Knowledge of God's existence

Question 1

What is natural theology?

Answer 1

the Christian belief that knowledge about God can be discovered through reason, observation and an innate sense of God in the natural world.

Question 2

What is revealed theology?

Answer 2

Revealed theology argues that understanding of God can only come through special revelation and that no true knowledge can be developed from analysis of the natural world alone.

Question 3

What is general revelation?

Answer 3

General revelation is the knowledge or understanding of God developed through observation, reasoning and insight into the natural world.

Question 4

What is special revelation?

Answer 4

Special revelation is the knowledge of understanding of God developed through his direct action in the world. This can be through people, prophets, scripture or even miracles.

Question 5

What is meant by a ‘point of contact’ in Christian theology?

Answer 5

A point of contact in theology is an aspect or part of the world in which human beings can gain knowledge or understanding about God.

Question 6

Give and explain a biblical passage which suggests humans may have the ability to develop natural knowledge of God

Answer 6

Bible Passage: Acts 17

Explanation: Here Paul argues that the Athenians’ ‘unknown God’ is actually the Christian God. This may indicate that human beings have a limited ability to understand God through their own natural insight.

Question 7

What other reasons might a theist give for believing in a sensus divinitatis as part of human nature?

Answer 7

Theists might point to the widespread belief in God and religion across the world, suggesting that it is reasonable to put forward human beings may have an inbuilt sense of the divine and as such are naturally disposed to know God.

Question 8

How did Calvin believe sin affects this universal awareness of God within humanity?

Answer 8

Calvin argued that our natural sense of God is wounded by the Fall and original sin, such that human beings are not capable of forming true, natural knowledge about God without having found revelation in Christ.

Question 9

How does Thomas Aquinas differentiate between ‘Scientia’ and faith?

Answer 9

Scientia for Aquinas is the knowledge human beings can be certain of, built up from immediate sense experiences or reason. Faith, on the other hand, is a voluntary assent towards beliefs that human beings cannot be certain of or is not self-evident.

Question 10

Why does Calvin give a particular significance to Christ as special revelation within his theology?

Answer 10

Calvin argues that as Christ is God incarnate, he is the most significant example of special revelation in the world. It is through Christ that most people discover God as redeemer and enjoy true knowledge of him and the world. For Calvin, therefore, the entire significance of Christianity is contained within Christ’s ministry and testimony.

Question 11

How does the principle of accommodation influence Calvin’s discussion of Christ as revelation?

Answer 11

Calvin believes that Christ is a key example of the principle of accommodation in work. God appears to humanity as Jesus so that human beings are able to understand his being and message in a way suited to their limited capacity to reason and understand. Therefore, in the incarnation God through Christ acts as a mediator between himself and the world, giving human beings insight into his being, purpose and nature.

Question 12

What does Calvin mean by human beings receiving a ‘double grace’ from God?

Answer 12

The first part of double grace Calvin speaks about is justification, which is the instance of becoming righteous in the eyes of God once one accepts his existence and authority. This moves God from an impersonal being into becoming the Father. The second part of double grace is sanctification, through which human beings open themselves to cultivate goodness and purity in line with the will
of God.

Question 13

What significance does the Bible have within revealed theology?

Answer 13

the main witness to the special revelation of Christ and the main way that ordinary Christians encounter both the word and grace of God.

Question 14

How does Plato think we gain knowledge?

Answer 14

The soul when it goes to the world of the forms (dualist approach).

Question 15

How does Aristotle think we gain knowledge?

Answer 15

Empiricism.

Question 16

How do we know ethical truths?

Answer 16

Naturalists- sense experience.
Intuitionists- through intuition.
Emotivists- emotion.

Question 17

What question is gained from this topic?

Answer 17

If there are supernatural truths and there is a God, how is this knowledge gained? Can we gain it at all?

Question 18

How is a classical theist God usually seen to be?

Answer 18

Unavailable to our five senses because he is not physical.

Question 19

Who is Bonaventura?

Answer 19

Francisan Monk 13th century, wrote ‘The Mind’s Road to God’.

Question 20

What is Bonaventura’s analogy?

Answer 20

The eye:
‘The eye of flesh’- knowing through sense perception (empiricism), we gain knowledge from the physical world.
‘Eye of reason’- way of using reason to know mathematical and philosophical truth’.
‘Eye of Contemplation’- knowledge of God beyond senses, through faith.

Question 21

Who was John Polkinghorne?

Answer 21

Physicist and ordained Anglican priest.
No bias from either sides.

Question 22

Who was John Polkinghorne influenced by?

Answer 22

Influenced by Bonaventura’s metaphor of the different eyes.

Question 23

What does John Polkinghorne come up with?

Answer 23

‘Binocular vision’- science is one eye- physical world.
Spiritual truths in another eye- knowledge of God’s creation.

We need both for a complete picture of the world.
Silly for scientists to ignore religion and religious people to ignore science.

Question 24

What is natural theology?

Answer 24

Attempting to discover truths about God through observation of the world AND reason.

This is adopted by William Paley’s ‘Watch on the Heath’.

Tennant’s ‘aesthetic argument’- we do not need to love Shakespeare, why do we?? Dawkins says they are memes.

Question 25

What does St Paul say about Natural Theology?

Answer 25

Letter to Romans, says God is angry by us ignoring the obvious signs of his existence.

Cicero, ‘what could be more obvious when we look up and observe the heavens’.

Question 26

Aquinas and Natural Theology:

Answer 26

Felt it was important to note that nature and reason work together, his natural law.

Question 27

What does Swinburne say about natural theology?

Answer 27

It is obvious that our world shows order.

Question 28

What principle supports Natural Theology?

Answer 28

Anthropic principle by FR Tennant.
We have an ozone layer and are perfectly distanced away from the sun (93 million miles away).

Question 29

Natural Theology and innate sense of God:

Answer 29

Throughout time, people have always believed in God.
Must be innate.
Always been religious.

• Some argue it is ‘Imago Dei’, we have an innate sense of God because we have been made this way.
• Calvin proposes the sensus divinitas.

Question 30

What is Sensus Divinitas?

Answer 30

There is ‘a natural instinct, an awareness of divinity’.

Question 31

Epistemic distance:

Answer 31

John Hick’s idea that God is distanced to preserve free will.

Question 32

Innate sense of morality:

Answer 32

Argued by Plato because Butler, Newman and C.S Lewis argued we instinctively feel guilt when we have done something wrong.
This ‘inner voice’ acts as evidence that God is there.

Question 33

What is revealed theology?

Answer 33

God chooses to reveal himself through religious experience and/or scripture.

Question 34

What is revelation?

Answer 34

Gaining knowledge you wouldn’t already know.
Like religious experience, St Bernadette, where she saw Mary.

Question 35

Where does the term revelation come from?

Answer 35

Latin, ‘revelatio’ meaning unveiling.

Question 36

What is immediate revelation?

Answer 36

• God makes himself directly known to people. Exact words of God. (Adam and Eve and St Paul).

Question 37

What is mediate revelation?

Answer 37

• People gain knowledge from God but less directly.
• The Bible.
• People who have had immediate revelation wrote it.

Question 38

Examples of immediate:

Answer 38

‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’

Question 39

Examples of mediate:

Answer 39

Psalm 19, ‘the heavens declare the glory of God’.

Question 40

Revelation through faith:

Answer 40

Hare’s ideas of ‘Bliks’.

Question 41

What does Aquinas say about faith?

Answer 41

You cannot have faith and science of the same thing.
Science can be hypothesised and tested, yet faith requires commitment as we cannot prove it.

Question 42

What is revelation through God’s grace?

Answer 42

God’s unconditional love and undeserved gifts for humanity.
- It gives us the gift of wisdom so we understand what God is trying to communicate in the Bible.
- It gives us the gift of faith and the opportunity to be saved.

Question 43

Who else talks about grace?

Answer 43

Bonhoeffer
Cheap and costly grace.
We all get it, but should strive to costly grace.

Question 44

What act is important to knowledge of God’s existence?

Answer 44

Act 17:
God ‘does not live in temples made by human hands’.
‘he commands all people everywhere to repent’ for not knowing of his existence.
Highlights the importance of natural theology.

Question 45

What does Act 17 reference?

Answer 45

St Paul on journey to Athens.
Trying to convince these people of God’s existence after Jesus’ death.
Using reason to interlink the expected ‘Davidic Messiah’ and Jesus, says using reason should lead you to knowledge of God.
Through God’s grace he reveals (revelation).

Question 46

How are natural theology and revealed theology viewed together?

Answer 46

Theologians like Aquinas often see it as working together.
Others see revealed theology as the only way of seeing God.

Question 47

Karl Barth:

Answer 47

Criticises natural theology, saying only revealed theology.

Natural theology is ‘idolatry’. (false worship).

Human reason is fallible, we cannot know God.

Only through Christ do we gain revelation (exclusivist viewpoint).

Question 48

Dawkins quote:

Answer 48

‘Faith is the great cop-out’.
Harmful, encourages ‘lazy thinking’.