faith and reason study guide
analogy - a limited comparison of two things that have similarities but also differences. Compare two things with respect to a shared or common property, and we explain how they are similar, and how they are different.
analogues - the two things being compared in an analogy.
univocal - The same word is used more than once with the same meaning. (ex. The fire is hot; the oven is hot).
equivocal - The same word is used more than once with a different meaning. (ex. I love my new tennis racket; These kids are making a racket.)
analogous - same word used more than once for something in ways similar, and in some ways different. (ex. fourth grader is smart ←intelligence w/ potential for development; Noble piece prize winner is smart. ←intelligence already developed.)
Likeness of cause and effect - God created us to be in his likeness. hence similarity b/w us and God exists, even though there is also a difference. Any attribute we assert about God must also find ints likeness in us. God is our creator, so the effect (humans) must be in some ways like the cause (God).
Analogy and Being/Existence - Humans and God are like as they both exist and create things that did not exist. Humans and God are unlike as humans are contingent whereas God is non-contingent.
Analogy and Love - God loves and human love are like as they both possess intellect and will and they can will the goodness of each other. These are unlike as God is an infinite being with infinite will and intellect, whereas humans live in the manner of limited creatures. In Jesus Christ, God loves with both human and divine love.
Analogy and Knowledge - God and human knowledge are like as knowledge is a correspondence b/w what is present in intellect. Boih God and humans have intellect and know what is present in reality. Knowledge is unlike as He is omniscient, meaning His knowledge is unlimited. Human knowledge is limited as it grasps reality partially and changes throughout time.
principle of double agency - There are two causes. God is the primary cause, an uncaused cause who exists eternally and keeps everything else in existence by eternally willing them to exist. The things that God has created are secondary causes. They truly exist because and as true causes on each other. Secondary causes are what scientists study today. (solution to God of the gaps error).
Isaac Newton - was the first scientist to assert universal laws of motion. Found formulas for motion, gravity, and all cause and effect relationships.
God and gravity - Newton asserted that God caused gravity as He maintained the planetary orbits. God directly and miraculously caused objects to attract.
Deism - a philosophy derived from Newton’s idea that God set up the universe, put it in motion but removed himself from the daily operations of the universe. He is a source of mora values in this life, and he rewards or punishes in the afterlife, but apart from that, he is not personally involved in the universe. Practiced by Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers.
God of the gaps - using God as an explanation for natural phenomena to fill what cannot be explained by the way of the scientific method. Newton's model couldn’t find a scientific explanation for gravity, so he said that God made it happen.
Problem with God of the gaps: if scientists use God to explain a natural phenomenon, then once they finally DO find a natural explanation, God becomes unnecessary. He is no longer needed to fill in what’s missing. This plays into the hands of scientists who favor scientism and atheism.
God as clockmaker - Newton described God as a clockmaker who created the universe (the clock) and maintains the universe as if he is maintaining a clock.
Contingent being - Our existence and the existence of the material universe. Our existence depends on many other things that already exist (ex. water, oxygen). If one of those things (that keeps a thing in existence) no longer exists, then the thing no longer exists.
Non-contingent being - refers to God’s existence. He is a NECESSARY being that does not depend on anything else. There was never a time He never existed or has been brought into existence.
ex nihilo - means “from nothing,” God created the universe out of nothing and used no preexisting material to create. ISN'T DESCRIBED AS “CHANGE” as that requires pre-existing material.
cum tempore (eternal) - means “with time.” God exists outside of time and in eternity. He exists in an everlasting “now” and transcends time.
cum libertate - means “with freedom” meaning God is free to create the universe, or not. He is not obligated to create the “best possible universe.” God’s free creation of the universe makes creation an act of love.
ex Trinitate - means “from the Trinity”--Father, Son, & Holy Spirit--which created the universe.
Chapter 4
Science, faith, and the first creation account in Genesis
Genesis, chapter 1:
Inspiration - refers to the Holy Spirit acting through the human authors of the Bible, to write what God wanted written and nothing more. They were instruments to convey the truth God wanted to affirm through the Holy Spirit. They still brought their historical and cultural contexts and were authors. They affirm:
nature of God
Living life, following God’s plan
salvation history
Inerrancy - means “without error.” The Bible has this quality when the author is making affirmations of saving truth about God, His plans, and the path to moral goodness and spiritual holiness. Moreover, the Bible has revelations of truth from God which are for the “sake of our salvation” with verifiable facts.
Historical context:
When written? - in the middle of the 6th century B.C.
Where is it written? - Babylonian Empire
Why written? - as Jews were exiled in a pagan, foreign, mythological land, they wrote the creation story to convey God’s goodness and perfection and to provide hope to their people for the future. For the sake of their community and their posterity, they composed a creation story that would celebrate their faith concerning the creation of the world & humanity.
Enuma Elish, creation of humanity - Babylonian creation story that included Aspu (the father god) and Tiamat (the mother god) who attempted to kill their own children, but the children killed the parents instead. Marduck, the leader of the children, creates the heavens and the earth out of the body of Tiamat. Marduck kills Kingu, Tiamat’s lover and an evil dragon. Marduck collects the blood of Kingu, and forms humans from it. Humans are made to be slaves of the sun, moon, and star gods.
Literary form - types of modes of writing (hyperbole, metaphor, imagery, etc.) which were used by human authors of the Bible. Creationists believes these don’t exist.
Symbolic cosmogony (the - account of the beginning and development of the universe that uses symbolism to show its deepest meaning and our place within it. Key truths are communicated through symbols rather than nailing down the details. Symbols change but key truths stay the same.
Scientific cosmogony - an account of the beginning and development of the universe that gives us “details about time, space, matter, and energy.” Ex. Big Bang Theory.
Mythological cosmogony - an account of the beginning and development of the universe “in which symbolism is secondary.” In Enuma Elish “powerful gods and goddesses have sex and kill each other and make the universe in the process.” It’s telling a mythological story, but not primarily explaining the meaning of life through symbols.
Dome in the sky – a problem for inerrancy? - the Bible is only inerrant to salvation history, not scientific assertions.
Fundamental truths of the first creation story
Monotheism, not polytheism
A God of Order, not chaos.
monotheism, not dualism
God is perfectly good
Humans are the summit of God’s creation; therefore are special and different from other creatures.
There are two original parents, thus one human family.
God’s rest means “completion” or “perfection” which assures creation is complete.
God’s 10 commandments.
Logos - word (spoken) or concept (in ur mind). “Word of God,” Also means “reason” as the universe was created in Rationality and Love.
Creationists - Christians who read the Bible as if human authors never employ literary forms, and they regard every part as literal. They apply inerrancy to every historical and geographical detail.
Chapter 5
Bishop Stephen Tempier - said that knowledge had to be gained through investigation and not by appealing to the authority of Aristotle
Faith, reason, and= The first Vatican Council - there can never be a conflict between f & r b/c God reveals mysteries and infuses faith, has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, and God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth
Academy of the Linx-Eyed - the first scientific society, dedicated to the scientific method; patronage of pope clement VIII
Copernicus, his innovations - heliocentrism & geokineticism
Geocentrism - the sun orbits the earth as the center around which it moves
Heliocentrism - the sun is the center of the universe
Geokineticism - earth orbits the sun and moving around its own axis as it does so
Aristotle and gravity - all objects have a natural tendency to fall towards the centre of the Universe. Since the centre of the Earth coincides with the centre of the Universe, all objects also tend to fall towards the Earth's surface.
Church and public reaction to the publication of Copernicus’ theory - the Church did not care
The theory held by most scientists in 1543 - most scientists believed in geocentrism at the time
Joshua and the Battle of Gibeon - sun was spinning, then stood still; 1613 Galileo wrote a letter to Fr. Benedicto Castelli, in which he explained that heliocentricity did not contradict the story in the book of Joshua about the sun standing still.
Galileo in Rome in 1615, then 1624 - first hearing before the inquisition (1615), outcome was to teach it as a hypothetical assumption and not truth; in 1624 Pope Urban said to teach it as a hypothesis and include his argument (God made the world in which the “causes” are mysterious and unknowable)
Robert Bellarmine - initial agreement with Galileo to teach heliocentrism as a hypothetical assumption for mathematical purposes
Galileo and Pope Urban VIII in 1624 and 1633 - Galileo trolled pope Urban by making his argument of “the fool” in his work, he was held in ambassador of Tuscany’s palace, sentenced for “vehement suspicion of heresy” & had to make his abjuration against heliocentrism
The Protestant Reformation and the Galileo case - both brought up the question of who can interpret the Bible (it’s the Church!!!!)
Galileo’s arguments for heliocentrism - phases of venus, moons of jupiter, the tides (none proved it; tides are caused by the moon, phases of venus could be explained by brahe’s model that sun moves around earth, other planets move around sun, & jupiter has satellites but sun is not proven to have earth as one)
Galileo’s 1633 trial - broke Bellarmine’s agreement, Galileo had the less restrictive copy, there was a plea bargain but Pope Urban abused his power —> made him renounce heliocentrism & get house arrested (3/10 cardinals didn't sign verdict)
Outcome of the trial - house arrest!!! he still had visitors
Galileo and the relationship between science and the Catholic Church - in 1992, st. john paul acknowledged the Church’s behavior toward Galileo; he was an “exception to the rule” of the Church being accepting of science in history
Stellar parallax - the apparent shift in the position of a nearby star against the background of distant stars as the Earth orbits the Sun.
Guiseppe Calandrelli - 1806 Giuseppe Calandrelli measured stellar parallax and proved the
revolution of the earth around the sun.
Galileo and John Paul II - acknowledged the error of the Church w/ Galileo
Chapter 7
The “Twist in the Plot.” - The attitude of (atheistic) scientism at the end of the 19th century was that the more science progressed, the more it would provide scientific explanations for what previously had been explained by the power of God. Science would continue to make belief in a Creator God less credible. However, the opposite happened. New scientific discoveries in the 20th century made belief in a Creator God more credible!
How scientists viewed religion in the second half of the 19th century - thought that the universe was not created, it was always there; no “design”, it is random; humans evolved (espoused atheism and scientism)
20th century scientific discoveries: The Big Bang theory. Anthropic coincidences. New discoveries of beauty and symmetry in nature.
Perpetual v. Eternal: Eternal refers to God’s existence outside of time. There is no past or present for him. Perpetual means going infinitely back into the past and going infinitely forward into the future.
Perpetual universe and scientific basis - Albert Einstein resisted the idea of the universe having a beginning and favored a perpetual universe. “cosmological constant” in his equations supported his idea. “Biggest blunder of his life.”
Thomas Aquinas and the universe: perpetual or with a beginning? Thomas Aquinas states that whether the universe has a beginning, or whether it is perpetual cannot be determined by reason. That the universe had a beginning is known to us by revelation.
The universe is perpetual, so it did not need God to create it. True? Whether the universe is perpetual or has a beginning, it requires a first cause, an uncaused cause, which is God. Saying that the universe is perpetual is irrelevant to the question of whether it needs God to bring it into existence.
simultaneous cause- One cause is continually causing the effect
non-simultaneous cause. - In time, one cause exists before another. The effect can continue, after the cause has stopped acting.
Scientific resistance to the Big Bang. - resisted the idea that the universe had a beginning, b/c it agreed with the Bible
Einstein and the Big Bang - too close to the theological idea of creation
Einstein and his reason for the cosmological constant - the term allowed him to describe a universe that was stable and could exist perpetually in the past and future
Einstein’ biggest blunder. - he realized that without the cosmological constant, his equations could only describe a universe that was expanding or contracting, he did not want this, he favored a perpetual universe (big mistake!!!!)
Fr. Georges Lamaitre - using Einstein’s equations and the evidence from hubble, proposed that the universe was expanding from a “primordial atom”
Edwin Powell Hubble - at the mount wilson observatory in california, he observed the “red shift”
the red shift - evidence that the galaxies were moving away from earth
Significance of the Big Bang for the question of the existence of a Creator God -
Anthropic coincidences - “An anthropic coincidence is defined as a feature of the universe that is exactly what is needed for the existence of life but yet seemingly could have been otherwise. Had such features been otherwise, human beings would not exist.” They are also called ”the fine-tuning of the universe.”
multiverse theory - theory that there are many universes with variables set differently, and do not have life. We happen to be in the one universe that has all the variables set to favor life.
Problem with multiverse theory, bouncing universe, otther theories that try to explain the anthropic coincidences. - no way to test these theories; no evidence of anything that existed before the big bang
Symmetry - greek for “equal measure”; stephen barr; complexity we see rests on a deeper symmetry, an order and beauty in even more fundamental laws of nature; the laws of nature are the reflections of the thoughts of God
Can science prove that God exists? - no b/c science can only prove the existence of secondary causes and God is the first, uncaused cause; science cannot disprove God’s existence, though
Chapter 8
Special creation means that “the first plants and animals of each kind were directly formed by God from inorganic matter by miraculous intervention.”
On the Origin of the Species- In 1859, Darwin published “On the Origin of the Species”.
He theorized that all life evolved from a single life form, including humans. This includes details on biological evolution, macroevolution, microevolution, and speciation
Darwin's main new insight- natural selection; natural selection happened when a species had a variation that was advantageous for survival
Evolution: Fact or theory?- The theory of evolution is factual. There is a difference between “a theory” and “THE theory”.
Darwin and William Paley- Darwin’s doubt came, not because natural selection contradict Christianity, but because it contradicted the theory of William Paley, which he took to be a necessary condition of Christianity. Once Darwin found an explanation for evolution in secondary causality, he saw no further need or role for God’s involvement in creation (such as the primary cause).
epiphenomenalism- the idea that spirit exists along with the body, is dependent upon matter, and ceases to exist when the body ceases to exist
abiogenesis - the origin of the first living things. Organic matter arising from inorganic matter
molecules combine to form “building blocks”; God gave creation natural order to bring this about
Gregor Mendel - a monk, “neo-darwinism” combines mendel’s discoveries (we inherit genes from our parents, traits are inherited independent of each other) with darwin’s theory
Humani Generis by Pope Pius XII - first Church teaching on evolution; evolution of the body is acceptable (NOT the soul); no teaching until ~ 100 years after Darwin published his book
Evolution and Catholic teaching - what Catholics can accept and must not accept - yes for evolution of the body, not for evolution of the soul; the soul is NOT dependent on the body
evolution and evolutionism - evolution is the scientific theory on the development of life forms; evolutionism is an atheistic & scientism ideology that removes the creator God from the process
Randomness v. Chaos -Randomness can exist within patterns and order. Chaos means that there is no order of any kind.
Providence and Randomness - Something that may seem random to us, can be guided by God’s providence
Humans evolved by a random process, therefore God played no part. True? - no
Evolutionary convergence - Convergence is the independent evolution of similarities in species, the common ancestor of which did not share that similarity. ex. The human eye and the eye of the octopus have: “camera-type eye” with “an iris, a circular lens, pigment cells and photoreceptor cells”
Aquinas’ Argument from Design v. William Paley - St Thomas Aquinas said “Divine Providence does not exclude fortune and chance”. Many things depend on chance. What is random from our point of view is not random from God’s point of view.
Evolution v. evolutionism - Evolution: a scientific theory about the development of life forms, based on evidence. Evolutionism: an ideology. It combines the theory of evolution with the philosophy of materialism and scientism. To put it differently, Evolutionism is an aesthetic philosophy or ideology which excludes any role for God as creator in the complexity of life we observe today, or which interprets evolution as absolute, irrefutable proof that a creator God does not exist. The Catholic Church is against evolutionism, not evolution.
Chapter 9
Baby Selam, her significance - she lived 3.3 million years ago; she could walk like a human but climb trees like an ape; she is from a species which is the evolutionary ancestor of all members of the genus Homo - australopithecus afarensis
evolution, humans and chimpanzees - humans do not descend from apes or chimpanzees; humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor
Humans v. hominins - hominins have “animal intelligence” & natural judgment, can make tools and be prosocial; humans can use symbolic speech and “merge” units of meaning; the “human difference” is the essential qualities that make humans different from hominins
Africa - homo sapiens have a common african ancestry dating to 300, 000 years ago
Hominin ancestors of humans (homo sapiens) - we do not have sufficient fossil evidence to show that another hominin species is a direct ancestor of our species; 1.5-2.9% of our genes from neanderthals; homo sapiens from africa - similar to neanderthals & homo heidelbergensis
grave goods - items deliberately placed and symbolically arranged, indicating a belief in the afterlife (humans are qualitatively different)
prosociality - concern by some members of the mammal species for others (appeared in homo erectus)
Aquinas: Natural judgment v. Reason - natural judgement is cognitive ability for non-human animals (evaluate situations, make tools, etc.) v reason which only applies to humans (human difference; new level of consciousness, discern the truth, reflection/awareness of oneself, etc.)
Evolution and the “great leap forward” or “ontological leap” - occurred in one population of homo sapiens in africa, early humans spread across the world; characterized by “merging” and symbolic thought - emergence of reason
60,000 to 120,000 - when the “great leap forward” occurred
The “human difference” - three signs -
self-reflection - seeing oneself as “another self”, “only man knows that he knows”, grave goods, qualitative difference from animals (trying to prove we are like other animals exemplifies this b/c we have that self-reflection)
creation and appreciation of beauty, integrity, consonance, splendor -
conceptual or symbolic thought -
Catholic teaching on the creation of the soul - evolution can explain the development of the human body; only God creates the soul (does not evolve); the soul is NOT just put into an embryo, it is the formal cause of the body / the principle of life of the body
God can “bring about effects that transcend the capacity of created causes acting according to their natures”; causes the soul in a “non-disruptive” way
myth of Atrahasis and the second creation account - second creation account (God creates man out of the clay of the earth and breathes into him a soul) was a response to the babylonian atrahasis myth (Enki, god of wisdom, creates humanity to be slaves of the gods)
Religious truths affirmed in the second creation story - humans are not slaves of God, they share something of his own being (God is described with human imagery - anthropomorphic)
the material universe exists for the sake of humanity