 12

what do some people argue about knowledge and what do religious people argue?

Answer 12

-Some people argue that the only kinds of knowledge that are genuine and Worth pursuing are those which come either from reason or from sense experience. -Religious believers, however, argue that these methods are limited beause they only give people knowledge of the physical world. They do not help people to gain knowledge of spiritual, supernatural truths, or ethical truths about how we ought to live and what sort people we should aim to become; but some will argue in return that there are no such things as ‘supernatural truths’ or absolute ‘ethical truths’ and might also argue that this material world is all that exists

Question 13

For people who only believe true knowledge is that which we gain through sense experience, how does it apply to the question of ‘how can God be known?’

Answer 13

For people who believe that the only true knowledge is that which is gained through sense experience, then this means that God cannot be known at all, perhaps does not even exist at all, and questions about God could be seen as meaningless questions

Question 14

How does the belief that knowledge can be gained through reason and logic apply to the question of ‘how can god be known?’

Answer 14

If people believe that knowledge can be gained through reason and logic, this too could mean that god cannot be known at all, as he is said to be beyond the realms of the rational and beyond the capabilities of the human mind

Question 15

Do Christian’s accept that empirical experience and logical reasoning are the only methods of gaining knowledge available to humanity?

Answer 15

No they do not

Question 16

Who was Bonaventura? And what did he believe

Answer 16

He was a Franciscan monk from the thirteenth century, who considered the question of how God can be known in his work ‘The minds road to God’
-he believed that the human mind has a least three different ways of knowing, to which he referred using the analogy of an eye to represent different ways of ‘seeing’. We have, he suggested:
- the ‘eye of the flesh’, which is the way of knowing that incorporates sense perception: the empiricism of science. This ‘eye’ is the means by which we gain knowledge about the physical world
- the ‘eye of reason’, which is the way of knowing that lets us work out mathematical and philosophical truths through the use of logic
- the ‘eye of contemplation’, which is a way of knowing which allows us to come to a knowledge of God by going beyond the scope of both sense experience and reason and gaining knowledge of God through faith

Question 17

What distinction has been made in christian thought to do with theology?

Answer 17

A distinction has been made in Christian thought between ‘natural’ and ‘revealed’ theology, where natural theology is about gaining knowledge of god through the powers of human reason and observation, while revealed theology is about god choosing to reveal himself to humans directly, for example through religious experience and through scripture
-Christian’s believe that both of these can help people to understand religious truths; however, there are some who argue that revealed theology is the only way that we can gain reliable knowledge of God and the natural theology should be rejected

Question 18

When science began to develop rapidly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, what metaphor for understanding how god can be known became popular?

Answer 18

-this was the metaphor of ‘Gods two books’.
-Robert Boyle, familiar for his work in science as well as as for his theology, wrote in terms of ‘two great books’, the natural world and the bible, which were both created by the same author.
-the words of the Bible and the discoveries of sience were seen as complementary, each enhancing the other as means by which people could deepen their understanding and knowledge of god.

Question 19

What is natural theology?

Answer 19

The name given to attempts to discover truths about the existence and the nature of God by using human experience and human reason.
-looking at the beauty of the world leads many to the conclusion that there must be a creator God. Paley, who famously gave a design argument to demonstrate the existence of God, titled his work: Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1802). For Paley, the natural world presented clear evidence of God.
- the Bible, too, offers the view that the natural world demonstrates truths about God. In the book of Psalms, for example, the writer looks up at the night sky and sees clear evidence of the existence of God and of God’s relationship with humanity

Question 20

What was Aquila’s keen to show?

Answer 20

Aquinas was keen to show that Christianity was not in opposition to reasonable common sense, but that reason and observation could be employed in support of Christian belief.
-for example, from seeing that the world is in a constant state of change due to cause and effect, we can work out that there must be an uncaused causer of the world.
- Aquinas thought there are some general observations, such as that there is motion and cause, which anyone would accept and from which any intelligent person can reason for the existence of God.