Knowledge of God's existence Flashcards
What is natural theology?
Knowledge of God’s existence through human nature or God’s creation of the natural world
What is revealed theology?
Knowledge of God gained through revealed scriptures and texts such as the Bible.
What did Bonaventura believe about how we gain knowledge of God
He believed that we have three ways of ‘seeing’/ knowing certain things. He uses his analogy of the eyes arguing that we have…
-the eye of flesh; gain knowledge of the world empirically
-the eye of reason; lets us think philosophically and logically
-the eye of contemplation; beyond reason and experience but instead faith based.
How did Polkinghorne develop Bonaventura’s analogy of the eye?
He used something he called binocular vision. We can gain knowledge of science through one eye and a knowledge of the spiritual through the other. He was trying to explain that science and religion are not contradictory, they are just different types of knowledge gained in different ways.
Explain the teleological argument
The argument attempting to prove God’s existence through the idea that God has to exist because everything has a purpose and everything is fulfilled by their purpose.
What was Aquinas and Paley’s analogies for the existence of God
Aquinas- A archer shooting an arrow. There is regularity in nature and inanimate objects. So there must be an intelligent being acting as a guide for the regular patterns in nature. This must be God.
Paley- Watchmaker. Everything on earth is so intricately designed to a specific purpose. It must have been designed to perfection to understand why everything fits its specific purpose. God as the designer.
What was St. Paul’s and Calvin’s analogy for the existence of God.
SP- Mirror analogy. We can see God’s nature in like a dim refection inn a mirror but we are able to clearly see it once we die. We only know part of his creation now.
Calvin- God’s creation is so beautiful and wonderous it cannot just be a accident. This is in line with a numinous view.
Main critiques of natural theology
Hume- cannot compare something outside the universe from inside it.
Dawkins- Argument from faith; religion relies on faith
Fry- Same as Dov
Dostoyevsky- Horrendous uneccsassery suffering means there cannot be a God
Mill- Digger Wasp, it is gratuitous
What is ‘Sensus divinitatus’
Sensus divinitatus is the innate sense of the divine/ a general awareness of God bestowed in all humans.
What is ‘Semen religionis’
Semen religionis- the seed of religion that is planted in us by God before birth.
What did Calvin say about Sensus Divinitatus in his intitutions of the Christian religion?
‘There is within the human mind and indeed by natural instinct an awareness of divinity. This we can take beyond contraversy.’
Give some supporting evidence for sensus divinitatus
- Plato’s dim recollection is proof of a soul and shows we can have knowledge before birth.
- Cicero ‘universal consent argument’; some many people believe in a God that one must exist
- ‘Imago dei’ We are made in the image of God so there is part of him in us.
What does St. Paul teach about natural theology in Acts 17?
That the Athenians had the capacity to work God as they worship fake idols so they must have a sense of the divine in order to believe. So he reasoned with them to have faith in his God.
How might Augustine disagree with the view of sensus divinitatus
Augustine believed that human nature is sinful due to the fall of humanity and Adam and Eve’s trangresion. Means we cant have sensus divinitatus as it implies a closeness to God we don’t have. We would have to i
overcome the transgression and original sin, but even then sensus divinitatus would not be innate.
What did Calvin believe about innate knowledge? PT 1
He believed that we do have sensus divinitatus and that we are born with it. He stated that those reflecting on the natural world should have no problem recognising God ‘even the most unlearned ignorant people’.
