Knowledge of God Flashcards
Revelation (apokalypsis)
‘removing a veil so that something can be seen’
Natural Theology
God is revealed by observation of the natural world, by using human reason and conscience
Psalm 19:1
‘the heaven’s declare the glory of God’
Acts 17
Paul’s sermon based on the alter to the unknown God
Bonaventura
the mind has three ways of gaining knowledge: ‘eye of the flesh’, ‘eye of reason’ and ‘eye of contemplation’
‘eye of the flesh’
sense of perception, empiricism, gain knowledge about the empirical world
‘eye of reason’
work out mathematical and philosophical truths using logic
‘eye of contemplation’
go beyond the senses and reason to come to knowledge of God through faith
Aquinas
argued that reason and observation of the natural world were important signposts to God (Five ways for the existence of God)
William Paley
an example of how Natural Theology has been used to suggest the existence of God e.g Watch analogy
Tennants aesthetic principle
suggest the existence of a benevolent designer because of human appreciation of the arts, not necessary for survival
Calvin: conscience
considered this to be particularly important, it literally means ‘joint knowledge’ between God and humans, God’s presence gives a sense of moral judgement
Calvins view on natural theology
sensus divinitatis, God’s mirror, principle of accommodation, sparks of glory
sensus divinititas
a sense of the divine or God - a general awareness of God. Calvin suggests that humans have an inbuilt and innate sense of God; the seeds of religion are everywhere. Everyone can know something of God through natural theology
Creation is God’s mirror
it reflects something about the creator, God
Principle of accommodation
God adapts himself to human needs in order to allow humans to understand something about God - sparks of glory
The world is the theatre to Gods actions
God is known through his actions, through the things he does. e.g miracles
Revealed theology -
special revelation - through the person of Jesus Christ, the Bible, church teaching. God can only be known when he chooses to reveal himself by grace which is revealed by faith
Calvin calls ‘senses divinitas’ only ‘simple knowledge’
this cannot be complete knowledge of Go because humans are sinful; so natural knowledge of God would be imperfect and confused. Humans also need Christian knowledge of God as Redeemer, mediated by Christ
Catholicism and natural theology
the fall did not cut humans off completely from God but it has distracted and confused natural knowledge of God. Revealed knowledge is needed to know God fully
Robert Boyle
God could be known through the ‘two books’ of the natural world and the bible - both which has the same author
