I
SPECIAL
QUESTIONS ON
RELIGION
DESIRED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of this period, students are able to:
1. Determine some special questions on God
and religion.
2. Appreciate the importance of these
questions in one’s life.
3. Share some personal experiences on how
these questions make one think.
DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
Can God be
known by human
reason alone?
DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
Can belief in God
be possible?
DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
If God exists,
what is He?
DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
Can an eternal
God act in a
temporal world?
What is Philosophy of Religion?
• Philosophy of religion is the philosophical
examination of the themes and concepts
involved in religious traditions as well as
the broader philosophical task of
reflecting on matters of religious
significance including the nature of
religion itself, alternative concepts of God
or ultimate reality, and the religious
significance of general features of the
cosmos.
What does it cover?
• Philosophy of religion involves
all the main areas of
philosophy: metaphysics,
epistemology, value theory
(including moral theory and
applied ethics), philosophy of
language, science, history,
politics, art, and so on.
What does it cover?
•Hence, philosophy of religion
covers also all questions
about God – His existence,
His essence, attributes and
actions. Thus, we study this
nd
2 part of the subject
But first we ask:
•Can God be known by human
reason alone?
God is
incomprehensible
yet cognoscible
Incomprehensibility does not
mean incognoscibility
Something is comprehensible
when it is totally comprehended
by the intellect. Something is
incognoscible if it cannot
radically be reached by the
intellect.
But we can know something
rationally of God: that He exists;
that He acts in the world
Hence, He is not radically
incognoscible because we
know something about
Him by reason alone.
Yet God is incomprehensible
because we cannot totally
comprehend or grasp Him in our
limited intellectual capacity
God is so great. Our human
intellect cannot contain Him.
Hence, He is
incomprehensible.
The Incomprehensibility of God
1.
2.
3.
Incomprehensibility is
transcendence.
A created mind cannot see
through its natural powers the
Divine Essence.
The human mind can only know
perfectly and adequately things
that have form and matter.
The Incomprehensibility of God
1.
The cognoscibility or intelligibility
of a thing depends upon its
actuality (act & potency):
something is knowable in as much
as it is in act (unumquodque est
cognoscibile secundum quod est in
actu).
The Incomprehensibility of God
2. Since God is Pure Act, hence, God is
infinitely cognoscible (knowable). God
is knowable in Himself.
3. However, something that is
absolutely knowable in itself MAY NOT
BE knowable to a certain intellect, due
to the latter’s defect. (A bat cannot see
the sun).
The Incomprehensibility of God
4. Yet, that God is exceedingly
knowable DOES NOT NECESSARILY
MEAN He can be completely,
absolutely or radically
COMPREHENSIBLE because what is
comprehended never exceeds the
limits of the one who comprehends
it. God, then, is incomprehensible
for all created intelligence.
The Child by the Seaside
While Augustine was working on his
book On the Trinity, he was walking
by the seaside one day, meditating on
the difficult problem of how God
could be three Persons at once. He
came upon a little child. The child had
dug a little hole in the sand, and with
a small spoon or seashell was
scooping water from the sea into the
small hole.
Augustine watched him for a while
and finally asked the child what he
was doing. The child answered that
he would scoop all the water from
the sea and pour it into the little
hole in the sand. ‘What?’ Augustine
said. ‘That is impossible. Obviously,
the sea is too large and the hole too
small.’
‘Indeed,’ said the child, ‘but I will
sooner draw all the water from
the sea and empty it into this hole
than you will succeed in
penetrating the mystery of the
Holy Trinity with your limited
understanding.’ Augustine turned
away in amazement and when he
looked back the child had
disappeared.