Natural knowledge of God’s existence Flashcards
define natural theology
The theological idea that information or knowledge about god can be discovered through reason and from the natural world around oneself (general revelation)
Who was Bonaventure and what was his analogy?
- human mind has at least 3 different ways of knowing
- analogy of the eye:
- eye of flesh; empirical, knowledge on physical world
- eye of reason; knowledge through logic
- eye of contemplation; knowing allows us to know God, by going beyond sense and reason
who was Polkinghorne and what was his analogy?
- we see science through one eye, which shows us physical world
- other eye shows us spiritual truths of God, and purpose and context of him as a creator
- we need BOTH eyes to have complete picture
- foolish for religion to shut eye of science, visa versa
= INpsired BY Bonaventure
What is meant by ‘point of contact’ in Christian theology?
between human beings and god which allows individuals to gather knowledge about, through reason and observation.
what difficulties might one encounter in saying that they have ‘knowledge’ of God?
Christians may argue this doesn’t quite capture the knowledge one has of God, which may be more personal and innate, similar to knowing a friend
Give and explain a biblical passage which suggests humans may have the ability to develop natural knowledge of God?
ACT 17:16-34, affirms such idea, with thinkers such as Calvin affirming the existence of a natural human capacity to know God in the Athenians’ worship of the ‘unknown God’ = thus showing we all have some kind of inner connection with god
What is the sensus Divinitatis Calvin describes?
Innate knowledge of God
A sense of God, or a ‘semen religionis’ a seed of religion that predisposes them towards religion activity
What is the catholic church’s position on natural theology and natural law?
Catechism of the catholic church states this concept as doctrine, arguing that because man is created by and in the image of god , ‘the desire for God is written in the human hear’ = Thomas Aquinas big fan
Catholic emphasises the importance of Natural Law, where it is supposed that, because humans have an innate goodness or virtue, reasoning on this nature can reveal truths about the world and God. Aquinas Identifies the first and primary precepts, principle of NL to be ‘Good is to be sought evil avoided’
What is ‘epistemic distance’ and how does it affect theologians ideas of the humans sense of the divine
Protestant theologian JOHN HICK, which puts forward that God intentionally created a gap in knowledge between human beings and God, so that humans may fully enact their free choice to have or to deny faith in God during their lives.
This human sense for many chrisitians also encompasses the preceptions of moral …… and …. in the world
moral goodness and beauty
Why is conscience related to this flipping topic?
Both Catholicism and Calvin argue that conscience is important to understanding morality and goodness. It is a faculty that enable joint knowledge between God and Humans beings, allowing humans beings to respond to God’s will in their judgement of moral situations. = indicates that its from God = evidence God exists =
But wtf S THIS POINT like bare people have different idea of an ideal ‘conscience’ some ppl out there murdering ppl is that from God yes some may say its not due not have a developed conscience but like how tf are u gonna develop it. So if u aint giving me an answer that means God aint sending these bullshit conscience like murdering ppl or raping ppl. Cause of God was then what kind of tapped God is this
How has Natural theology traditionally argued it is possible to reason God’s existence?
Aquinas set out five ways, arguments that sought to deduce the existence of God. But like is this enough tho lol to tell me God exists like Aquinas really thought he ate when he proposed his 5 ways
What does Calvin mean when he argues human beings have a twofold knowledge of God?
btw this forms a the background to his argument that, within the order and awe of nature, o
One knowledge of God as the creator of the world, and the other as the redeemer of humanity.
