Multiple choice quiz- write your answers( I need to take the scores in)

1. What does it mean to suggest that God is omnipotent? A That God is all powerful B That God is all knowing C That God lives on forever D That God is everywhere at once

2. Which of these is a possible definition of omniscience? A That God is all powerful B That God knows all that it is logically possible to know C That God knows more than human beings D That God knows what I will do tomorrow

3. What does it mean to describe God as timeless? A He does not change B He goes on forever, no beginning, no end C He is in time and experiences change D He is outside of time and all of time is present to God

4. Which word best sums up Boethius’ understanding of God as eternal? A He is everlasting B He has no beginning C He is timeless D He is never-ending

5. What does Swinburne mean by suggesting that God’s omnipotence should be defined in a narrower way? A That God can do all things B That God is limited and not really omnipotent C That definitions of omnipotence are too complicated D That we ought not include actions that are logically impossible

6. Which word does Peter Geach propose as an alternative to the word omnipotence? A Almighty B Quite powerful C Immutable D Transcendent

7. Which of these issues is not a problem of God’s omniscience? A Knowing the past B Knowing the future C Middle knowledge D Knowing the taste of food

8. Which of the following words is not part of the traditional theistic idea of God? A Benevolent B Eternal C Impassive D Holy

9. What is Boethius’ solution to the problem of eternity and foreknowledge? A God knows the future and we do not have freewill B God does not know the future, it hasn’t happened yet C God knows the future but does not cause it to happen D God knows the future but does not foreknow as he is outside of time

10. Which of these problems is not linked to the attributes of God? A The problem of evil B The problem of creation versus evolution C The problem of freewill D The problem of prayer

The answers: give yourself a mark /10 2. B 3. D 4.C 5. D 6.A 7.A 8c 9. d 10, B

A. God as Creator – Qualities The divine attributes include the following : 1. Omnipotence – God is all-powerful, capable of anything 2. Omniscience – God is all-knowing, he is knowledgeable of everything 3. Omnipresence – God is everywhere, he is present in all situations at all times 4. Omni benevolence – God is all-loving, he shares his infinite love with creation God stands apart from the universe and is transcendental – beyond the realms of time and space.

Divine Fiat = The creative command of God to let there be (The divine command)

In Genesis 1 there are two types of forming/ creating Bara = To shape or create (UNIQUE & Brings something into being that did not exist before) Asah= To do or make (Forming what has already been created)

using Genesis 1 Read through Genesis 1 and list or highlight things that are created Asah and Bara Where is Divine Fiat seen in the Genesis account? Basically – students need to read through Genesis 1 and list which things are created Asah and Bara. This will prepare them for the exam question.

Creatio ex Nihilo It is not made clear whether God was the shaper of a chaos of pre-existing matter, a formless void, or whether God created everything out of nothing, ex nihilno. The Jewish and Christian doctrine of thought usually takes the view that God was both creator and shaper. Aristotle – “nothing can come from nothing”

Read the Creatio ex Nihilo info sheet and answer the floowing questions What is Creatio ex Nihilo? What is Gnosticism? How does Gnosticism relate to Creatio Ex Nihilo?

Watch the two clips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agnEJ5R1FjE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEcZcgcb41E

God as creator Compare this account with aspects of God as a creator we looked at last lesson. How does this link with the teleological argument?

DEISM THEISM … the belief in a God who starts the world off or creates it and then leaves it to run by itself. This view make God completely separate from and not involved with his creation … refers to the belief in a God who creates the world and continues to sustain it and be involved with it. This us the traditional view of God held by the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.

Relationship with humanity God does not just think about himself but purposefully calls the world into existence desiring a loving relationship with creation, a relationship that works both ways. This is very unlike the Aristotelian concept of a Prime Mover who does not know that the universe exists because the only subject that is worthy of thought is himself.

Creation as ‘good’? Everything made by God is good and purposeful – nothing exists by chance or is inferior of quality or bad – God is solely responsible for creation and described it as ‘very good.’

EXAMINERS REPORT (from a different exam board but interesting to see what students did ) Explain what is meant by ‘creatio ex nihilo’. This was the least popular of all the questions and the second most poorly answered. Some candidates were unable to move past a GCSE standard explanation of what happened on each day of creation. The attributes of God were linked in from time to time in the explanations but answers lost focus from the question, often becoming answers on stewardship. Many answers approached this question with Aristotle’s Prime Mover, Aquinas’ cosmological argument and even on occasions Paley’s analogy of the watch. Candidates were often unable to distinguish between ‘creatio ex nihilo’ and ‘God as a craftsman’. Better candidates were able to discuss the ideas of Divine Fiat and the differences between the Hebrew words bara and yasar and other subtleties of the Biblical account, which is a text rich in opportunities for philosophical enquiry. A significant number of candidates were able to define creatio ex nihilo, but many chose then to write pre-prepared answers outlining Aristotle’s theory of the four causes or seized an apparent opportunity simply to recount the content of Chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis. Better responses were able to develop both philosophical and theological implications of God creating from nothing, sometimes contrasting this with relevant material from Plato and Aristotle. The openness of the question enabled examiners also to credit other legitimate insights.