Knowledge of God's Existence

• Empiricism 


  way of knowing that depends on the five senses
• Natural Theology

  drawing conclusions about the nature and activity of God by using reason and observing the world
• Protestantism


  denomination of Christianity where there is a great emphasis on the Bible and on personal faith
• Revelation 


  uncovering in theological terms this is when God lets himself be known
• Immediate Revelation


  where someone is given direct knowledge of God
• Mediate Revelation

  someone gains knowledge of God in a secondary, non direct way
• Grace of God

  God's unconditional and undeserved gifts
• Wisdom Literature


  genre of writing from the ancient world, teaching about wisdom and virtue. In the Bible, books such as Proverbs and Job are classified as wisdom and literature
• Greek Influence:

  • puzzle was seen in terms of the difficulty of gaining certain and true knowledge of the world
  • Plato - a rationalist -> addressed the question with the Theory of the Forms, true knowledge is gained from the world of the forms
  • Aristotle - empiricist -> only learn things through science and the world around us, experience through our senses
  • learn from those with authority
• How do Christian believe we can know God?

  • Knowledge is not restricted to reason or experience
  • God is unknowable through the 5 senses because God is not physical
  • God could beyond the human mind and some believe that he may never be known at all
• How do Christian believe we can know God? Bonaventura

  • 13th century Monk
  • see God through three different 'eyes' = spiritual, rational, physical

  1. 'the eye of the flesh' - way of knowing that incorporates sense perception, empiricism of science. Knowledge about the physical world
  2. 'the eye of reason' - way of knowing that lets us work out mathematical and philosophical truths through the use of logic
  3. 'the eye of contemplation' - way of knowing which allows us to come to a knowledge of God by going beyond the scope of both sense and reason and gaining knowledge of God through faith.
• How do Christian believe we can know God? John Polkinghorne

  • Anglican Priest and physicist, used 2 eyes to represent 'Binocular Vision'
  • Science through one eye - shows him the physical world and the laws and processes behind it
  • Spiritual truths about God through the other eye - shows him purposefulness and the world in the context of the creation of God
  • both eyes need to work together to give a complete picture in all its dimensions
  • foolish to close one eye
• How do Christian believe we can know God?

  • God can be known in the way we know other people
  • factual knowledge and personal knowledge is different
  • People can have knowledge God exists - doesn't mean its personal
• Robert Boyle: (1627-91)

  • scientist and theologian
  • God has written TWO great books - "The Natural World and the Bible"
  • words of the Bible and the discoveries of science were seen as complementing each other - deepening their understanding and knowledge of God
• Natural Theology - Experience and Reason

  • The beauty of the World shows that there has to be a creator God - William Paley and his Teleological
  • Paul - human experience + reason can easily lead to the knowledge of God ==> seen with Romans 1
  • Aquinas - important in demonstrating the Christian faith, common sense and Christian faith could work together
  • first cause and mover - God
  • Swinburne - world shows good reason - order --> intelligent author of the universe
• "Wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people"

  "God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."


  Romans 1:18-21 -> Pail argues that people have made God angry because they have ignored the obvious fact of his existence and instead been immoral
• "Lord, our Lord,

  how majestic is your name in all the earth"


  Psalms 8:9 - shows how God exists
• Natural Theology as arising from Creation:

  • naturally have an instinct for God
  • Pre-Christian writer Ciero ==> there has to be a great intelligence
  • recognise and understand the beauty of the world
  • John Calvin called this Principle of Accommodation -> can't know God through reason alone as the human minds are finite == beauty of the universe is like a mirror
  • creation reflects the nature of God
  • Paul - people have made God angry because they have ignored the obvious fact of God's existence \
• This skillful ordering of the universe is for us a sort of mirror in which we can contemplate God, who is otherwise invisible

  John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
• For what can be clearer and more obvious, when we have lifted our eyes to the sky, and have gazed upon the heavenly bodies, than that there exists some divine power of exalted intelligence by which there are ruled


  Pre-Christian Cicero, On the Name of the Gods
• Natural Theology as arising from an innate human sense of the divine:

  • Sense of the Divine is an intrinsic part of human nature
  • cultures develop similar religious belief
  • all born with a sense of God - Genesis shows this as God breathed life into Adam
  • John Calvin - anyone can reflect on the natural world, no excuse to not worship God, "sensus divintas" does not restrict Christians, inbuilt sense of the divine is not just available to the intelligent and educated
  • C.S.Lewis - like a car runs on diesel, humans are designed to run on God
  • increase the awareness towards God
• Natural Theology as arising from an innate human sense of the divine: pt2

  • epistemic distance - distance in knowledge and our inability to grasp and comprehend the nature of God
  • created by human beings according to Calvin
  • innate sense of morality
  • inner conscience - evidence of God - moral demands
  • sensus divinitas - seed of divinity or an innate sense of God
• Aquinas' Natural Theology: pt 1

  • Heavily influenced by Aristotle
  • Aquinas was keen to show that reason and observation could be employed in support of Christian belief
  • important in demonstrating first cause and mover
  • human reason could never know or understand God’s infinite divine nature. However, he argued that human reason can gain lesser knowledge of God
  • lesser knowledge of God -- his nature, existence and moral law
  • reason could not provide an absolute proof that God existed, since that would make faith and revelation useless
• Aquinas' Natural Theology: pt 2

  • formulated a posteriori teleological and cosmological arguments
  • we can see the constant change due to cause and effect -> acceptance of this argument would cause people to 'reason' God exists
  • God has a necessary existence
  • meditating on God’s works in creation leads to us reflecting on God’s wisdom - goodness, beauty and wonder of creation are so delightful to the human mind, then they will attract us even more strongly to God’s total goodness --> natural theology can prove faith
  • Catholic View
• Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth

  Pope John Paul II
• Revealed Knowledge of God:

  • ideas about God which God decided to show people
  • distinction between natural and revealed theology made in the Middle ages
  • Did not rely on people being highly intelligent as it was available for everyone through faith
  • confirms natural theology but also uncovered further truths which where unavailable to just reason alone
  • reason and observation of the world
  • fundamental teaching of the Christian faith - given through revelation
• Immediate and Mediate Revelation:

  • Immediate revelation - God known directly. Examples are the Prophets, Adam + Eve, Abraham (when asked to sacrifice his son), Moses and the Burning bush, everyone who met Jesus
  • Mediate revelation - less direct meeting and gaining knowledge of God. Examples are listening to Moses, the Bible (by most Christians although some argue it to be immediate).
• God as the Holy Spirit is believed to:

  • give the prophets of the Old Testament the right words to say at the right time
  • guide writers of the scripture so that they produce the word of God
  • give people wisdom by which to understand what is revealed to them
  • give faith with which to believe the Christian Message
  • give people the confidence to share the Christian faith
  • enables people to live a Christian life on a personal level
  • strengthen the Church as a community of believers
  • bring people to salvation
• Revelation through faith and God's Grace: pt 1

  • natural theology is not sufficient to gain knowledge of God - humans have a finite mind
  • revelation through faith + holy spirit - knowledge of God
  • Faith is the lack of conclusive evidence and is the bridge between experience and reason
  • Summa Theologica - empirical and logical evidence in front of us - using senses or reason --> called it 'Scientia'
  • opinion does not have the certainty that faith does - opinion is open to change where faith has a certain and solid commitment
  • faith can be seen as a barrier to knowledge
• Revelation through faith and God's Grace: pt 2

  • faith as a leap that can be taken once sense experience and reason have gone as far as they can
  • impossible to have faith without knowledge first
  • Hebrews 11 and the Gospel of John
  • Christianity emphasises faith as a means to have knowledge of God and it does so in the context of the Grace of God
  • knowledge of God through faith because of God's grace - gift of faith -- Through the Holy Spirit
  • Trinity
• All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own

  Hebrews 11
• Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”


  Gospel of John - the writer makes the distinction between 'believe' and 'know'. Possible to believe and to know both at the same time
• How Revelation is understood in the Bible:

  • through the beauty of the world - God is obvious everywhere we look -> "The Heavens declare the glory of God (Psalms)
  • through the events of history - people gain insight into the purposes of God by looking at the past to see what displeases God -> "So you bought all this disaster on them (Jeremiah)"
  • through traditional wisdom - idea that God can be revealed through the insights of wise people --> "Trust in the Lord with all your heart (Proverbs)"
  • through the words of the Prophets - messengers of God, speaking the words of the lord (Isaiah)
• How Revelation is understood in the Bible: 2

  • through religious experiences and visions - presents them experiences or visions which are his words transmitted --> "He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heave (Genesis)"
  • through the natural laws and design - take things for granted such as the laws of physics
  • through the person of Jesus - Jesus is understood to be the incarnation of God in human form, eternal creative wisdom and power of God born into the world as a man. --> "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John)"
• How Revelation is understood in the Bible: 3

  • The Bible itself - reveals truths about God, can be considered the literal word of God or a collection of ancient teaching and mythos, source through which God can be known, reveals knowledge which people could not gain in other ways such as the creation of the world. Purpose of God in the person of Christ is for sacrifice, wisdom literature. Interpreted and sometimes treated as a myth --> "from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus"
• How Revelation is understood in the Bible: 4

  • the life of the Church - Catholic Tradition, scriptures communicate the truths already and are then revealed. Church is made up of the people of God. Church is seen as the body of Christ, continuing the work done by Jesus when he lived on the earth. Church as a centre of Christian worship, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist. Responsibility for safeguarding the word of God in the Bible. Important authority.
• Study of Acts 17:16-34:

  • seen in the Book of Apostles
  • first followers of Jesus (apostles) - to spread the message
  • Holy Spirit helped through difficulties
  • Paul goes to Athens which was politically and culturally powerful
  • first time bringing Christianity to those with a philosophical debate - debates at the Synagogue usually
  • through human reason, Paul hopes listeners will gain knowledge of God
  • insulted by being called 'seed-pickers'
  • uses philosophy to stop them from worshiping false idols
• Study of Acts 17:16-34: cont'd

  • accuses the audience of superstition
  • only one God who is much bigger than the small idols
  • look for the true God
  • uses reason to discern from this that God is so powerful to create the world
  • humans dependent on God - reason can demonstrate God
  • natural theology to find the attributes of God
  • limited success
  • Calvin used this in his writings, show that everyone has the capacity to believe in God
  • awareness of God
• They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

  People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you

   God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands

  In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.


  Acts 17:16-34 quotes
• Augustine & Karl Barth on Original Sin vs Aquinas’ Natural Theology:

  • Karl Barth was influenced by Augustine, who claimed that after the Fall our ability to reason become corrupted by original sin. This is a problem for natural theology which wants to make use of reason.
  • dangerous to rely on human reason to know anything of God, including God’s morality
  • humans discover through reason is not divine, so to think it is divine is idolatry – putting earthly things on the level of God. Idolatry can lead to worship of nations and even to movements like the Nazis.