Definitions

Question 1

Agnosticism

Answer 1

Affirms uncertainty to any claim of ultimate knowledge, since human knowledge is limited to experience.
You cannot know whether God exists or not.
Coined by Thomas Huxley to indicate modest ignorance and state of suspended judgment regarding ultimate issues.

Question 2

Suspension of judgement

Answer 2

Withholding judgments, particularly on the drawing of moral or ethical conclusions.
Opposite is premature judgment, usually shortened to prejudice.
Waiting for all the facts before making a decision.

Question 3

Animism

Answer 3

Inanimate objects/natural phenomena/the universe are “animated” by some spiritual presence.

Question 4

Apologist

Answer 4

Defense of a belief

from Latin “apologia,” or, “defense”

Question 5

Arianism

Answer 5

anti-Trinitarian

Jesus created by God, not equal/coexistent

Question 6

Aristotelianism

Answer 6

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

deductive reasoning of natural phenomena

Question 7

Atheism

Answer 7

Denial of any deity or personal God

Question 8

Baconianism

Answer 8

Method of scientific inquiry named after Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Emphasis of inductive reasoning and power of science
(“Knowledge is power”)

Question 9

Catastrophism

Answer 9

Geological change is the result of catastrophes (like Noah’s flood)
Also Diluvialism / Flood Geology

Question 10

Contextualism

Answer 10

Study of history within its context, taking cultural values into account (as opposed to Whiggism)

Question 11

Cosmogony

Answer 11

Theory for the beginning of the world/universe

Question 12

Cosmology

Answer 12

Study and theories on the origin, structure, and order of the universe

Question 13

Creationism

Answer 13

The belief that God created the universe immediately and out of nothing (ex nihilo) and that he made matter and all things substantially as they now exist.

Question 14

Creative Evolution

Answer 14

Purpose/meaning/direction behind evolutionary process

Question 15

CURIOSITAS

Answer 15

Latin - appreciating knowledge for its own sake

Question 16

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 16

Conclusions drawn/logically found from first principles (assumed truths, presuppositions)
General to specific

Question 17

Deism

Answer 17

The Clock Maker
Made the machine and left it alone
Not a source of morals

Question 18

Determinism

Answer 18

Life is made up of cause and effect
All events come from natural laws
No free will (all our choices stem from chemistry/genetics/etc.)

Question 19

Dualism

Answer 19

1. classical view of evil material world and good spiritual world
2. Cartesian separation of mind from matter. God implants ideas in the mind, such as morality and divinity. Matter is understood by reason, is mechanistic, and is described mathematically.

Question 20

Empiricism

Answer 20

All knowledge from induction/experience/experiment

Stimulated by the rise of experimental science, it developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, expounded in particular by John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.

Question 21

Epicureanism

Answer 21

Epicurus (c. 342-270 BC)
The external world is the result of a series of combinations of atoms (tiny, indivisible, finite elements that are the ultimate components)

Question 22

Epistemology

Answer 22

Branch of philosophy on origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge
Asks question: “How do we know?”

Question 23

Essentialism

Answer 23

Assumption that the understanding and definition of an idea has been essentially the same everywhere at all times. Underplays historical and cultural development

Question 24

Evolutionism

Answer 24

Also transmutation, developmentalism, Darwinism, progressivism

Question 25

Exegesis

Answer 25

close analysis or exposition of a passage, especially of the Bible

Question 26

Fundamentalism

Answer 26

Early 20th-century American Protestantism in reaction to theological modernism. Stresses inerrancy of the Bible and usually accepts a literal interpretation of Genesis 1

Question 27

Gradualism

Answer 27

Geological change is the result of a long series of gradual processes (such as volcanic eruptions and sedimentary build-up) that took place in past ages just as they do today. Also known as uniformitarianism

Question 28

Heresy

Answer 28

opinion or doctrine at variance with orthodox, accepted doctrines; a false belief

Question 29

Hermeneutics

Answer 29

Principles of interpretation (especially of the Bible)

Question 30

Higher criticism

Answer 30

A movement of biblical criticism that grew out of the Enlightenment, which rejects traditional views of the origin and authorship of biblical books. Questions the historical accuracy of the biblical narrative and views miracles and prophecy with skepticism.

Question 31

Inductive reasoning

Answer 31

the logical process of working from the particular to the general, basing a theory on the data. The truth of a conclusion is verifiable through future experience and examination of all possible instances

Question 32

Instrumentalism

Answer 32

the view that scientific theories may not fully or accurately describe physical reality but approximate it. Also called operationalism

Question 33

Intellectualism

Answer 33

God had to have created the universe according to external principles (e.g., of logic or physics). Hence there exist first principles that can be known prior to investigation of a matter. Opposed to voluntarism

Question 34

Materialism

Answer 34

All phenomena, including the human mind, are the result of material processes Nothing exists beyond what the senses can perceive

Question 35

Mechanical philosophy

Answer 35

Interprets natural processes in machinelike terms, as in Newtonian physics. All phenomena can be accounted for by mechanical principles (the laws of matter and motion)

Question 36

Metaphysics

Answer 36

Branch of philosophy dealing with first principles (axioms/assumptions)

Question 37

Modernism

Answer 37

A religion movement within modern Protestantism to reinterpret religious doctrines in the light of Enlightenment philosophy and modern science. In general modernists reject supernatural explanations, such as miracles and prophecy, and apply the canons of higher criticism to the Bible.

Question 38

Monotheism

Answer 38

one God

Question 39

Natural history

Answer 39

Botany, Zoology, geology, etc.

Question 40

Naturalism

Answer 40

only natural forces; rejects teleological (end goals) or religious explanations Universe self-sufficient without supernatural cause or control, can be explained in purely natural terms

Question 41

Natural philosophy

Answer 41

Physical science. Physical objects or processes observable in nature

Question 42

Natural theology

Answer 42

Theology based on knowledge of the natural world and human reason apart from divine revelation. Seeks evidence of God's governance in nature, where everything appears designed so perfectly for its purpose that it points to a Creator

Question 43

Ontology

Answer 43

Study of nature of being; metaphysics

Question 44

Orthodoxy

Answer 44

Traditional "true" views of theology as defined in the early centuries of the church

Question 45

Pantheism

Answer 45

Identifies the universe with God and denies God's personality. God is everything and everything is God

Question 46

Paradigm

Answer 46

A cosmological model; according to Thomas Kuhn, a world picture that incorporates the accepted scientific understanding of any age together with the presuppositions that undergird it

Question 47

Patristics

Answer 47

Study of the early church fathers (1st through 6th) and their writings. Also called patrology

Question 48

Philosophy

Answer 48

The rational investigation of the truths and principles of being. The three most traditional branches are moral, natural, and metaphysical

Question 49

Physico-theology

Answer 49

Movement from c. 1650 to 1850 to combine natural philosophy and theology in order to enhance one another by demonstrating that the 'two books' of God (nature and the Bible) work together to glorify God and show His beneficence

Question 50

Polytheism

Answer 50

many gods

Question 51

Positivism

Answer 51

Founded by Comte. Emphasizes objectivity, facts, and empirical confirmation. It eschews speculation regarding ultimate causes or origins and denies the possibility of final causes or of ultimate knowledge that transcends experience.

Question 52

Pre-Adamism

Answer 52

Pre-human forms prior to the creation of Adam and Eve

Question 53

Presentism

Answer 53

Assumption that the present values and ideas are the correct ones. The tendency to compare and judge the past by modern standards and to impose present views on the past

Question 54

Presuppositions

Answer 54

The assumptions that one takes for granted as axiomatic and that therefore do not need to be demonstrated

Question 55

Primary and secondary causation

Answer 55

Primary causation is the ultimate or final cause of something (such as a natural process), which is traditionally believed to be God Secondary causation is the process according to which nature operates, as described by scientists

Question 56

Providence

Answer 56

beneficent governance of the world; more particularly, God's omniscient and wise care in directing the universe and the affairs of man

Question 57

Rationalism

Answer 57

Accepts reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, conduct, and belief. In philosophy the belief that reason alone is the source of knowledge independent of sensory experience. Knowledge and truth are to be tested by deductive (as opposed to empirical) methods

Question 58

Reductionism

Answer 58

Reduction of something to nothing more than its basic components. Thus mind is nothing but matter

Question 59

Revelation

Answer 59

God disclosing himself and his will to his creatures. general - creation/nature special - prophecy/miracles/Scripture

Question 60

Scientific naturalism

Answer 60

the explanation of nature and natural phenomena without recourse to God

Question 61

Scientism

Answer 61

Exaggerated trust in the applicability of the methods of natural science to all areas of investigation (e.g. philosophy, the social sciences, and the humanities). the view that science is the only way of knowing

Question 62

Secularism

Answer 62

Advocates the rigid exclusion of theology, religion, and morals from institutions and public life such as school and government

Question 63

Social Darwinism

Answer 63

Application of evolutionary concepts to society (as, e.g. in the view that the rich are rich because they have the skills for survival, and the poor are poor because they do not). Used in the 19th century to justify imperialism and the eugenics movement

Question 64

Teleology

Answer 64

The view that final or ultimate causes exist; the belief that purpose and design are part of or are apparent in nature

Question 65

Theism

Answer 65

Belief in a single, personal, transcendent, immanent (operating within), infinite God, who both created and sustains the world

Question 66

Thomism

Answer 66

The theological and philosophical system of Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274 A.D.), who created a synthesis of Christian and Aristotelian ideas that is accepted by the Roman Catholic church

Question 67

Uniformitarianism

Answer 67

also gradualism

Question 68

Voluntarism

Answer 68

The will rather than the intellect is the fundamental principle of agency; in particular, the belief that God created the world He wanted without having to obey preexisting laws; opposed to intellectualism

Question 69

Whiggism

Answer 69

The tendency among some historians to write history in terms of its progress to the present and to skew history with biases in favor of people whose ideas were in keeping with those held in the present. The opposing tendency (called contextualism) is to study history in terms of its cultural context without attention to where ideas led and therefore whether they are in accordance with our present views.