God and the Human Situation Flashcards
what is the human situation in relation to God?
- the relationship between god and humanity
- christian philosohpy and the attempt to share a relationship with god
- the impact of such beliefs on how people try to live their lives
st thomas aquinas’ arguments for dependance on god
- humans depend on god for their initial and continued existence
- god brought everything into existence, he is the cause so we are dependent on him
- sustainer of motion cause and existence, cause in esse. eg, electricity in tv
- needed as a constant presence
st augustine - fallen from grace
began in total perfect, corrupted by human actions (free will) - genesis account
‘soul deciding theodacy’ - humans were born with free will and can choose to have a relationship with god
how is god good and there is evil and suffering ?- fallen from grace
orignal sin passed down through sex
god is good so we must be punished for our evil behaviour
jon hick - soul making
irenaeus - made imperfect but through sould making process they can a become a child of god
- couldnt be created perfect because god requires willing co-operation of humans
- god has to permit evil and suffering in the world for humans to choose god over evil
john hick highlights the importance of god allowing humans to develope themselves- without choice we would be robots- wants us to be genuinely loving
the relationship with god has to be free so we have an epistemic distance from god - gives love true value
our relationship with god is truly loving
peter vardy - analogy of king and peasent girl
john calvin- predestined by god
as god is omniscient and omnipotent - knows and controls choices - god alone determines who will be saved- doctrine of divine election. some people are destined for a relationship with god but others are not. gods choice. double predestination.
god is not negative in his interventions - chooses to help some but not others
humans under judgement
god holds everyone to account and judges them according to their actions - if they are sent to hell they deserve it, justice demands they are apprapriately punished on judgement day
stories in the bible that back this up: noah and the arc, the good samaritan, st paul on judgement
if you live a good life and have a good relationship with god you will go to heaven because god loves everyone
what did freud think of gods role in the world
gods roll works from 2 perspectives:
1) guilt
- oedipus complex, draws on ideas of charles darwin of primitive men. in anciant times people lived in hordes - sons being driven out of the tribe by father, felt admiration and bitterness (oedipus complex), killed father and built totem who became god
2) helplessness
- wishes are so strong that they cancel out the doubts
- freud believed that humans defend themselves against the power of nature by believing in god - helps them deal with suffering, helplessness and fearing death
- believed in a conflict between what society expects and human instincts.
- god gives humans a consionce
- the child feels helplessness, comforted by the father, as an adult replaced by god
- for freud is just wishful thinking - an illusion
emile durkhein on god
focused on the australian aborigines
- defined religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things
- these beliefs are practices unite into one moral community called a church
- unifying roll in society and a moral community who share the same beliefs
- for durkhein religion cannot be seperated from society but this does not mean god exists
- “mode of action”
- religion is like glue and holds society together
- called things in ordinary life profane
- totems symble of a tribe
- his theory challenges god
- god is a product of society, if we did not live in societies god would not be invented
karl marx on god
- religion is dependent on material and economic situation of society
- god is the creation of society
- religious world is the reflex of the real world, it is an illusion but gives reason and excuses to keep society functioning in a particular way
- main criticism of religion is in the face of real oppresion on earth it offers spirtual blessing in heaven - “the opium of the people” - people put up with the present suffering in hope of spirtual reward
- religion doesnt fix society just helps you forget your pain and suffering - need to try and solve societys unjustness
- “the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world and the sould of the soulless condition”
frued and the rise rise atheism
- before frued atheism had come from biology, physics and cosmology - first psychology based argument
- 1927, the future of illusion
- “obsessive infantile neurosis”
- frueds views added to the scientiffic arguments against god
- concept of god is a manifestation of a faulty mind which can be cured
- freud says if cure is found god is no longer needed and people will find more appropriate ways of dealing with their feelings of hopelessness and guilt - ??????????
- 2005 poll shows 52% of europeans believed in god
durkheim and the challenge of functionalism
- says like the body has different organs that keep it functioning, society has different institutions that keep it functioning as a whole, religion is one of these institutions
- sees religion purely linked to society rather than being linked to a god that exists
- led people to question origin and purpose of religion
- people question why they use places of worship, divine being or does it help them to intergrate within society???
- durkheim saw social life impossible to acheive without shared values and norms achieved through collective consionce
- people turn to civil religion such as royal family or national sports (lack of moral vaules doee?)
karl marx and liberation theology
- although he saw religion as something that kept the poor poor and the rich rich, the biggest impact his views have had on religion has been positive (liberation theology)
- it is important that people are liberated from social, political and economic oppresion, church should ally itself to the working class
- some priests became radicalised and even joined violent revolutionry movements
- some priests and nuns moved into poor districts to share the living conditions
- gustavo gutierrez was a catholic priest who grew up in poverty in puro, applied marx’s ideology to say that the church should make peoples lives better here and now not just in heaven
- pope john paul the second was against liberation theology because he saw it as partisan
negative impact of being dependent on god
- if we become too dependent on god we just wait for god to intervene in our lives instead of fixxing our lives for ourselves
- marx says people become content with their suffering instead of trying to help themselves
- dawkins said if you are dependent on god you reject scientiffic ideas. leads to the rise of christian fundamentalism. dawkins: “i am against religion becuase it teaches us to be satistfied with not understanding the world”
positive impact of being dependent on god
- supplication (praying for self) and intercessionary (praying for someone else) prayer. gives comfort and encouragement in times of great crisis
- aquinas says god is cause and sustainer of the universe, our existence proves his dependability.
- the possibility of miracles gives us hope and hope of an afterlife
negative impact of believing we are fallen
-undeserved punishment, is it fair that we suffer for adam and eves sin- all loving creator!???
