knowing God exists vs knowing God:

• Christians say God can be known, not just knowing his existence n attributes but also personally, in a relationship

• it’s argued that real Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship

• James 4:8

• Ephesians 1:7

• Einstein: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

science n religion:

• there was a time when religion and scientific inquiry worked together.

• universities like oxford and cambridge began from monastic scientific inquiry.

• the separation of science and religion is a relatively recent phenomenon.

• many famous scientists were influenced by the Bible to make discoveries.

• some scientific facts were evident in the scriptures before science discovered them, e.g., the earth being a sphere and suspended in space.

• they saw laws in nature and sought to explore how God, the lawmaker, caused things to work.

• modern astrophysicist dr. hugh ross found 200 scientific facts in the bible before having faith in god.

• well-known scientific theories are being challenged by modern scientists.

• for many, the battle is not science vs. religion, but science vs. science.

bonaventure:

• bonaventure, born giovanni di fidanza (1221 – 15 july 1274), was an italian medieval franciscan, scholastic theologian, and philosopher.

• bonaventure discussed the relations between reason and faith.

• he believed all sciences serve theology.

• reason can discover some moral truths, but others require divine illumination.

• to obtain divine illumination, the soul must use proper means: prayer, virtuous exercise, and meditation leading to ecstatic union with god.

• bonaventure, like aquinas, believed in logically proving god's existence and the soul's immortality.

• he argued for the existence of God.

• unlike aquinas, bonaventure did not see philosophy as autonomous and believed it needed the light of faith to avoid serious errors.

• 3 different ways of knowing:

  • the eye of the flesh:

    • incorporates sense perception. this eye is the means by which we gain knowledge about the physical world » empiricism of science

  • the eye of reason:

    • the way of knowledge that lets us work out mathematical n philosophical truths through the use of logic

  • the eye of contemplation:

    • which is a w ay of knowing which allows us to come to a knowledge of God by going beyond the scope of sense experience and reason - gaining knowledge of God through faith

• bonaventure’s view can be compared to the biblical belief of the regenerated triune man and his operation in three realms.

• adam’s spirit died when he was separated from god by original sin.

• the idea that we can know god differently from how we know other things is popular throughout christian history.

john polkinghorne:

• binocular vision (using bonaventura’s metaphor):

  • he sees science through one eye - shows him the physical world and the laws n processes behind it

  • he sees spiritual truths about God through the other eye - shows him purposefulness and the world in the context of the creation of God

  • both eyes need to work tgt to give a complete picture in all its dimensinos

    • foolish for religious ppl to close an eye to science

    • foolish for scientists to close an eye to the possibilities of God

robert boyle:

• In 17th and 18th C a metaphor for understanding how God can be known was popular; namely ‘God’s two books’​

• Boyle wrote his ideas in terms of those ‘two great books’; namely the natural world and the Bible both seen to be authored by God​

• Science and religion were complementary in enhancing people’s understanding and knowledge of God