Comprehensive Study Notes on Classical Path to Theism and Divine Attributes

Administrative Details and Homework Guidance

• Homework Review: The current assignment is similar to content seen online. Students who have already submitted their work are thanked. Some materials, specifically certain PDFs, may be perceived as tedious, long, or blurry. Students are encouraged to approach these assignments not merely for a grade, but with the perspective of potentially learning something new.
• Sequence of Learning: Homework is assigned to be completed before the class discussion. This ensures that students arrive with previous knowledge, allowing for a more informed conversation regarding the material.
• Lecture Resources: The video discussed was produced by Doctor Blue and covers $3$ primary topics. PowerPoints are posted approximately $5$ to $10$ minutes after class concludes, though student-produced notes are emphasized as more valuable because they capture the instructor's spoken elaboration.

The First Cause and the Logic of Existence

• The Case of Fletcher: Using a hypothetical or historical figure (referred to as Danny or Fletcher), the instructor examines the concept of existence. Fletcher exists because he has parents; those parents had parents, and so on.
• The First Cause Definition: This chain of ancestry cannot go back to infinity. There must be a "First Cause" that exists on its own without requiring a cause for its existence. It is the first link in the chain.
• The Train Metaphor: The instructor compares the chain of existence to wagons on a train.
  • Wagons (the cars) do not possess their own power; they are pulled by a force ahead of them.
  • Wagon $2$ cannot pull wagon $3$ unless something is pulling wagon $2$.
  • The engine represents the First Cause, providing the initial momentum or inertia.
  • Even if one argues the engine runs on diesel, and diesel comes from dinosaurs that died a long time ago, the regression eventually requires an original, uncaused source.

Human Potential and Growth Metaphor

• The Icelandic Language Example: The instructor poses a question about whether a student, Polina, could learn Icelandic in $1$ year.
  • The consensus is that while she might not achieve perfect fluency or a flawless accent, she would become functional, especially if immersed in the culture without English speakers.
  • This represents the human ability to grow and become better than what we currently are. This growth is possible because humans follow a model provided by the First Cause. If the First Cause moves, we can move.

Classical Theism and Theological Perspectives

• Premise of the Course: The class approaches the subject with the foundational premise that God exists as an actual, non-potential, existing being.
• Definition of Theism: Derived from the Greek word Theos (meaning God). Similar roots are found in Spanish and French.
• Classical Theos: The course utilizes a classical, orthodox approach to God rather than a progressive or variant perspective. This traditional view typically refers to God using masculine pronouns.
• The Ultimate Being: In classical theism, God is the ultimate being, the leader, and the source of all existence.
• God as Fully Actual: Unlike the gods of Mount Olympus, who develop or change, the classical God is already everything He is; He does not develop into a "better" God.

Global Religious Scope and Context

• Religions Studied: Due to the brief nature of the course, only $3$ religions are highlighted: Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
• Omitted Religions: Judaism and Christianity are skipped because students at Parish Episcopal are typically already exposed to these traditions in great detail in $7\text{th}$ or $8\text{th}$ grade world religions classes.
• Paganism: Defined in this context as any interpretation of God that deviates from classical theistic tradition.
  • It is not synonymous with polytheism.
  • Many traditions (including Christianity and Judaism) acknowledge "gods" with a lowercase "g"—referring to angelic or supernatural beings—but these are not considered "The God."
  • Modern culture is described as a combination of classical theism and pagan beliefs.

The Universality of the Concept of God

• Universal Inquiry: Every civilization in human history, no matter how remote in time ($3,000$ years ago) or location (remote islands/jungles), has developed a concept of God. Scholars suggest $3$ primary reasons for this:
  1. Natural Phenomena: Ancient societies required explanations for events like eclipses (which lasted for a significant duration, such as $5$ minutes), rain, droughts, floods, and seasons. Without scientific knowledge, these were attributed to powerful gods.
  2. Mortality: Every human faces death. The fear of the unknown regarding what happens after life leads to the belief in a power that understands and controls the process.
  3. The Existence of Evil: The mystery of why bad things happen to good people and why bad people often escape justice requires a transcendent explanation.

The Formal Attributes of God in Classical Theism

1. Being Itself: God is the source of all existence and what makes all things possible; He is not just another "thing" in the universe.
2. Uncaused: There is no cause behind God; He has always existed and began the chain of existence.
3. Fully Actual: God is not "becoming" or developing. He possesses no unfulfilled potential. He already knows everything, including all actual and all possible outcomes (e.g., God knows what would have happened if a student had dropped out of school last year).
4. Simple: God has no parts, physical features, or psychological elements (like moods). He does not have arms, legs, or migraines.
5. Unique: God is the source of all things and does not share his core attributes with any other being.
6. Immutable: God does not change over time or through metamorphosis. He does not change His emotions based on human actions; only our perspective of Him changes.
7. Transcendent: God is outside the natural order and not subject to Earth's atmosphere or the laws of physics.
8. Eternal: God exists outside of the dimension of time (no past, present, or future). For God, time is "phenomenal."
9. Incorporeal: God has no physical body parts. Anthropmorphic language (e.g., "eagle wings," "arms to embrace") is used in scripture solely to provide mental images for humans who communicate through the $5$ senses.
10. Omnipotent: God is all-powerful and the source of all energy.
11. Omniscient: God is all-knowing, possessing knowledge of everything actual and everything possible.
12. Omnipresent: God is actively present everywhere at all times. Unlike light or sound, which stop, or oxygen, which can be removed to create a vacuum, God is consistently present.
13. Omnibenevolent (Perfect): God is without fault or stain, like a perfect bride's dress without a single mark from a puddle.
14. Personal: God is relatable and can have a relationship with humans.
15. Love Itself: God is the source of all love; even the love seen in figures like Mother Teresa derives from Him.
16. Necessary: It is impossible for God to not exist because God is required to explain everything. It is argued that atheism requires a much larger and more complex argument than theism.
17. Perfect: God has no imperfections or divisions into "good" and "bad" sides.
18. Ineffable: God cannot be fully expressed or described in language. The moment He is explained, the explanation limits Him to the size of human words.

Classroom Activity: Visualizing the Divine

• Exercise Description: Students formed groups of $3$ to create a drawing of God based on the $20$ attributes discussed. The rules required simultaneously drawing for $3$ minutes without talking or using words.
• Student Work Interpretations:
  • Blake and Jaina: A landscape including trees, waves, fish, stars, and a duck, representing God through creation.
  • Amila and Lucy: An abstract "explosion of power" resembling a Big Bang or nebula with a central smiley face.
  • Mason, Annie, and Paulina: A kingly figure with a crown, surrounded by love, clouds, and sun, depicting holiness.
  • Kingston and Niall: A simple sun shining over the universe as a source of light.
  • Danny, McKenna, and Daniel: A complex scene including a tree with a swing, a pond with a duck, and seagulls.
  • Abby and Isabelle: A blank sheet of paper. This is interpreted as a sophisticated acknowledgement that God is beyond words and visual representation.

Idolatry and the Limits of Representation

• The Problem of Idolatry: Any depiction of God is technically idolatry because no image can truly capture the ineffable. Even a masterpiece by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, or da Vinci would fail to represent God.
• The Trap of Conceptualization: Historical societies often identified God with the most powerful things they knew (e.g., the Sun, the Moon, or a Volcano/Vulcan). While they had the right idea about God's power, they "missed the mark" by limiting God to that specific object.
• Final Homework Note: Assignments will be posted within the next $15$ minutes.

Questions & Discussion

• Q: What answers do you think you would hear if you surveyed people at North Park Mall about who God is?
• A: Students suggested various answers: the word for God in other languages, "the all powerful," "creator of everything," and descriptions of what God isn't. One student (Daniel) noted that some people might say God does not exist.
• Q: What was noted about Google results for "god"?
• A: The instructor shared a search from $8$ years ago which showed popular interpretations: Jesus, Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh, images of heaven, and concepts like love or "father."
• Q: Why do people attribute body parts to God in religious texts?
• A: The class discussed that humans lack words to describe tenderness or care without physical imagery (hugging, kissing, holding). Language is limited by our $5$ senses, so human imagery is used to bridge the gap in understanding God's nature.