Evaluating Knowledge of God’s Existence
Evaluating Knowledge of God:
Agree Disagree
● Romans 1:20 - Seems to suggest ● Original Sin (Barth) - Our reason
the truth of natural theology with St. was corrupted by the fall and it is
Paul saying that “God’s invisible dangerous to rely on it since “the
qualities… have been clearly seen, finite have no capacity for the
being understood from what has infinite”. Whatever humans discover
been made”, justifying the use of through reason is not divine and to
observation such as in the treat it as such is idolatry
cosmological and teleological
arguments Counter : Three Goods (Aquinas),
The prelapsarian nature had three
● Binocular Vision (Polkinghorne) - goods: rationality, an inclination to
Argues that knowledge of God is like the good, and complete control over
binocular vision, with one eye the soul (original justice). Only
seeing the physical and another original justice was destroyed by the
seeing the spiritual world. Both are fall
necessary for true understanding of
creation ● Revealed Theology (Calvin) - The
damage caused by the Fall had an
● Natural Theology (Aquinas) - We irreversible effect on our ability to
can never fully know God’s divine reason. This means we can only
nature, but we can supplement our know God through worship and
knowledge with observation and following his moral commands as
reason such as God’s Existence, revealed in scripture and Jesus
Moral Law, and Nature. However
faith is still required for certain belief ● Sensus Divinitatis (Calvin) -
Argued that all humans have an
Counter : Undermines Faith (Barth), innate sense of the divine, in
If we could discover God’s morality, extension to our other senses.
existence and nature through There is no rational way to be an
reason then revelation, scripture and atheist, since God placed this sense
Jesus become worthless of the divine “in the hearts of all
men”, and this sense can be seen in
Counter Counter : Shows our conscience, perception of
Reasonableness (Aquinas), Reason beauty, and intellectual faculties
is not a substitute for faith, but
shows the reasonableness of belief Counter : Prevalence of Atheism,
in God and vindicates faith. E.g. The modern prevalence of Atheism
Natural Law and Divine Law in the 21st Century disputes its
irrationality given the numerous
● Natural Theology (Brunner) - The philosophical defences from the
Fall destroyed the material imago likes of Hume
dei (Adam and Eve’s relationship
with God including mortality, etc) but ● Sin as Noetic (Plantinga) - Claims
not formal imago dei (which gives us that sin has a noetic quality that
Evaluating Knowledge of God:
Agree Disagree
● Romans 1:20 - Seems to suggest ● Original Sin (Barth) - Our reason
the truth of natural theology with St. was corrupted by the fall and it is
Paul saying that “God’s invisible dangerous to rely on it since “the
qualities… have been clearly seen, finite have no capacity for the
being understood from what has infinite”. Whatever humans discover
been made”, justifying the use of through reason is not divine and to
observation such as in the treat it as such is idolatry
cosmological and teleological
arguments Counter : Three Goods (Aquinas),
The prelapsarian nature had three
● Binocular Vision (Polkinghorne) - goods: rationality, an inclination to
Argues that knowledge of God is like the good, and complete control over
binocular vision, with one eye the soul (original justice). Only
seeing the physical and another original justice was destroyed by the
seeing the spiritual world. Both are fall
necessary for true understanding of
creation ● Revealed Theology (Calvin) - The
damage caused by the Fall had an
● Natural Theology (Aquinas) - We irreversible effect on our ability to
can never fully know God’s divine reason. This means we can only
nature, but we can supplement our know God through worship and
knowledge with observation and following his moral commands as
reason such as God’s Existence, revealed in scripture and Jesus
Moral Law, and Nature. However
faith is still required for certain belief ● Sensus Divinitatis (Calvin) -
Argued that all humans have an
Counter : Undermines Faith (Barth), innate sense of the divine, in
If we could discover God’s morality, extension to our other senses.
existence and nature through There is no rational way to be an
reason then revelation, scripture and atheist, since God placed this sense
Jesus become worthless of the divine “in the hearts of all
men”, and this sense can be seen in
Counter Counter : Shows our conscience, perception of
Reasonableness (Aquinas), Reason beauty, and intellectual faculties
is not a substitute for faith, but
shows the reasonableness of belief Counter : Prevalence of Atheism,
in God and vindicates faith. E.g. The modern prevalence of Atheism
Natural Law and Divine Law in the 21st Century disputes its
irrationality given the numerous
● Natural Theology (Brunner) - The philosophical defences from the
Fall destroyed the material imago likes of Hume
dei (Adam and Eve’s relationship
with God including mortality, etc) but ● Sin as Noetic (Plantinga) - Claims
not formal imago dei (which gives us that sin has a noetic quality that
