Vocab Test Flashcards
(41 cards)
SCHOLASTICISM
The system of philosophical and theological inquiry developed in the medieval schools of Christian Europe
SCIENCES
The practice of systematically observing the behavior of nature so that we may come to better understand the laws and structures that govern it. In this sense, science is a restriction of reason, not reason itself
SCIENTISM
The belief that the only things that exist are the things science can prove through its very particular, restricted methods.
NATURAL RELIGION
As opposed to religion informed by Divine Revelation, natural religion is based upon reason and ordinary experience rather than upon Divine Revelation. It is the product of the ethical and divine understanding available to human reason.
NATURAL REVELATION
What God communicates to us about himself simply through the
existence of creation. When God creates, he imprints a mark, and
through that mark we can learn something about God.
NATURAL THEOLOGY
The knowledge we can have about God and his attributes simply
through using reason, apart from revelation.
PHILOSOPHY
Derived from Greek meaning literally “love of knowledge,” philosophy
is the pursuit of truth and understanding through the application of
human reason.
POLYTHEISM
A belief in the existence of more than one God.
PRINCIPLE OF CAUSALITY
The process of knowing God’s existence through the realization that all
creation must originate from a First Cause.
PRACTICAL MATERIALISM
A type of atheism that seeks fulfillment in material goods alone.
RATIONALISM
Strict rationalism consists in judging everything solely and exclusively
according to philosophical or scientific reason. Thus, there is no room
for faith; any faith is deemed superstition.
REASON
The intellectual power or faculty that is ordinarily employed by man in
adapting thought or action to some end; the guiding principle of the
human mind in the process of thinking
RELIGIOUS BEING
A being created by God in order to live in communion with God. Every
human person, by nature and vocation, is a religious being and will not
live a true human life if he or she does not choose freely to live in this
bond with God
REVELATION
God’s communication of himself by which he makes known the
mystery of his divine plan
ACT OF FAITH
A supernatural assent of the intellect through which a truth revealed by
God is believed on the authority of God who reveals it. One who makes
an act of faith is certain of the truth and makes a free-will choice to
believe in it.
COVENANT
A solemn agreement between people or between God and man
involving mutual commitments and guarantees.
DIVINE
Modifier indicating something that refers or pertains to God.
FAITH
The theological virtue by which one believes all that God has said and
revealed to man and that the Church proposes for belief.
MAGISTERIUM
The name given to the universal teaching authority of the Church,
MIRACLE
A sign, wonder, or event which transcends the laws of nature and
therefore can be attributed to divine power.
MOTIVES OF CREDIBILITY
The four main signs and evidence that certain affirmations are made
by God (or by those chosen by God to speak with his authority) and
that they have been passed along to us completely and without error
MOTIVE OF FAITH
The reason why a person comes to believe m God-namely, the
authority of God himself.
PROPHECY
Something that is said in the name of God.
PROPHET
person called by God to speak to his people, often to announce future
events that could not otherwise be foreseen.
A person called by God to speak to his people, often to announce future
events that could not otherwise be foreseen.
