Theology and Faith

What is Theology?

• Throughout the history of man, there is a longing in the

very heart of man for the divine, a desire for God (divine
longing). St. Thomas even said that it is natural for man
to seek God for we are created with the capacity to know
Him.
• Because of this “divine longing” that we have “theology”,
a “fusion of this belief in God and the intellectual activity
in an attempt to understand the divine”.

• As St. Anselm defined theology as “faith seeking

understanding” (fides quaerens intellectum)
• Theology came from 2 Greek words:

Θεος (theos) – God

and λογος (logos) – word or discourse

Theology: a discourse about God

a critical look at the Word of God
• Theology can also be considered as a science about
God for like any other sciences, it gives us objective
truths. Theology gives us objective truths about God.
• Although theology can be considered as a science, its
difference with other sciences is that it stands on the
ground of FAITH and not just simply on scientific
process. Theology is also considered as a “science of
faith”
 Faith as Prerequisite and End of Theology

• Faith is very important in one’s study of theology

because believing is a prerequisite to knowing, that for
one to know and understand God, believing in Him must
be present first.
• Faith is necessary in theology because of the
limitedness of the human mind that there are some
truths about the divine that the human cannot
comprehend, we call it as “mysteries”. And it is only
through faith that one can understand the mysteries
about God
 What is Faith?
a. virtue – a good habit

b. gift from God – infused to us by God

c. a human act – our response to God’s self-communication

d. a way of life – it involves accepting his Word as the rule of life

and the way to salvation
 Faith as a Total Act of Man

• Because faith is also considered as a way of life, it

involves the totality of a human person. It involves the
mind (believing), the heart (trusting), and the hands
(doing).
 The Three Dimensions of Faith
Mind / Believing What we should God, not an abstract idea DOCTRINE
Head we believe in? but a person who calls us
into a relationship with
Him

Will / Doing What must we Commit ourselves to obey MORALITY

Hands do on account God’s will for us
of what we
believe in?
Heart Trusting What can we The overflowing love of WORSHIP
hope for on God and the promise of
account of what eternal happiness
we believe and (Salvation) that is
its requirement constantly being made
for us to do? known to us every time
we commune with Him in
prayer
 Difference between a Christian Faith and a
Catholic Faith

Faith Believing in God

Christian Faith Believing in God revealed by Jesus Christ
Catholic Christian Faith Believing that Christ reveals God to us in
and through the Catholic Church
• Our faith becomes Christian when we accept that God,
at a graced time assumed our human nature in order to
accomplish our salvation.

• PCP II tells us that Christian faith means “to know, to

love, and to follow Christ in the church he had founded”
and that this faith has 5 essential characteristics:
a. total and absolute
b. Trinitarian
c. loving maturing, and missionary
d. informed and communitarian
e. inculturated
• Catholic faith is the belief that Jesus Christ reveals God
in and through the Holy Catholic Church. Catholic means
“universal” for it is intended for all. It is a faith that is
deeply sacramental, traditional, and communal