Faith, Reason, and Scripture Flashcards
What is the Big search
- Humanity has alwaysed wanted to seek the truth about ourselves and origns of the world
- The 2 major tools used to search are faith and reason
what is the Faith Vs Reason argument
- Catholic view ”Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason.
- The same God who reveals mysteries and gives us faith has given us the ability to reason.
- Both faith and reason are ways to seek truth, Thus, one search for truth cannot and should not contradict another search for truth.
- It is not a matter of FAITH vs REASON, rather Faith and reason work together
What is Blind Faith Vs. Healthy Faith
- It is important to recognize that faith itself can be apporached in different wars
- “Blind faith” is belief that exists in spite of and often in opposition to reason.
- This type of faith is sometimes calles “credulity”. It is belief without purpose or reason.
- A healthy faith is one that ivnolves belief and trust in the sources of our knowledge (Often God) but allows for questioning and rational examination beliefs.
What are the positions to seek truth and understand scripture
- Biblical Literalism
- Scitentism
- Biblical Contextualism
What is Biblicial Literalism
- Biblical literalism is adherence to the exact letter or a strict literal sense, where literal refers to the strict meaning of the word or words, and not figurative or metaphorical meanings
- An example of this would Creationism which claims that God created the universe in literally less than one week and that the earth is 5000 years old
- This is problematic since the claim contradicts lots of very clear scientific evidence
- It is a position rooted entirely in faith/belief that chooses to reject the results of rational scientific inquiry
- This approach is also often referred to as “Fundamentalism”
What is Scientism
- This term refers to the belief in the universal applicability of the scientific method and the view that empirical science constitutes the only “authoritative” approach to seeking truth/knowledge-to the exclusion of other viewpoints
- In other words, only scientifically provable things can be considered true or valid
- This approach would reject the Bible almost completely (along with any other religious scripture or claims of truth).
- This is a view that is growing in popularity but it is also quite problematic as it limits the search for truth and is (ironically) a deeply irrational position itself.
What is Biblical Contextualism
- Biblical contextualism emphasizes the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context
- Biblical contextualism is a Catholic approach to biblical interpretation
- It is not rigid in insisting that there is ONLY one way to seek and gain truth (as Literalism and Scientism are)
- It combines FAITH that God has revealed truth to us in scripture with a RATIONAL approach to the analysis of scripture
What The Church Teaches About God and Creation
- Many people mistakenly assume that belief in scientific theories about the origins of humanity and the universe cannot work with religious beliefs about these things
- The Catholic Church argues that we can believe in most (if not all) of the scientific theories about our origins as long as we keep certain key points in mind
Specifically, we must remember that all creation comes from God, who loves us
What are Cosmological Arguments
- There is a type of philosophical augment called “The Cosmological Argument” which attempts to prove the existence of God
- In general these arguments work on the idea that all things must depend on something else for their existence and the ultimate thing which all depends on must necessarily by God
- St.Thomas Aquinas proposed several arguments of this type.
- 2 Examples are the “First Mover Argument” and the “Argument from Contingency”
The first mover argument
1.We can observe motion/change in the world
2.Things that have potential to move are always moved by an actual thing
3. All the actual movement we observe was once potential movement
4. Thus, there must be a first actual mover that leads to all potential and actual movement (ie.God)(ie. A basis for all movement/change on an ongoing basis)
What is the contigency
1.There are 2 types of things:
a) Contingent things might or might not exist.
b) Necessary things which MUST exist
2. Every Contingent thing must have areason for existing (bedcause it can’t exist for its own sake)
3.The universe is contingent (ie. It doesnt HAVE to exist)
4.Thus the universe must have a reason for existing (that reason is God)
What is the Fundamental Cause
- All Cosmological arguments deal with the idea that there must be a first or fundamental cause of everything that is not, itself, the result of another cause
- Without this we would have to look backwards infinitely to a never ending list of causes for existence both currently and in the past.
- This is a problem BOTH scientifically and religiously
