Knowledge Of God's Existence

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  • Created by: ekenny5
  • Created on: 03-03-22 15:37
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  • Knowledge of God's Existence
    • Natural Theology
      • The innate sense of God
        • Calvin and the Catechism
          • God is innate or imprinted in human consciousness
          • the Sensus Divinitatis  - the seed of religion
          • religious rituals are 'so universal that one may call man a religious being' CCC
        • St Paul says that the desire to know the 'unknown God' is the quest of philosophers
          • it is at least reasonable to believe in God as so many people believe in God or gods - Cicero
        • the human sense of beauty and moral goodness are foundations for knowledge of God
          • Natural Law is an innate knowledge of God
          • Conscience as a God given faculty
            • joint knowledge between us and God
        • arguments for God's existence provide strong reasons to believe
          • 'converging and convincing' CCC
      • The Order of Creation
        • duplex cognito domini - Calvin's 2 fold knowledge of God - Redeemer and Creator
        • 'the heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament of his handiwork' Psalm 19:1
        • Calvin and Aquinas' arguments from design
          • the Principle of Accommodation - we are finite so can never know God through powers of reason, so God manifests in creation in ways we can understand
          • God in nature is a mirror of his invisible nature
            • the 'sparks of glory' - love, justice, power and mercy
        • Paley's teleological argument of purpose - nature without a purpose makes God redundant
          • Process theology - God is not independent of creation, but works with it to maximise greatest potentials at any moment in time
            • there is no end point that creation is moving to
        • Aesthetic/ Anthropic Principles
    • Revealed Theology
      • Faith and God's Grace
        • If Adam had remained upright (si integer stetisset Adam) we could have all known God - Calvin
          • The Catholic Church says the fall didn't cut humans off from knowing God - just confused us
            • 'there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation' CCC
        • faith is required to access God, as he revealed himself through prophets and in Jesus
          • unformed faith: reason to believe but lack of faith
            • Aquinas
          • formed faith: both reason and faith
            • Aquinas
          • Calvin
            • faith is firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence towards us - in Jesus
            • willingness to believe: faith is given to anyone willing to accept it
        • faith alone is not sufficient to know God, God's gracious act is required to complete the relationship
          • For Calvin - the gift of the holy spirit is to repair damage from original sin
      • Revelation Through Jesus Christ
        • the Bible should be read as Trinitarian
          • Father: prophets and writers bear witness to revelation
          • Son: mediator, clarity given to God's promises
          • Holy Spirit: Christians are inspired and sustained
        • 'Christ, who is the image of God' St Paul
          • Calvin says Christ is mirror and mediator of the divine
        • Christians maintain that full revelation cannot be gained without the Bible, it cannot be reduced to a 'religion of the book'
        • knowledge of God the redeemer can only be known through JC

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