Knowledge of God

Question 1

Sensus Divinitas

Answer 1

John Calvin’s idea that we all have an innate sense of God, from which we can gain knowledge of God if we use our reason accordingly

Question 2

Which three ways can we gain knowledge of God through?

Answer 2

1) Conscience eg the feeling of guilt we experience when we do something wrong
2) Awareness of beauty
3) Intellectual ability - being able to reason about the world around us to recognise God (supported by Aquinas 5 ways)

Question 3

What is natural theology?

Answer 3

Reflecting on the beauty of creation as a way to experience God.
Design arguments challenge us to use reason to deduce his existence eg the order of the universe means there must be a creator

Question 4

Calvin’s principle of accomodation

Answer 4

Although God is unknowable, he communicates with us in ways we can work out.

Question 5

How do some believe that faith can be tested?

Answer 5

Through the lifestyle of a person, it will be different to the norm as someone with faith is likely to have changed the way they live

Question 6

Dawkins rejection of faith

Answer 6

He sees faith as an excuse to fill in the gaps for questions we do not know the answer to
“Faith is the ultimate excuse to evade the need to think and use evidence”

Question 7

St Paul

Answer 7

The story of the “unknown God” shows how humans are able to gain some knowledge and a slight relationship with God through reason/natural theology BUT not full knowledge/connection

Question 8

Strengths of natural theology

Answer 8

• We are familiar with using reason
• There is tradition of humans using reason to show God exists
• With the amount of people who believe in God, there must be some connection between God and humans
• God=loving, so surely he would make a connection between himself and humans

Question 9

Weaknesses of natural theology

Answer 9

• Is the gap between humans and God too great for sensus divinitas?
• We cannot gain a personal connection through using natural theology
• Reason can lead to other conclusions eg God does not exist
• Order and purpose in the universe can be answered for by evolution etc

Question 10

What is revealed theology?

Answer 10

What God has shown to humans. Direct through an interaction with God or indirect through the Bible or Jesus

Question 11

Why is natural theology alone not effective?

Answer 11

We cant gain full knowledge of God through NT because we are sinful (Augustine - the Fall)

Question 12

What is true faith?

Answer 12

Where reason is supported with prayer and reflection

Question 13

Where does faith come from for Calvin?

Answer 13

Through an acceptance of Jesus as the redeemer of the world.

Question 14

What is grace?

Answer 14

Gods unconditional giving of goodness to the world.

Question 15

What does calvin say about the holy spirit?

Answer 15

It is a “sense of God” which helps humans by giving them faith

Question 16

Strengths of revealed theology

Answer 16

• Only God can reveal something as indescribable as himself
• Faith reflects the difference between knowing the world and knowing God - so revealed theology is needed to know God
• Emphasises the importance of Jesus
• The Bible shows that God has left revelation for all

Question 17

Weaknesses of revealed theology

Answer 17

• No use to the non-believer
• Suggests that he only reveals himself in certain circumstances - bias?

Question 18

Brunners arguments

Answer 18

• Natural theology
• Contact with God helps humans be aware of their own sinfulness
• NT helps us become aware of God, but it is limited
• The Fall did not damage people on a spiritual level, we can still connect with God

Question 19

Barths arguments

Answer 19

• God is so “radically other” that we cant use reason to know him
• Human lang is used to describe human things, we can never fully describe God/a relationship with him
• Reason cannot be trusted
• Human nature corrupted by the fall so God can only interact with us through revelation

Question 20

Quote from the “unknown God” (St Paul)

Answer 20

“you live and move within him”

Question 21

Romans 2;15 - conscience

Answer 21

“Those who act out of conscience do good”

Question 22

Romans 8 NIV - holy spirit

Answer 22

“the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace”

Question 23

Correlation between the Fall and Jesus sacrifice

Answer 23

The fall caused humans to be corrupted by sin, meaning that Jesus had to die in order to repent for humanities sins

Question 24

Bonaventure

Answer 24

We cannot only use our senses and an innate knowledge of God in order to understand God, as he is so abstract that we cannot comprehend him unless we experience immediate revelation

Question 25

Why did God send Jesus to humans?

Answer 25

To spread the word of God in a way which could be understood by humans

Question 26

Hobbes - cupiditas

Answer 26

“the life of man; short, nasty and brutish”

Question 27

Polkinghorne quote

Answer 27

“foolish for religious people to close one eye to science,foolish for scientists to close their eyes to the possibility of God”

Question 28

Polkinghornes argument

Answer 28

We should not be ignorant to science, we should not be ignorant to God.To gain a full perspective of God we should contemplate both

Question 29

Karl Barth quote

Answer 29

“The finite has no capacity for the infinite”.

Question 30

Criticism of Calvin - atheists

Answer 30

In Calvin’s time being an atheist was dangerous – people were forced to believe in God. It’s easy to see why he would get the impression that we are born with a sense of God, but it could just be because of how dominant the social pressure to believe in God was.

Question 31

Platinga

Answer 31

Supports Calvin, suggesting that some might lack the sense of God because of sin.
However, this is a weak argument because it assumes that atheists sin more than religious people.

Question 32

CS Lewis/Butler/Newman on natural theology

Answer 32

We have feelings of guilt when we do something wrong - this inner feeling is evidence of God

Question 33

Cicero quote for natural theology

Answer 33

“What can be more obvious when we gaze upon heavenly bodies that there is a divine power”

Question 34

Immediate revelation

Answer 34

God makes himself directly known to people

Question 35

Mediate revelation

Answer 35

People gain knowledge of God less directly

Question 36

Criticism of Barths rejection of reason

Answer 36

His view is too extreme, if human reason is given no part to play in gaining knowledge of God, then people have no way of judging between true and false beliefs

Question 37

Hume quote on using evidence

Answer 37

“A wise man…proportions his belief to the evidence”

Shouldn’t let faith cloud our judgement, we should instead use evidence.

Question 38

St Bonaventure

Answer 38

Eye of flesh - gaining knowledge of physical world (senses)

Eye of reason - working out philosophical truths (logic)

Eye of contemplation - gaining knowledge of God through faith.

The way we gain knowledge of God id different to how we gain knowledge of other things

Question 39

Aquinas on natural theology

Answer 39

The constant motion in nature is so precise that God must have caused it.

We innately want to follow natural laws - showing that we have innate morals given by God.

Question 40

Example of revealed theology

Answer 40

Saul’s conversion
Jesus - “Why do you prosecute me?”

Question 41

Aquinas definition of faith

Answer 41

A voluntary choice which does not have self-evident certainty.

Science and faith should be separated, as science is certain and faith is not