Knowledge of God’s existence Flashcards
What is revelation?
This is when God chooses to let himself be known.
What is immediate revelation?
Where someone is given direct knowledge of God.
What is mediate revelation?
Where someone gains knowledge of God in a secondary, non-direct way.
What were the three ways Bonaventura believed the human mind can know of God in his work? (Analogy of an eye)
- The ‘eye of the flesh’.
- The ‘eye of reason’.
- The ‘eye of contemplation’.
What does Bonaventura mean by the ‘eye of the flesh’?
This is the way of knowing that incorporates sense perception. This ‘eye’ is the means by which we gain knowledge about the physical world.
What does Bonaventura mean by the ‘eye of reason’?
This is the way of knowing that lets us work out mathematical and philosophical truths through the use of logic.
What does Bonaventura mean by the ‘eye of contemplation’?
This is 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.
What analogy does John Polkinghorne use?
Polkinghorne writes about what he calls ‘binocular vision’. He sees science through one eye, which shows him the physical world; and he understands spiritual truths about God through the other eye which shows him purposefulness and the world in the context of the creation of God.
What is natural theology about?
Natural theology is about gaining knowledge of God through the powers of human reason and observation.
What is revealed theology about?
Revealed theology is about God choosing to reveal himself to humans directly, e.g. through scripture or religious experience.
What does Calvin say about our innate sense of the divine?
Calvin says that we all have “sensus divinitas” (seed of the divine-an innate knowledge of God.
What is epistemic distance?
The distance between humans and God which has been put there by human sinfulness - the distance in our inability to grasp and comprehend the nature of God.
What does Swinburne conclude about the existence of God?
Swinburne argues that we can conclude that God exists because there are so many signs of order in the universe. Creation was not by chance.
What did Calvin argue about the created world?
Calvin argued that the created world is a ‘mirror’ or a ‘theatre’ for God, who sometimes increases the human capacity for awareness of his presence so that no one can have any excuse for pretending that he or she was unaware of God’s existence.
What has the idea that people are made ‘in the image of God’ led supporters of natural theology to believe?
That we are made in such a way that we can appreciate and understand beauty and goodness in the world, and can recognise them as manifestations of God’s creativity and goodness.
