Theology Flashcards
(37 cards)
Does Aquinas consider God to be self-evident?
Aquinas says that since we cannot fully grasp the essence of God, his existence needs to be shown to us in other ways.
i.e. creation
What are Aquinas’s Five Ways?
- Proof from Motion
- Proof from causality
- Proof from the contingency of the World.
- Proof from grades or perfection.
- Proof from final causes.
Describe Aquinas’ “Proof from Motion.”
This argues that change occurs as something comes to be what it was not before.
Nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality except by something in the state of actuality.
Describe Aquina’s “Proof from Causality”
This argument deals with the “effectual cause,” the agent that caused the change.
Describe Aquinas’ “Proof from the Contingency of the World.”
It is possible for us not to exist. we are not necessary beings.
- There was a time when we did not exist.
- If everything was a contingent being then nothing would exist now. (an infinite series of generated contingent beings cannot exist.)
Describe Aquinas’ “Proof from grades of perfection.”
There are degrees of perfection in various things.
The effects must have a cause that is sufficient to bring it.
Describe Aquinas’ “Proof from final Causes.”
Some things act in the world for the sake of an end.
- i.e. an acorn is to germinate and become a tree. The acorn does not have a mind, therefore there must be something that creates this goal in the acorn.
What is Anselm’s Ontological argument?
That, than which nothing greater can be conceived, cannot exist in the understanding alone.
For, if it exists in the understanding alone, then it can be conceived to exist in reality; which is greater.
What is a theistic proof?
A theistic proof is any argument for the existence of God.
What is “change”
Change is the actualization of a potential.
Change requires a changer.
Pure act - the first cause cannot be derivative by nature, and definition.
What is a contemporary argument for the existence of God from change?
Any object you choose is not a necessary being and therefore must not have always existed.
What is univocal language?
Univocal - when a word is used in the exact same sense toward two different things.
These would be words that cannot be used in any other sense such as drill bit. It’s very specific to one thing.
What is equivocal language?
Using the same word in a different way.
(A baseball bat and a flying bat are not the same thing but use the same language)
What is analogical language?
Words that are using similarities.
Goodness of God and the goodness of man are not the same thing.
See analogia
What are the three types of relationships we can conceive of?
1.) Logical in both terms of the relation.
- this relationship exists only in the mind.
- it’s a distinction that makes logical sense.
2.) is real in both terms.
- a relationship that exists among things that are in the same order of being.
3.) mixed relation- the relation is real in one term and logical in the other.
- it is not imaginary. It exists in reality.
- the thing is real, but also exists in the mind.
Give an example of a relationship that is “real” in both terms.
A relationship that is real exists among things on the same order of being.
They are dependent on one another.
Such as:
A Father is only a father in relation to a son or daughter.
One thing is big/tall and another is small/short.
Describe a relationship that is mixed. That is, real in one term and logical in another.
This relationship is not imaginary. It does exist.
Knowledge of something is an example.
- the thing is real but also exists in the mind.
Unlike real relationships the thing you have knowledge of (like a book) is not dependent on your knowledge but your knowledge must depend on it.
Describe the hypostatic Union in terms of relations. Is it logical? Real? Mixed?
We can better understand how the divine nature entered into a relationship with the human nature through a mixed relation.
The human nature underwent change without changing the term of the other (divine) nature.
The human nature came into existence causing a change in the relationship.
The divine term does not change but the relationship does.
What are “affections” and”passions” in humans?
Affections are those things that are external to us that affect humans.
Passions are a subsection of affections.
Why do we say God is without passions? Does that mean God does not love?
Impassibility is the term that means without passions.
This does not mean God is without love , mercy, joy, etc.
God is not affected by externality. He does not have human emotions and affections but rather perfections.
Why is it important to understand the impassibility of God?
God is without passions. That is he is not affected by externalities.
The Bible describes God with human emotions. However, the Bible also describes him as someone who does not change his mind (Numbers 23:19).
Texts that tell us of God’s being take priority over texts that talk about his actions.
The Bible uses figurative language when describing God.
If God is omnipotent does that mean that he can create a square circle?
God is all powerful.
But he isn’t a God of contradictions.
What is the difference between God’s necessary knowledge and his free knowledge?
God knows all things. He is omniscient.
He knows what actually occurs (facts) as well as the counter factuals which is what would have occurred.
- this is part of his necessary knowledge - “all things.”
Gods free knowledge is a subcategory of necessary knowledge.
- it is God’s knowledge of what he did freely will to decree and create.
What is Natural Theology?
Orthodox teaching suggests there is natural theology that is partly innate, derived from the conscience, and partly acquired, as Turretin puts it “drawn from the book of creatures.”
