Knowledge of God

name the two types of theology

natural and revealed theology

explain natural theology

• suggests humans can know god through rational methods (e.g. cosmological)

• relies on a point of contact between god and humans using our reason to find out ideas of god through it

• natural theologians would argue it is enough to know god and have a relationship with him but christians would say it’s not personal enough

• calvin refers to the sensus divinitas and the semen relgionis

what is the sensus divinitatis

sense of divinity

inbuilt into us all are the basics of religion- a sense of God

what is the semen religionis?

seed of religion

innate human inclination to pray and take part in religious practices

what does the catholic church think about natural theology? (including quote)

celebrates human ability to reflect on and recognise God’s existence

‘God never ceases to draw himself to man’- CCC

explain the link of natural theology and human openness to beauty and goodness

• humans have an innate sense of aesthetics- e.g. appreciating smells, sights, sounds, etc

• christians believe that it is because we have an innate sense of god and we can use our reason to recognise him in it

• truth, beauty, moral goodness and the conscience all make the person ask questions which allow us to form a personal knowledge of God from natural theology- e.g. natural law

• the conscience is an important point of contact between God and humans

• sunsets- show his beauty / evolution- shows his wisdom in creating an adaptable world

what did calvin say regarding beauty in the world and knowledge of god through natural theology?

‘the world is like a mirror for the display of divine goodness.’

what did calvin think about the impact of the fall on natural theology

it made humans unable to access their innate sense and created an epistemic distance (hick)

name 3 strengths of natural theology

1. if God has created humans then it makes sense he would provide ways of being able to discover him. He would have given all people the tools to know this. How would ancient greek people know without scripture?

2. Cicero- Universal Consent Argument
   So many people across the world believe in some sort of God and have similar practices like praying and worshipping so it must be an innate part of being human given by God

3. Reason is required to know God because claims that revealed theology and faith cannot be meaningful as they can’t be proven. You can have faith in a unicorn God but that doesn’t make it real. Natural theology provides evidence

4. Polking- Science and faith help us understand the world together, it’s not one or the other

name 2 limitations of natural theology

1. Freud- religion is more of a psychological deception of the mind and wishful thinking. Due to evolutiin, humans have developed a father figure who will protect us and be in control. This helps us deal with worry and fear in the world that we face. He believes religion helps us to feel the comfort and safety of infancy and so is a psychological construct

2. More athiests exist now in the world so Universal Consent Argument isn’t correct

   Counterpoint: do display some religious practices like praying when scared

3. Cannot understand God truly due to the distance between humans and God that the fall created. That ruined ability to reason properly- reference Barth and Brunner

explain revealed theology

• god has deliberately chosen some knowledge to reveal to people

• core teachings of christianity have come from revealed theology- e.g. trinity

• protestants emphasise the need for revealed knowledge because we are fallen creatures and need God’s intervention to gain full knowledge of him

• catholics believe we need it because of the differences between God and humans- he is infinite, we are finite

• faith is required for full engagement with anything ineffable but especially things revealed by god

• faith can’t come from one moment- it has to develop overtime through prayer, study and worship

• revealed theology provides a more personal knowledge of God- e.g. accepting how he works lovingly through the world; e.g. Jesus dying on the cross for our salvation

explain revealed theology with reference to God’s gracr

faith is a gift from god

the holy spirit is the aspect of God that works in the world today

it inspires and guides people by giving them faith to live christian lives

we need the holy spirit to be able to achieve true faith

give an example from the bible of someone trusting in god’s revelation over reason

mary was told she would be pregnant by a mysterious figure even though she was still a virgin

she trusted the figure despite being scared and not understanding how

you don’t bave to understand something for it to be true

what does the ccc say about the grace of the holy spirit?

it is the “free and undeserved help God gives us to respond to his call.”

where is revealed theology shown in the bible to learn about things natural theology can’t explain?

the trinity is shown at Jesus’ Baptism in John’s Gospel

Jesus heard a voice say “You are my son.” (God)

He had a vision of the holy spirit washing over him

name 2 strengths of revealed theology

1. engaging with God should be spiritual and emotional rather than academic or physical. The same way we don’t build relationships with people due to reason- God is the same

2. If God is beyond everyone, we can’t understand him without faith. We need his grace to enable that faith. Aquinas compared his work to being as ‘useful as straw’ after having a religious experience before death

name 3 limitations of revealed theology

1. Freud- religion is more of a psychological deception of the mind and wishful thinking. Due to evolution, humans have developed a father figure who will protect us and be in control. This helps us deal with worry and fear in the world that we face. He believes religion helps us to feel the comfort and safety of infancy and so is a psychological construct

2. Faith without reason can leave to irrational beliefs in anything- e.g. Unicorn God

3. Why would God create all humans with the ability to be rational but only provide some humans with faith, not all of them

   counterpoint: faith has to be built, it isn’t innate

what does brunner say about the fall removing all naturally knowledge of god

• points of contact between God and humans are beauty, conscience and sensus divinitas

• however, natural knowledge is only a basic understanding. if someone wants to have full knowledge of God they need to have faith in Jesus

• natural theology gives us the ability to begin the conversation about God but not full knowledge

• brunner did accept the impact of the Fall on christianity and said at one level, we’ve fallen, but on a spiritual level we haven’t

• points of contacts cannot ever be more than glimpses of God due to the fall- more knowledge comes from faith in Jesus and full knowledge comes through the beatific vision

name 2 strengths of brunner

1. no christian denomination believes natural theology alone is sufficient. it is reasonable to suggest there are different ways of finding knowledge of God- e.g. the cosmological argument, trinity

2. knowledge of god might never be knowable through either revealed or natural theology. he is a completely different substance (infinite vs finite) so maybe the fall didn’t destroy natural knowledge and we can't know until the beatific vision

what did barth say about the fall removing all natural knowledge of God?

• human nature is completely corrupted by the fall

• no source of knowledge can be authorative about God except for revealed theology

• all natural theology is rejected as there are no points of contact between god and humans

• the only way for us to know anything about God is through his loving and free choice to reveal it

• the fall corrupted us on all levels including spiritually so it’s impossible to have a relationship with him without his grace

• if someone sees the beauty of nature and that reveals something about God to them, that’s because God chose to do that already

name 3 strengths of brunner

1. effects of the fall ruined human relationship with God- the bible is clear that humans must labour alone unless god chooses otherwise

2. universal consent argument can easily be rejected since even though some people have a sense of religion, the way practices differ proves human reason is inadequate. e.g. Christianity has sacraments like baptism and communion but islam doesn’t

3. human nature is clearly flawed (shown by people like anders brevik and hitler) so it would be wrong to say fallen humans should attempt a relationship with God because we aren’t worthy

   counterpoint: god had jesus die on the cross to help this divide and bring us back spiritually to allow a relationship with us

explain why natural theology and revealed theology might be the same

• for calvin, when we are shown nature we see a point of contact between god and humanity

• using natural theology we can take a step towards the knowledge of god

• calvin uses the ‘principle of accomodation’ which is the idea that god communicates with humans in a way we can understand. he accomodates his infinity for our limited natures

• it isn’t just beauty that helps humans know god but the ‘skilful ordering of the universe’ e.g. the big bang or evolution

• natural and revealed theology go together

explain the story of the unknown god

• when visiting athens to spread christianity, paul encountered an altar to an unknown god

• paul said this unknown god they worshipped was actually the christian god

• there was a clear point of contact between the athenians and the god but they needed to use scripture and reason differently to understand it

• the sensus divinitatis guided them to worshipping god but more work needs to be done before they can understand christian god

name 2 strengths of natural and revealed theology being the same

1. all complex questions require several different approaches at once. the distinction between the two types of theology can explain and find knowledge of god when put together

2. natural knowledge cannot provide the christian view of god alone. with revealed you can add more depth to your understanding

name 2 limitations of natural and revealed theology being the same

1. they are two completely different things. to do natural theology, revealed theology has to be set aside. you can’t prove fairly that god exists using logic if you already believe in him- too biased

2. natural theology has to be different because it is impossible to due because of the fall as points of contact between heaven and earth have been lost. unlike revealed theology

explain the impact of jesus in making it so the belief in god is enough to trust him

• jesus is the ultimate revelation of god to the world

• calvin sees jesus as someone who allows us to understand god, the world and ourselves

• the catholic church believes revelation happened overtime as to not overwhelm people with the knowledge of god so they could understand slowly

• revelation has been completed by christ and there won’t be anymore until the end of time

• the revelation of christ is understood by looking at his life:

  • incarnation- god became human so he can help us- the only way to account for the fall

  • life of jesus- his teaching of the new covenant

  • salvation through his death- taking on sins of humanity and overcoming death in the resurrection

explain the role of the bible in making it so the belief in god is enough to trust him

• some christians reject the authority of the bible due to contradictions in the bible and modern day science

• the majority however believe the bible has authority throughout time

• fundamentalists- believe the bible is always factual

• conservatives- believe the bible is divinely inspired by impacted by human writers

• calvin believed that only through scripture can we fully understand all other points of contact we encounter

• god does not speak to us daily and scripture is the recording of his truths

explain the role of the church in making it so the belief in god is enough to trust him

• catholic church sees scripture as important but religion is a living entity so scripture has to be understood through the church

• church helps christians to access god’s grace through the sacraments

• calvin disagreed however and didn’t see the church like this and it should be instead drawing people back to jesus than changing the bible’s views to fit the time

give 2 strengths that the belief in god is enough to trust him

1. belief in god requires a leap of faith. if someone is prepared to make that leap then they must put trust in god

2. if points of contact are correct then recognising these points should lead to faith because something true about god has been recognised

3. all people believe in different ways. some are intellectual and some aren’t. it doesn’t matter to god. belief in whatever form should lead to a commitment

give 2 limitations that the belief in god is enough to trust him

1. belief in god needs proper context and understanding through understanding jesus as the mediator as taught by the church

2. belief in god is gained through natural theology and is not the same as a personal relationship with god

3. belief in god does not make living a christian life easy. there are too many challenges like evil, science, society, etc that can make someone doubt if they trust in god