Summary KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S EXISTENCE NOTES AND EXEMPLAR PARAGRAPH STRUCTURES
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Course
Developments in Christian Thought
Institution
OCR
In-depth and critical A01 + A02 notes and model paragraph structures for the Knowledge of God's existence topic, for the Developments in Christian Thought unit for OCR Religious Studies.
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S
EXISTENCE
God being beyond the realms of only sensory experience
Bonaventura was an 13th century Franciscan monk. He referred to
knowledge of God as being like three eyes: there is one of flesh,
grounded in sense perception, and there is another in reason, which
works out truths. The third is the eye of contemplation, which
reveals knowledge of God only through contemplation
Polkinghorne was a Cambridge physicist and an Anglican priest.
Developed a “binocular vision” of the knowledge of God. Science is
one eye, spiritual truth in the other. Both is needed to give a
complete picture of what knowing God is
Natural knowledge of God’s existence
Nature is a “point of contact”
Held by the Catholic Church, but viewed differently by Protestants
Catechism: “the desire for God is written upon the human heart”
As an innate human sense of the divine
Calvin, a French lawyer turned theologian, argued that all humans
possess an inbuilt sense of the Divine with “sensus divinitus” or
“semen religionis” referring to the natural human inclination
towards ritual and prayer, in all faiths
Institutes: “even the most unlearnt and ignorant people” have no
excuse for ignoring what God is to them inherently
Calvin argued that the world was a mirror for God, everyone is
aware of the Divine, but our judgment clouds our understanding of
God
Ontological Argument: “Even the fool knows in his heart there is a
God”
Innate knowledge
If all societies have a way of religious practice and worship than
humans must have an innate knowledge of the God that requires
this
The Unknown God: Acts 17:16-34 is referred to as Biblical support
towards sensus divinitus. Paul has to convince the Athenians that
they are actually worshipping the true God, amongst many altars.
This is due to the fact that one alter remains unknown, as there is
an ongoing desire to know who that unknown God is
Universal Consent: Because so many people believe, it is
reasonable to suggest God or Gods exist
, Humans are religious beings: Practices of meditation, prayer and
ritual are so widespread that “despite the ambiguities” they are so
“universal that one may well call man a religious being” (Catechism)
Human sense of beauty and moral goodness
Natural Law
Aesthetic design argument (Tennant) humans appreciate beauty
and goodness
Conscience: Calvin argued conscience is our God-Given faculty.
Creatures made in his likeness have that innate morality, supported
by guilt. (Newman and C.S Lewis)
Human intellectual ability to reflect on and recognize God’s existence
Aquinas’ Fifth way reflects on how God is real and exists amongst us
in nature, and how we know him through observation.
Epistemic distance states how God is deliberately making himself
obscure to preserve free will.
However, Calvin would counter and say humans create the
epistemic distance by ignoring God.
As seen in the order of creation
Duplex cognition domini: the two-fold knowledge of God as a creator
and as redeemer. As creator, he orders and designs nature. Often
depicted in the Psalms.
Principle of Accommodation: Human minds are finite, and humans
cannot understand God through reason alone. Therefore, God
appears to us in a certain appearance in nature, to ensure we see
his reflection of his mysterious, invisible nature
Nature without purpose makes God redundant, dependent on the
teleological argument
Process theology: Argue that God and the world act in tandem, God
acts to maximize the processes in nature at any moment of time. All
motions are processes acting to their own end. This is God’s
persuasion of his creation, and its seemingly “purposeless” purpose.
God’s participation in nature tells us about Him
Revealed knowledge of God’s existence
Through faith and God’s grace
According to Sensus divinitus, we could have known God and
participated in a relationship. However, this “simple knowledge”
(Calvin) did not happen due to the Fall, but considers Si integer
stetisset Adam
This relationship can be regenerated by acknowledging God as both
Redeemer and Creator. True knowledge is salvation in Christ
FAITH NOT INTELLECT
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