Knowledge of God Flashcards
how can God be known according to christianity?
- God is unavailable to the 5 senses as he is not physical
- For those who believe only in empirical evidence, God cannot be known at all.
- For those who believe knowledge can be gained though reason and logic, God cannot be known either as he is beyond the realms of the rational and beyond the capabilities of the human mind.
Difference between natural and revealed theology
o Natural - gaining knowledge of God through human reason and observation
o Revealed - God choosing to reveal himself e.g. through RE experience and Scripture
o Robert Boyle wrote about the metaphor of God’s ‘two books’ of the natural world and the Bible, both by the ‘same author’, viewed both types of theology as complementary.
what did bonaventura say about the different ways to know God
• Bonaventura believed that the human mind had at least 3 different ways of knowing, which he referred using the analogy of an eye to represent the different ways of seeing:
o Eye of the flesh - sense perception
• Empiricism of science, the way in which we gain knowledge about the physical world
o Eye of reason
• Lets us work out mathematic and philosophical truths through the use of logic
o Eye of contemplation
• Allows us to know God in ways beyond the scope of both sense experience and reason
• Gaining knowledge through faith
how is john polkinghorne similar to bonaventura
• Analogy of eye also used by Anglican priest John Polkinghorne
o Polkinghorne writes about what he calls ‘binocular vision’ or looking through 2 eyes
o One eye shows the science of the physical world and the laws behind
o The other eye shows spiritual truths, showing him purposefulness
o Need both eyes to give complete picture, deems it foolish of some RE people to neglect science, and vice versa with scientists
different parts of NT: innate human sense of the divine
John Macquarie
CCC
Calvin
Descartes
NT: innate human sense of the divine - john macquarrie
• John Macquarrie defines it as a knowledge of God ‘accessible to all rational beings without recourse to any special or supposedly supernatural revelation’
NT: innate human sense of the divine - CCC
o State that knowledge of God is innate and imprinted into human consciousness
o ‘The desire for God is written in the human heart’
o Bible supports the idea of people being born with a sense of God
• Genesis 1:27 - imago dei
• Genesis 2:7 implies there is a spark of the divine in us all
• Can be interpreted to mean that in all humans, there is something that is designed to seek and find God.
o Also conclude (like Calvin) that because prayer/worship are so widespread, man must be seen as a religious being.
NT: innate human sense of the divine - Calvin
o Describes 2 main ground for knowing God: human intellectual ability to reflect on and recognise God’s existence as well as human openness to beauty and goodness as aspects of God.
o All have ‘sensus divinitatis’, meaning general awareness of God.
o ‘Nearly all wisdom we possess… consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and ourselves’ (Institutes of Christian Religion)
o ‘There is within the human mind… an awareness of divinity’
o ‘Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God’.
• Ambiguous as to whether knowledge of self leads to knowledge of God or vice versa.
how does calvin support his view of sensus divinitatis
• Universal consent argument
Originally put forward by Cicero
Alludes to the idea that because so many people believe in a concept of God, then they must exist
Suggests that people have a sense of the divine and the object of that sense is God
• Bible
References Romans 1:19-20 whereby Paul speaks about the fact that God is known to man because God has shown it to them
• Also refers to Acts 17:28 which suggest we all know God unconsciously as God sustains all natural processes and allows us to live and thrive.
why does calvin not view sensus divinitatis as proof for God
even if no one believed in God, he would still exist. Uses it instead to present the idea that none of us have an excuse in failing to worship God, does not feel it is restricted to intelligent people and that it is even for ‘the most unlearned and ignorant people’.
o Views created world as mirror for God, another reason why none of us have an excuse in failing to worship God. Everyone is aware of their sinful nature and must live in fear of God’s punishment.
o Any lack of clarity about God comes from human sin, which can cloud people’s understanding of God (Augustine!)
o Calvin believed the epistemic distance (inability to grasp and comprehend God’s nature) between God and humanity was created by humans, due to it being impossible for us to ignore God’s will.
NT: innate human sense of the divine - Descartes
o Believed people were born with innate ideas, like Plato and Anselm.
o Some ideas are imprinted on our mind such as equality as well as an understanding of what God is (omniscient etc.)
o This innate understanding = proof for God.
o Uses analogies of a triangle and mountain.
• Existence is part of the essence of God just as the essence of a triangle is three angles added up to 180’.
• Same with mountain, existence = part of essence of God just as the valley is part of the essence of a mountain.
• This is because God’s nature involves perfection and unchanging existence is main factor of perfection, therefore he must exist. (Like Anselm)
kant objection to descartes’ analogy of triangle
- Kant would argue that the characteristics of a concept do not make it real.
- We can investigate characteristics to actualise a triangle, but not with God.
- E.g. a unicorn is like a horse with a horn but adding ‘exists’ to our description does not make it actualised.
how is NT sense of divine acceptable
- God as perfect is accepted in Christianity. (Descartes).
- We appear to have an inner sense of morality, which we can tell comes from God e.g. a conscience. Supported by John Henry Newman and Joseph Butler who claim that we feel guilty if we do something wrong, even if no one knows about it and that this is our inner voice given by God.
- Idea of sensus divinitas is universal and sustained; all generations have experienced this seeking of God.
- If it is not God, where does our consciousness come from?
how is NT sense of divine unacceptable
- Descartes’ view relies on not only a belief in God but also a belief that perfection must involve existence.
- Why do people have varying degrees of conscience?
- Could argue that our sensus divinitas is a society-instilled fear, result of God of Gaps.
- Sensus divinitas could be deemed a by-product of evolution in that it gave us the support we needed and continues to do so now. (Dawkins)
NT - through reason key parts
Augustine
Aquinas
Herb of Cherb
Swinburne
NT - through reason: augustine
o Argues that God can be discerned in nature and therefore we should expect to see God at the height of his creation (nature).
o Height of human nature is human capacity to reason, one should expect to find God through reasoning.
o Inner workings of the human mind tell us about God.
o There is a triadic structure to human thought, grounded in the being of God: mind, knowledge and love.
o Human mind is an image of God; triadic structure of human thought reflects triadic structure of God.
objection to aug through reason
- Human mind cannot be reduced to simplistic triad, does not form proof of Trinity.
- There is no reason to posit humanity at the top of nature (Singer)
- Reason is flawed?
NT reason - Aquinas
o Insisted on rationality of Christian faith, should be consistent with human reasoning
o Developed ‘Five Ways’ to show how Christian faith is consistent with rational reflection on the world of human experience
o World is in constant state of change due to cause and effect, therefore must be an Uncaused Causer that started this chain of cause and effect
NT reason - Lord Herbert of Cherbury (and objection)
o Movement in the middle of 17th century to suggest every aspect of Christian faith must derive from human reason.
o Herb of Cherb wrote that Christianity is rational and based on an innate sense of God and human moral obligation.
o ‘Our mind is the highest image and type of the divinity, and hence whatever is true or good in us exists in supreme degree of God’ (De veritate religionis, 1624)
o Anything irrational must be discarded as reason took precedence over revelation, reason tells us everything we know about God, the world and ourselves.
HOWEVER… is the resurrection really rational? Should we believe in that?
nt reason - swinburne
o GB philosopher and theist, put forward idea that our human reason and powers of observation provide us with solid ground for supporting the probability that there is a God.
o The world shows signs of order, regularity and purpose and this suggests there is an intelligent ‘author of the universe’, which we call God.
o Bases this upon probability saying all of this evidence leads to the conclusion of God’s existence.
o Supported by Ockham’s razor, ‘the simplest explanation is the best explanation’
o + Rationally able to see laws of physics, however… who designed God?
objections to nt - reason
o Faith is very different to reason, cannot use reason to support assumptions, the whole point of faith in God is that it is supposed to be based on belief and not reason.
o Herb of Cherb relies on old worldview that our mind is the image of God. If you look at evolution, we have developed through natural selection, therefore we cannot reflect God’s perfection, particularly due to the brutality of evolution (Dawkins)
o Aquinas argued against reason as the sole way to know God, can only know God through his effects on the world.
o Swinburne’s argument is too simplistic, argues a simplistic hypothesis has an inherently higher probability than a complex one, but is this really so?
nt beauty and goodness as aspects of God main parts
augustine calvin aquinas jonathan edwards john polkinghorne f. r. tennant
nt - beauty and goodness of god: augustine
o Before his conversion, Augustine seemed to imply that what touches the heart of man the most is beauty, asked his friends, ‘Do we love anything but the beautiful?’
o God sought us to instruct in the realities of the invisible world as he used nature to reflect his character of wisdom.
o For Augustine, the radiance of light, the fragrance of light etc. all find a spiritual counterpart in the beauty of God.
nt: beauty and goodness of God - calvin
o Believes that everywhere in nature, you can see the glory of God.
o Creation is a mirror of God’s invisible nature, can see this through the ‘sparks of glory’ in nature.
o Conscience allows us to make decisions, as it is God given and ours due to imago dei.
o Conscience means ‘joint knowledge’, reflective of Calvin’s view that we must stand in presence of God’s sound judgement in making decisions, this is called ‘correlation’.
o Conscience also referred to as ‘accommodation’ in that God accommodates conscience through sources of moral guidance e.g. 10 Commandments and SOTM
o Conscience is primary source of authority, leads us towards knowledge of God and his will, enables us to apprehend moral goodness and therefore is proof of God’s existence.
nt - beauty and goodness of God: aquinas
o RCC puts emphasis on NL, rests on supposition that humans have an innate sense of goodness, Aquinas believed people aim to do good not evil.
o As God made us with this inner desire to understand moral order as in NL, it shows his existence.
nt - b&g of God: jonathan edwards
o American theologian, believed that perception of beauty that we get from nature is an imitation of the holiness of God.
o Rejected idea of rational analysis as proof for God, instead felt that natural theology affirms the divine beauty and glory of knowledge, which goes far beyond rationality.
nt - b&g of God: john polkinghorne
o Physicist and Christian thinker - felt that we take advantage of our understanding of the world.
o Argues that it could have been otherwise, with a world of disordered chaos.
o There is a deep-seated congruence between the rationality in our minds and the orderedness of the world, suggests a divine being created it to be this way.
nt - b&g of God: f.r.tennant
o Argued that beauty is not necessary to Darwin’s idea of natural selection, seems odd that the world is so beautiful.
o Science cannot explain why things are so beautiful; therefore God must be the explanation.
opposition to nt b&g of God
o Beauty is subjective; it is a value judgement.
o There is so much about the world that is not beautiful, but is rather chaotic e.g. natural disasters
nt: order of creation - main parts
Bible Aquinas calvin paley f.r. tennant swinburne
nt: order of creation - bible
• Romans 1:18-21
o ‘Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made’
o Paul suggests that God’s wrath is focused on the wickedness of the Gentiles.
o Eternal power clearly seen in nature.
o Richard Swinburne makes use of this passage; despite admitting the Bible does not contain much in way of arguments for God’s existence.
• Acts 17:16-34
o In verse 24, Paul says that God made the world and everything in it ‘so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him’
o Suggests a basic ability for man to know God through recognising God’s creation.
