P and T

• agnostic


  One who believes that the existence of God is unknown and unknowable
• Apophatic Theology


  This theological position always works from the perspective that God is infinite and mysterious and that all affirmations about God's nature are therefore limited since they derive from a finite perspective.
• Athiest


  A person who denies the existence of God
• class consciousness


  Marx's term for awareness of a common identity based on one's position in the means of production
• Creationist


  one who believes the Bible's account of Creation
• Design argument


  If something exists that is designed, then it has a designer
• Empiricism


  the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation
• Evolution by natural selection


  The theory that all life developed (evolved) from a common ancestor through gradual changes over millions of years.
• Faith


  Belief in God
• fallacy of composition


  the incorrect belief that what is true for the individual, or part, must necessarily be true for the group, or the whole
• First Cause Argument


  the argument that there has to be an uncaused cause that made everything else happen, otherwise there would be nothing now.
• First certainty


  'I think, therefore I am': Descartes' realisation that the fact he thinks shows that his mind must exist
• free will


  God's gift to human beings of the freedom and ability to choose what to do
• Genesis


  beginning; origin
• Gospels


  Four books in the New Testament that tell the story of Christ's life and teachings
• Humanist


  perspective in psychology that stresses the goodness of people and their possibility of reaching their fullest potential
• Infinite regress


  a sequence of reasoning or justification that can never come to an end.
• logical fallacy


  A statement that is logically flawed
• Miracle


  An event that cannot be explained in nature or by science and is believed to have been performed by God
• Myth


  A traditional story which is not accurate about gods, ancestors, or heroes, told to explain the natural world or the customs and beliefs of a society.
• Nones


  A term used by sociologists to describe the diverse group of people with no religion, including atheists, agnostics and those who are spiritual but not religious
• Omnibenevolent


  All loving
• omnipotent


  All powerful
• omnicient


  all-knowing
• Opium of the people

  A phrase used by Marx comparing religion to opium, an addictive, painkilling and vision-creating drug
• Oppress


  to use power to keep someone in a bad situation
• Problem of Evil


  The argument that evil and suffering shows that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent god does not exist
• Phycologist


  Someone who studies human behaviour
• Rationalism


  The theory that knowledge is gained through reasin
• Realm of Appearances


  Plato's name for the world in which we live
• Realm of form


  Platos name for a perfect realm where our souls previously lived
• Revolution


  a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.
• ruling class


  In Marxist theory, the group who are dominant in society by the virtue of their wealth and power.
• Theistic evolution


  the idea that God used evolution to make everything in the world
• Trademark Argument


  Descartes' argument that humans are born with the idea of God imprinted on their minds
• Wish fulfilment hypothesis


  Freud's theory that religion is invented by humans in order to satisfy our desire for a father, for fairness and for immortality
• Working class


  According to Marx, the mass of poor peo0le who work for ( and are iopressed by) the ruling class
• Aristotle


  Greek philosopher. A pupil of Plato, who claims we gained knowledge from our senses empiricism
• Thomas Aquinas


  (Roman Catholic Church) Italian theologian and Doctor of the Church who is remembered for his attempt to reconcile faith and reason in a comprehensive theology
• Charles Darwin


  English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)