Reason, Faith, and Theology: A Philosophical Analysis

Posted on Dec 16, 2024 in Religion

I. Reason and Faith

Reason and faith are equal and inseparable, displayed in the same area.

  1. There are no boundaries between reason and faith. Reason helps to have faith. If you believe, faith points to the right; through faith, unintelligible things can be understood.

  2. Original Sin

    The phrase “man lying on the original sin” means that the world is imperfect (war, pain…) because man in another world committed an offense against God by trying to take over the world, so God punishes. This fall is addressed by Jesus, who sacrificed himself to redeem human suffering. The absorption of sin by Christ’s divinity in the form of passion saves us from moral acts of evil. Their actions are passive.

  3. The Powerlessness of Mankind Before God

    The belief that mankind is powerless before God leads to seeking God for salvation. All are equal before God. God gives grace to believe in him, and it is optional. We are dependent on both God and our behavior (to a lesser extent). Reason, once I believe and give you a sense of history, will help me clarify issues of faith. Humanity rationally seeks to clarify the contents of faith. This alone can make the Christian philosopher. Two ideas: The lack of autonomy of reason against faith believes that reason can say something about faith because it has no limits. It serves to clarify any content of faith.


II. Epistemology

  1. Infinite and Perfect Knowledge

    How is it that humans have them? They come from God, eternal and perfect.

  2. God created human beings (birth), giving them a priori knowledge and understanding light; without it, we could not understand what is perfect. The essences are in God.

  3. Ways to Use Reason

    Two ways: lower reason, which is the science that attempts to satisfy human curiosity. Higher reason requires knowledge, wisdom, the culmination of which is God.


III. Theology

  1. God is immanent and transcendent, in and out of the world at the same time. It is immanent because it is present in the illumination, which is human reason. It is outside the world because it is indeterminate, is everything but is not defined by what is in this material world. God is being.

  2. Does God Choose the Scents?

    There are two theories:

    1. If God is omnipotent, he could have combined everything. God is above reason because it can give us a reason below.
    2. God is the same reason, a part of it, and cannot be created. God is subject to the kill.

  3. God created the world from nothing (ex nihilo), from the time it is created. The problem is, how did God create the world out of time?

  4. The Problem of Physical Evil

    The evils that man is responsible for, why does God permit them? Two arguments:

    1. Creating positive: God gives being to things, and these things are given copies of the essence of God. The world is a reflection of the divine.
    2. Imperfection of the world: if God creates the world, the world being created is imperfect and material. Imperfect beings are limited by non-being.


IV. Ethics

  1. Moral Evil

    God gives human beings freedom (the laws do not govern their lives). This makes it possible to choose to be good or bad. Moral evil is the responsibility of man to God.

  2. Pelagius

    Pelagius is the main enemy of St. Augustine, offering criticism of some beliefs about the Bible:

    • a) “Original sin affects only Adam and Eve.” Two reasons: I am not responsible for the error of another person. How is it possible to inherit a sin?
    • b) There is no need for God to save me; if I follow a good life, God has to recognize it, so I must save myself.

  3. Response of St. Augustine

    Response to “b”: saying this is putting God at the level of men is a challenge and an insult. The distance between God and man is hopeless, and without his grace, one cannot be saved, but it is also insufficient. Response to “a”: original sin is transmitted because for someone to be born, the practice of intercourse is impure and sinful. Also, if this was not the original sin, the life of Christ could not be explained. (You have to believe in everything that is said in the Bible).

  4. Predestination

    4.1. God exists and is omniscient, knows the future, our destiny is written in God, and we are not free.

    4.2. SA said that if we know the future, it does not influence the development of things. “Things happen not because I expected them, but they exist because I foresee that they happen.” God provides for freedom. God is timeless, not in time; God cannot predict their own future, so it is free (no one before or after it).


V. Policy

  1. Philosophy of History

    History is the venue of God, where salvation occurs, and where Christ dies. It has a beginning and an end. A book metaphor can be used to compare it.

  2. The City of God

    2.1. There are two groups of people: those who live without God and think that there is only this world (earthly city) and those who live with God (City of God).

    2.2. Relationships between religion and state: the church is above the state, so it must be submitted. There must be independence between them.