Studied by 6 people
apophatic theology
to deny by speaking; via negativa
(exp.: God is transcendent and beyond us; we cannot adequately define him)
You can talk about God in a negative sense more easily than a positive sense because it’s hard to define God
cataphatic theology
language that can define God; via positiva; God = fullness of the word
(imminence; God’s relation to everything because everything has goodness)
(comes from Scripture, Creation, and Jesus)
fides quae
faith which the Church believes; objective (something has been revealed to us) (Revelation)
fides qua
personal faith by which an individual believes; subjective faith; type of knowing and seeing gives us sympathy with God’s Revelation
first concentric circle
existence; anything worth mentioning can also be thought of theologically (creation can help us understand God and His goodness)
second circle
sacred history; God creates, enters into, and redeems time; moves through time
third circle
Scripture; one must have context and a solid understanding of Scripture in order to make any interpretations of it because it is the Word of God
I am who I am
God’s name; both answering and rejecting the question; revealing something but withholding information. reveals His identity and establishes a closer relationship to His people
bonum diffusivum sui
good is diffusive of itself; whatever God created will spread its goodness; nature of goodness to spread itself
pseudepigraphy
taking on someone else in your writing
God’s names
God is everything, but He is also Nameless because He just is. God is Being itself.
God’s existence and humanity
we can know THAT God is (existence), but not WHAT He is (essence). quid est means what God is; an es is that God is.
analogical
same word points to a higher meaning; effects of the word tell us something truthful about the cause; conceptual language that describes His effects and not His being
(God fulfills the word completely in the analogical sense)
univocal
speaking about God in the same way as His creations (one word with one meaning) (only metaphorical)
equivocal
one word, different meanings; homonyms; dog bark vs tree bark, good cake vs good God
(both only metaphorical)
why do we need revelation/sacred teaching?
Revelation reveals God’s goodness to us
how is philosophy limited?
philosophy is only for the few because it requires a specific type of person; it is with much error; and lots of studying and contemplation are required
koinonia
relationship with God; a sharing of secrets; God’s participation and union with us
divine pedagogy
how God reveals Himself
creation, mankind/Adam and Eve/proto-evangelium, Israel (figure and instruction given to them), Christ’s coming
Dei Verbum and doctrinal development
doctrine does not change; it simply reveals more. Our understanding changes.
In what way is a theology of Scripture analogous to the Incarnation, according to Dei Verbum?
Jesus is the fullness of Divine revelation and Scripture and is the Word Incarnate
aggiornamento
to bring up to date
ressourcement
referring back to own sources and writings of tradition
Why does God use other people to help us understand Scripture?
People share their experiences with us and we can know God through their personal stories; God works through secondary causes a lot
dual authorship = God is the divine author and breathes His word through us
hermeneutics of charity
any interpretation of Scripture that builds up charity is correct
JPII on faith and reason
Faith and reason beat together like wings on which a person soars to Truth
Fundamentally compatible; harmonious; knowing and loving God helps us to understand ourselves
JPII’s challenges on philosophy in modern culture
agnosticism = people can’t decide what’s true and so they don’t believe in anything
relativism = everything is relative and nothing matters; no objective truth; only subjective truth (what each person wants)
skepticism = one can’t be certain about anything
Modern philosophy is now mainly concerned with human knowledge rather than the truth. This is a very limited way of thinking about philosophy.
existence
THAT the thing is; particular - participates in universal
essence
WHAT the thing is; is universal
contingency
coming in and out of being
What is “contingency” and how does St. Thomas use it as an argument for the existence of God?
Coming in and out of being; something contingent does not contain within itself the reason for its existence. It is dependent on something else. God is not contingent because He is being itself and exists because He is absolutely essential.
is God’s existence self-evident?
No, because no one can think the opposite of something self-evident, and people do think opposite of God. We don’t know what God is.
How can God be demonstrated/how is He not demonstrated?
God can be demonstrated to us because of natural reason; we can look at the Cross and know that we proceed from the effects.
However, He cannot be rationally proven as He is so transcendent, so we still need faith
Thomas’s Five Ways
Motion
Efficient causality
Possibility and necessity
Gradation (of things as we speak about them; more good, less good, etc.; comparative language)
Finality (everything works towards an end; humans can also choose whether to cooperate with that)
Motion (proof #1)
everything moving has to be moved by something else
Efficient causality (proof #2)
all things have something that brings them into existence
Possibility and necessity (proof #3)
contingency; something must be not dependent on another and therefore a higher power must exist
Gradation
We use comparitive language to speak about things in levels, saying that things are more good, less good, etc. Therefore, something must be the ultimate version of those words.
Finality
everything works towards an end; humans can also choose whether to cooperate with that end
Shema
from Deuteronomy; states that the Lord is One; confession of God’s transcendence + unity; depicts monotheism
temporal missions
Son’s missions: incarnation and salvation (generation)
Spirit’s missions: spiration (Pentecost)
The Father doesn’t have a mission, but He works to sanctify and redeem us
divine processions
Will and intellect require that the procession have an ordered relationship
Son is forever coming to be; the Spirit is eternally coming forth
Logic, not chronology
Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father
generation
how the Son is born through God’s eternity
spiration
how God the Father and the Son are love and give us the Spirit
inseparable operations
The Father doesn’t do anything without the Son. Whatever happens to one is also brought about by the other person.
These operations are distinguished numerically but function inseparably.
psychological image used for Trinity
mind; consists of memory, understanding, and will; one reality, three operations
Insights from Gen. 1 and Gen. 2
Genesis One = everywhere and nowhere simultaneously;
mentions humans’ souls and how we came forth from God’s speech
Genesis Two = names + describes places and creations; depicts God molding, shaping, and sculpting humans
together: Yawist and priestly accounts provide reader with full theological context
Ways of reading Scripture
literal, tropological, allegorical, anagogical
divine relations
Each person of the Trinity participates in a mutual indwelling with the others, and each one comes from the other
Note 
Flashcard (20)