Knowledge of God's existence Flashcards
Faith
voluntary commitment to a belief without the need for complete evidence to support it
Empiricism
a way of knowing that depends on senses
Natural theology
drawing conclusions about the nature and activity of God by using reason and observing the world
Protestantism
a from of Christianity which reject the authority of catholic church and places greater emphasis on the Bible and personal faith.
Immediate revelation
where someone is given direct knowledge of God e.g Abraham has immediate revelation of God when he was told to sacrifice his son.
Mediate revelation
where someone gains knowledge of God in a secondary non-direct way e.g the israelites who listened to Moses and The Bible
Grace of God
God’s unconditional and undeserved gifts
Wisdom literature
a genre of writing from the ancient world teaching about virtues and wisdom.. in the Bible books like Proverbs and Job are classified as wisdom literature
Bonaventura
a Franciscan monk , book - The minds road to God . The human mind has at least 3 ways of knowing thus using analogy of an eye to represent the 3 different ways of seeing
Eye of the flesh
the way of of knowing which includes sense perception : empircism , through this eye we gain knowledge about the physical world
Eye of reason
the way of knowing that enables us to work out mathematical and philosphical truths using logic
Eye of contemplation
the way of knowing which allows us to come to a knowledge of God by going beyond the scope of both sense experience and reason and gaining knowledge of God through faith
John Polkinghorne
Cambridge physicist and ordained Anglican priest , binocular vision : knowledge of God and the physical world can be gained simultaneously through different eyes ; one eye reveals the law and processes of the natural world whilst the other reveals God’s purposefulness and the world in context of the creation of God . we need both eyes
Revealed theology
God chooses to reveal himself to humans directly e.g religious experience or scripture
Robert Boyle
known for his metaphor God’s 2 books “ two great books “ the natural world and the Bible were both created by the same author , they are complementary and help people to develop and deepen their understanding of God