St Paul: Romans 1:20

Question 1

Q: What did John Calvin believe all humans possess innately?

Answer 1

Q: What did John Calvin believe all humans possess innately?

Question 2

Q: What does natural theology usually deal with?

Answer 2

A: Our other senses like sight which enable us to gain knowledge of the natural world.

Question 3

Q: What does the sense of divinity allow us to sense, according to Calvin?

Answer 3

A: God’s existence.

Question 4

Q: Why is the sense of God considered part of natural theology?

Answer 4

A: Because it is based on what we naturally sense, not on faith.

Question 5

Q: What did Calvin think about the possibility of rational atheism?

Answer 5

A: He thought there was no rational way to be an atheist because of the innate sense of divinity.

Question 6

Q: According to Calvin, who has a belief that there is a God due to the sense of divinity?

Answer 6

A: Even “backward peoples” and those “remote from civilization.”

Question 7

Q: What does the universal belief in a God among diverse cultures suggest, according to Calvin?

Answer 7

A: That God exists and put this sense of himself “in the hearts of all people.”

Question 8

Q: How does the sense of divinity contribute to Calvin’s natural theology?

Answer 8

A: It provides a natural, inherent way to sense God’s existence without relying on faith.

Question 9

Q: What term did Calvin use to describe the innate sense of God in all people?

Answer 9

A: Sensus Divinitatis.

Question 10

Q: How does Calvin’s idea of Sensus Divinitatis challenge atheism?

Answer 10

A: By claiming that the sense of the divine is universal and innate, making atheism irrational.

Question 11

Anthropological study

Answer 11

Anthropological study of the religion of tribal people remote from civilisation actually shows that they believe in magical spirits of animals and ancestors.

Question 12

Q: What does the spread of atheism in the 21st century suggest about the sense of God?

The extent of the spread of atheism

Answer 12

A: It suggests that the sense of God might not exist.

Question 13

Q: Why might Calvin have found it unimaginable for someone to be a rational atheist in his time?

The extent of the spread of atheism

Answer 13

A: Because everyone in western societies was a believer, and they knew little about non-believers in other countries.

Question 14

Q: Since which philosopher has there been a significant philosophical defense of atheism?

The extent of the spread of atheism

Answer 14

A: Since David Hume.

Question 15

Q: In which region is atheism now the majority held view?

The extent of the spread of atheism

Answer 15

A: In some places like northern Europe.

Question 16

Q: What do many atheists claim about their sense of God?

The extent of the spread of atheism

Answer 16

A: They claim they have no sense of God.

Question 17

Plantinga defends

Answer 17

Plantinga defends the sensus divinitatis from the argument that not everyone has such a sense.

He argues that sin has a noetic quality, meaning it changes someone’s ability to have knowledge and insight, which could block the sense of God.

Question 18

Response to Plantinga:

Answer 18

Response to Plantinga: there are many atheists who are good people however. In fact, the countries with the lowest crime, the northern European countries are the most atheistic in the world.

For a noetic quality of sin to explain why atheists lack a sense of God, atheists would have to sin more than Christians but that doesn’t seem to be the case. If anything, the opposite is true.