Philosophy of Religion

CHAPTER 11
THEOLOGY
LORETO C. MORALES
MAED
 THEOLOGY
 the word “theology” comes from two Greek
words that combined mean “the study of
God”.

 the study of religious faith, practice and

experience especially the study of God and
God’s relation to the world.
 The Problem and Definition
of God
The Theist “the person who created and looks
after the universe exists;” whereas the Pantheist
means “the uncreated universe exists.

 Agreement between republicans and

communists is not real but verbal as is that
between theist and pantheist.

 Their is extremely misleading to say that

Theist and Pantheist both believe in God.
Mysticism: God as Indefinable
Mysticism is more defensible when expressed
by saying that God is one of those words that
cannot be defined using other words.

If you are to know or what God is, you must be

shown, you cannot be told

 Mysticism as thus defined is a thoroughly

consistent and reasonable point of view and it has
the further advantage of being irrefutable.
 Ontological Argument: God
Exists by Definition
at least one medieval theologian, St. Anselm (Belen Qtd
2002) claimed that we, We all undestand that the word
God refers to the Supreme Being, the greatest and most
perfect being conceivable. Therefore, we all understand
that God must exist.

this proves that theism is true by definition. To prove

that atheism, the cotradictory of theism, is self exist.
From this assumption, it will follow that the being that is
by definition most perfect does not exist, but a being that
does not exist is imperfect. Therefore, if God does not
exist, then the perfect being is imperfect, which is absurd.
Therefore, God exists.
Theism: God as a Creative and
Providential Person
All genuine theists believe that God is a person.
Indeed, official Christian doctrine has long been
that God is three persons in one.

Theist hold that God made man in his own

image, but man is like God, then must be lie man,
a person. Some theists deny that God is a
physical person, holding him to be purely
spiritual being instead. But a spiritual person is
still a person.
 Proofs and the Disproofs of
God
THE BIBLE AND MIRACLES
- Another popular argument that commits the
same fallacy is the argument from miracles.
Mary Martin recovers mysteriously from what
was diagnosed as terminal cancer.
- Since a miracle is by definition and instance of
divine intervention in the course of natural
events, to cite miracles in proving God existence
is to assume the very thing that is in question.
 Proofs and the Disproofs of
God
A COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT: GOD AS
FIRST CAUSE
- St. Thomas’s argument has two main defects.
First, there is no reason to deny an infinite series
of causes and ARISTOTLE has given us reason
to think that the universe could not have a
beginning. Second, even if there was a first cause,
there is no reason to attribute to it the traits of
personality that theist attribute to God.
 Proofs and the Disproofs of
God
THE METAPHYSICAL ARGUMENT: GOD
AS CAUSE OF EVERYTHING
-This argument would prove the existence of the
God of theism, but it fails in two counts.
*First, many things have no clear purpose; if
they have a purpose, we don’t know what that
purpose is.
*Second, the theory of evolution shows how
organisms with complex structures and functions
came about by a series of essentially random
happenings.
 Proofs and the Disproofs of
God
THE THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FROM
SUFFERINGS: GOD AS NONEXISTENT
-To the argument that suffering is inconsistent with the
goodness of God, there are several replies. One is the
Manichaean doctrine that God cannot do anything about
Satan, who is responsible for evil.

-Another is that suffering is punishment for our sins.

-Third is the optimistic belief that our suffering is not evil

but good in disguise, good because it serves some divine
purpose.
 God and Experience
THE NATURE OF RELIGIOUS
EXPERIENCE
- Religious experience is a philosophy of religion that
does not answer the question may lose itself in its
fascinating arguments that may be irrelevant.

- Religious is an experiential issue, not a merely

intellectual one.

- We shall give a brief analysis of the meaning of

religion; and we will contrast religious experience
with moral, aesthetic and purely secular experience.
 God and Experience
THE MEANING OF EXPERIENCE
- By experience is meant the consciousness or
awareness that individuals have. Experience is the
awareness of a subject but not necessarily a mere
subjective awareness.

- All experience is subjective in that it is something

that subjects or individuals have.

- Experience is the state of consciousness of an

individual who is aware of something as other
whether or not not it really is other.
 God and Experience
THE MEANING OF EXPERIENCE
- Experience may be viewed in TWO WAYS:

1. Experience in general is the totality of

consciousness like that of being slave.

2. It is a specific experience which focuses on a

given aspect or moment within the whole of
one’s consciousness, such as a certain event in
one’s life.
Different Levels of Experience
 The most basic level of experience maybe
called PRIMARY AWARENESS; while
SECONDARY AWARENESS is the
consciousness of being conscious.
 It is being aware of the fact that one has
awareness. Within this secondary awareness
are many activities such as remembering,
reflecting, relating and reasoning. All of these