Study Guide for Test 1 - Faith, Reason, and Revelation
Short Answer/ True and False/ Multiple Choice - CCC 36-43
Know what the Catholic Church believes about the ability to discover God through reason.
The Catholic Church holds that human beings can come to know God through reason, but there are obstacles that can hinder this natural knowledge. Reason can disclose certain truths about God, but revelation supplements and completes what reason alone cannot fully grasp.
God reveals truths that are accessible to reason in order to guide, confirm, and deepen that natural knowledge; revelation also communicates truths that exceed natural capacity or require divine grace for proper understanding.
We distinguish between kataphatic and apophatic ways of talking about God:
Kataphatic: speaking about God in affirmative, positive terms (e.g., God is loving, just, merciful).
Apophatic: speaking about God by negation or via limiting language (e.g., God is not finite, not subject to our categories).
In Catholic theology, language about God is usually analogical: we describe God with words that are true of Him in a way that remains fitting yet not exhausted by human language.
Key terms for Catholics:
Word of God: God’s definitive self-expression in revelation, most fully in Jesus Christ.
Revelation: God's communication of Himself and His will by which He makes Himself known to humanity.
Inspired Scripture: Scripture written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, faithfully preserving God’s message for the Church.
The constitution of the human being according to Sheed:
Humans are beings formed of both body and soul, united in one person.
The soul animates the body and gives life; the body and soul form a single, living unity with dignity and worth.
CCC 36-43: Reason, Obstacles, and Revelation
Main claim: humans can know God through reason, but there are obstacles that hinder complete knowledge. These include the effects of sin on the intellect and the limits of natural knowledge.
Reasons for divine revelation:
To safeguard truths that reason alone can grasp but might not arrive at without grace.
To provide fuller, clearer, and certain knowledge about God and about the salvific plan.
To invite faith and to deepen moral and theological understanding rooted in love.
What can be known by reason alone and what requires revelation:
Certain basic truths about God’s existence, creation, and some attributes can be known by natural reason.
Other truths, especially those concerning the mysteries of faith (e.g., the Trinity, Incarnation) require God’s self-disclosure.
Obstacles to knowledge of God include:
The fallen human condition and its consequences on intellect and will.
Cultural and personal distortions, error, and ignorance.
The role of faith and reason together:
Reason leads to questions that faith answers; faith completes reason where it reaches its limits.
Faith does not oppose reason; it presupposes reason as a legitimate human faculty.
Scholarly and practical implications:
People of different cultures can grasp certain truths about God via natural reason.
The harmony of faith and reason serves as a foundation for Christian ethics, philosophy, and science.
Words about God: Truth and Language
What the phrases mean:
Word of God: the self-revelation of God through Scripture and Tradition, culminating in Christ.
Revelation: God’s gift of the truth about Himself and His salvific plan disclosed to humanity.
Inspired Scripture: sacred writings produced under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, faithfully conveying God’s message.
Language about God:
Kataphatic language provides meaningful, positive descriptions of God, while apophatic language helps to guard against idolatrous or false images.
The truth about God is often expressed by analogy, recognizing that human terms can be true about God only insofar as they analogically reflect divine realities.
The Human Person: Body and Soul (Sheed)
According to Sheed, a Catholic anthropological view emphasizes the unity of body and soul in one person.
The soul is the form of the body; the body is the material aspect by which the soul acts in the world.
This unity explains human dignity, freedom, and vocation to communion with God and neighbor.
CCC 50-67 and Scriptures: The Fall, Covenants, and Promises
Question: What is the nature of humans after the first sin in the Garden? How is the human condition described after original sin?
Humans retain rationality and responsibility, yet suffer woundedness of the will and intellect; the image of God remains, but is marred and in need of healing through grace.
The first promise of defeating evil is found in the Scriptures (protoevangelium): God’s plan to overcome sin and evil begins right after the fall.
The Noah covenant:
For whom is it intended? All living creatures; the covenant is universal.
What is its sign? The rainbow.
What does God promise? He will never again destroy the earth by flood; He preserves life and establishes a moral order.
What does God ask in return? A faithful depends on humanity’s ongoing cooperation in righteousness; the sign confirms God’s commitment.
The Abrahamic covenant:
Designed to bless all nations through Abraham’s lineage.
The sign: circumcision; the promises include land, many descendants, and a blessing to all nations.
What is promised to Abraham and what is required from him? A faithful, obedient response; trust in God’s promise even when unseen.
The Moses covenant:
Israel is meant to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, revealing God’s name and will to the world.
How does God show He will keep the covenant? By giving the Law, the covenant signs (the tabernacle), and the guiding presence of God with Israel.
Who went up the mountain to meet with God? Moses; on Mount Sinai (also known as Horeb).
What was the mountain called? Mount Sinai/Horeb.
What did Moses bring down from the mountain from God? The tablets of the Law (the Ten Commandments) and the related laws.
The Davidic covenant and Nathan’s prophecy:
The promise to David: God will establish his throne and royal line forever; Zion/Jerusalem remains central as the place of kingship.
Psalm 110 as a key Messianic text: \text{Psalm 110}: \text{"The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool."}
The mysterious “suffering servant” (Isaiah 53):
Is he attractive? Often stands in contrast to expected power; pain and rejection are central motifs.
How do people treat him? Rejected, pierced, and afflicted; oppressed; counted among the transgressors.
Where is he buried? With the rich; treated with burial among the wealthy despite suffering.
What promises are made to him despite death? He bears our sins and provides healing; by his wounds we are healed; his suffering achieves salvation.
What burdens does he carry? The sins and sorrows of humanity; the punishment that brings peace to others; the lifting of guilt and shame.
John the Baptist’s family:
Parents: Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth.
Zechariah’s occupation: a priest serving in the Temple (a member of the priestly division of Abijah).
Zechariah’s prayer after John’s birth: the Benedictus.
Mary’s prayers after Elizabeth’s greeting: the Magnificat.
Simeon’s recognition in the Temple: the Nunc Dimittis (Lord, now you let your servant go in peace).
The angel delivering the news of miraculous births: Gabriel.
John the Baptist in the womb: when Mary visits Elizabeth, John (still in Elizabeth’s womb) leaps for joy at the greeting of Mary.
People who greet and recognize Jesus in the Temple as an infant: Simeon and the prophetess Anna (the latter is traditionally included in Luke’s narrative).
The 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple:
He impresses the teachers with his understanding and questions.
He explains his absence to his parents by saying he is about his Father’s business; he is “doing the law’s true intent.”
Jesus’ interpretation and the Sermon on the Mount:
Jesus explains he is not abolishing the law but fulfilling it.
Examples from the Sermon on the Mount include reinterpretations of commandments related to anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love for enemies.
The promise of an advocate after Jesus goes to Jerusalem:
Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of truth, the Paraclete) to His disciples.
The Spirit will teach and remind them of Jesus’ words and guide them into all truth.
Jesus’ relationship with his disciples: they will no longer be called servants but friends (John 15:15).
John 17 (the Priestly Prayer):
Jesus prays for the unity of believers, the protection of His followers, and sanctification through truth.
Betrayal and its details:
Betrayer: Judas Iscariot.
He is paid to betray Jesus: 30 pieces of silver.
How he betrays Jesus: with a kiss to identify Him to the arresting guards.
What happens afterward: Judas experiences tragedy and death, and Jesus is handed over for trial.
Pilate’s questions and responses:
Jesus is questioned about kingship and truth; Jesus responds in ways that reveal his identity without capitulating to political pressure.
Pilate attempts to deny responsibility, ultimately symbolically washing his hands of the matter.
The sign on Jesus’ cross:
Pilate’s inscription reads: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" (in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek).
Burials and significance:
Jesus is buried by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin who provides him a tomb.
This burial shows a response by a prominent, credible figure and foreshadows resurrection narratives.
First witnesses of the Resurrection:
Mary Magdalene and the other women are among the first to encounter the empty tomb and the risen Christ.
Essay Options (On the Test I will choose 2 of 4; each essay is 34 points)
Essay Option 1: The Catholic Church’s claim that humans can know God with certainty from reason
What kinds of knowledge are accessible by reason alone? What is certain and what remains provisional?
What obstacles block rational knowledge of God? How do these obstacles affect the pursuit of truth?
What is required of a human to attain this knowledge (e.g., use of reason, humility, virtue, proper formation)?
And what is this knowledge for (e.g., guiding life, directing moral choices, preparing the mind for faith and worship)?
Essay Option 2: The creation narratives in Genesis 1 and 2
In Genesis 1, describe how the ordering of creation reveals the world’s structure and the human place within it; discuss the significance of the 10 “God said” statements (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29) and what they reveal about divine command and order.
In Genesis 2, explain the significance of the first couple in the Garden: their diet, nakedness, and walking with God; why God prohibits the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and what the garden signifies for humanity’s vocation and relationship with God.
Essay Option 3: Israel’s Covenants and Isaiah/Psalm 110 expectations
Summarize the hopes of the people of Israel as shaped by the covenants with Abraham, Israel at Sinai, and David.
Consider what they might have expected God to fulfill, given Isaiah’s prophecies and Psalm 110, and discuss how these expectations relate to later Christian interpretation of Jesus’ life and mission.
Essay Option 4: Luke 1–2 signs that Jesus fulfills Old Testament covenants, promises, and prophecies
Identify signs that Luke uses to present Jesus as the answer to OT covenants and prophecies.
Discuss whether Luke hints that the Messiah might differ from some expectations (e.g., Isaiah 53) and how Jesus’ infancy narratives (John the Baptist’s birth, the visitation to Elizabeth, the angelic greeting to the shepherds, the presentation in the temple, and Jesus’ appearance at age 12 in the Temple) contribute to this portrayal.
Connections to Earlier Lectures and Real-World Relevance
The relationship between faith and reason discussed here connects to philosophical discussions of natural theology, ethics, and science.
The covenant framework provides a historical-theological lens for understanding God’s commitment to humanity and the continuity of salvation history.
The portrayal of Jesus in Luke’s infancy narratives informs Christological expectations and the shaping of Christian worship and liturgy.
Ethical, Philosophical, and Practical Implications
How the Catholic view balances natural knowledge and divine revelation impacts education, public discourse, and interreligious dialogue.
The emphasis on unity, love, and the Spirit’s guidance in John 17 and Luke-Acts contexts informs contemporary ethics of community, justice, and peace.
Understanding the biblical covenants helps ground moral formation in a broader narrative of God’s faithfulness and human responsibility.
Key References and Formulas (LaTeX)
Covenant signs and promises:
Noah covenant sign: rainbow; ext{sign} = \text{rainbow}.
Davidic covenant: eternal throne; ext{Davidic promise} = "Your throne shall be established forever".
Psalm 110:1: \text{The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool}.
Theoretical statements and numbers mentioned in the study guide:
Number of essays: 4 options; 34 points each.
Test composition and point distribution: Short Answer / True and False / Multiple Choice: 32 points total.
Genesis 1: list of the 10 "God said" statements; each implores creative order.
Luke 1–2: mentions of events on a timeline including the infant Jesus, temple presentations, and age 12 in the Temple.
Quick Reference List (People, Places, Concepts)
People: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Nathan, Isaiah the Prophet, John the Baptist (parents: Zechariah, Elizabeth), Mary, Simeon, Anna, Jesus, Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene.
Places: Garden of Eden, Mount Sinai/Horeb, Jerusalem, temple, tomb.
Concepts: Reason and revelation, kataphatic/apophatic language, Word of God, revelation, inspired scripture, body-soul unity, covenants, Messiah expectations, Holy Spirit/Paraclete, mission of the Church, resurrection witnesses.