Handbook of Catholic Apologetics

Two Authors Peter Kreeft Ronald Tacelli, S.J.

Education B.A. Boston College (1969) M.A. University of Toronto (1973) Ph.D. University of Toronto (1980) M.div. Weston School of Theology (1982) Ordained Jesuit Priest (1982) Professor of Philosophy at Boston College since 1984

Peter Kreeft Born in 1938 A.B. Calvin College (1959) Converted to Catholicism M.A. Fordham University (1961) Ph.D. Fordham University (1965) Professor of Philosophy at Boston College since 1965

Author of 64 books thus far. His ideas draw heavily from –Plato, –Aristotle, –Thomas Aquinas, –G. K. Chesterton, –and C. S. Lewis.

CONVERSION a visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York when he was twelve years old, "feeling like I was in heaven... and wondering why, if Catholics got everything else wrong, as I had been taught, they got beauty so right. How could falsehood and evil be so beautiful?"

Essentials of Catholic Christianity

God

GOD The existence of God Is there anyway to know that God exists? There have been many attempts to prove the existence of God. If you had to debate an atheist, what would you say?

Can we prove the existence of God?

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) an Italian Catholic priest in the Dominican Order a philosopher and a theologian He was a proponent of natural theology. The work for which he is best-known is the Summa Theologica. One of the 33 “Doctors of the Church”, he is considered by many to be the Catholic Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. Based on reason and experience

Quinque viae The Five Ways The argument of the unmoved mover The argument of the first cause The argument from contingency The argument from degree The argument from design

“Proofs” for God’s Existence 2. The Argument from Efficient Causality 5. The Design Argument 19. The Common Consent Argument God the Uncaused Cause God the Intelligent Designer Evidence from History

There are two types of reasoning Deductive & Inductive

Deductive Reasoning - uses arguments to move from premises to a conclusion. The conclusion must be true if the premises are true and the sequence is valid.

For example: 1.All student athletes have had a physical, 2.John is a student athlete, 3.therefore John must have had a physical. Deductive reasoning moves from the general to the particular.

Inductive Reasoning -the premises of an argument are believed to support a conclusion, but do not guarantee its truth.

Example: 1.Every summer for the past eight years I have traveled to Ireland, 2.every summer for the past eight years I have caught a cold, 3.therefore, whenever I travel to Ireland I will catch a cold. Inductive reasoning moves from a large number of particular examples to a general rule.

Deductive arguments are about truth, they are either true or false. Inductive arguments are about probability, they are more or less likely.

There are two reasons why a deductive argument could be false: a false premise or an invalid sequence

Deductive 1.Every baseball game has nine innings. 2.Mike played the entire baseball game. 3.Therefore, Mike played for nine innings. 1.All men are mortal. 2.Pat is mortal. 3.Therefore, Pat must be a man. Not a valid sequence True or False Why? false premise True or False Why? a man mortal

Inductive arguments can be weak or strong. 1. My dog is three years old and has lived through at least a dozen thunderstorms, 2. Every time there has been a thunderstorm my dog has run away and hid, 3. therefore, whenever a thunderstorm happens, my dog will hide. 1. Every Thanksgiving for the past six years, I have eaten pecan pie at my grandma’s house, 2. Every year for the past six years I have had an allergic reaction at my grandma’s house, 3. therefore, whenever I eat pecan pie I will have an allergic reaction.

“Proofs” for God’s Existence Evidence from History God the Uncaused Cause God the Intelligent Designer Are they deductive or inductive? Deductive Inductive

The Argument from Efficient Causality God the Uncaused Cause 1.Everything that exists in time & space has a cause outside of itself. 2.The physical world (the universe) exists in time & space. 3.Therefore, a cause must exist for the physical universe outside of itself.

Everything that exists in time & space has a cause outside of itself. Examples: Counter-examples: Perhaps the universe was caused by a chain of cause & effect, going all the way back to the “big bang.” But what caused the “big bang”?

God the Uncaused Cause 1.Something cannot come from nothing, 2.things do exist today, 3.therefore there has to be something that always existed, without a cause. That is an Uncased Cause. In other words, if there was a time when nothing existed, then nothing could ever exist.

The Design Argument God the Intelligent Designer 1.Every object with order and design must have had an intelligent designer, 2.The human being & the entire universe has tremendous order and design, 3.therefore the world must have been created by an intelligent designer.

Every object with order and design must have had an intelligent designer. Perhaps design can happen by random chance. Can the most intricate designs be created randomly if given enough chance? Could cars and computers form from an undirected process? Humans are more complex than cars or computers.

But, you may say doesn’t evolution explain how everything came to exist?

The age of Earth is believed by many scientists to be: _______________ Given enough time can life evolve from the simplest forms to the most complex? 4.5 billion

Infinite Monkey Theorem Will a monkey hitting keys at random on a keyboard for long enough amount of time eventually type a complete book like Hamlet by William Shakespeare? No, A billion monkeys typing nonstop for a billion years would not produce even one page.

Probability shrinks exponentially, To get just the first 20 letters in Hamlet correct, the probability is one in 19,928,148,895,209,409,152,340,197,376

Inductive Reasoning

The Common Consent Argument Evidence from History 1.Virtually all cultures in all places at all times have believed in the existence of a higher power, 2.universal human beliefs & reason are trustworthy, 3.therefore it is more reasonable to conclude that there is a higher power than that there is not.

All cultures in all places at all times have believed in the existence of a higher power Is that true?

Universal human beliefs & reason are trustworthy Is that true?

Other Arguments for the existence of God Pascal’s Wager Miracles

Pascal’s Wager You have two choices: there are two possibilities: beliefno belief God exists God doesn’t exist heaven nothing hell Society is better Society suffers

Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662) a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. With faith in God, you have everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Without faith in God, you have everything to lose, and nothing to gain

Miracles Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe they still happen today? What % of Americans believe in miracles?

Thomas Jefferson AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE AUTHOR OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Two other notable achievements: 3 rd President of the US Wrote his own version of the Bible

Thomas Jefferson Bible also known as The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth was Thomas Jefferson's effort to extract the doctrine of Jesus by removing sections of the New Testament containing miracles. Why?

What is a Miracle? Dictionary.com - Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary 1. an extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers. 2. such an event considered the work of God. 3. a wonder; marvel.

From the textbook A striking and religiously significant intervention of God in the system of natural causes.

What is a Miracle? An event that is: perceptible surpassing the powers of nature produced by God Why do they happen? Intended: to witness to some truth to witness to someone's sanctity CatholicReference.net

Can God do anything? God can perform miracles but not contradictions. example- Can God make a rock so heavy that even He cannot move it?

Two questions about Miracles Are miracles possible? Are miracles actual? The book focuses on the possibility of miracles.

Does the Catholic Church specifically affirm certain miracles? Yes, Although Catholics are not obligated to believe any miracles outside of those in the Bible. With some exceptions-

Miracle of Lanciano The miracle of Lanciano is officially recognized by the Catholic Church as an eucharistic miracle. In the city of Lanciano, Italy, around A.D. 700.

During Holy Mass the host was changed into live Flesh and the wine was changed into live Blood. In 1970-'71 and again in 1981 there took place a scientific investigation by several renowned scientists. These analyses sustained the following conclusions: 1.The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood. 2.The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species. 3.The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart. 4.The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (Blood- type identical to that which was uncovered in the Shroud of Turin). 5.The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.

Arguments Against the Existence of God

Thomas Aquinas could only come up with two arguments against the existence of God: Science The Problem of Evil

Science The ability of science to explain more and more of the world. Science explains much of the world that people in the past relied upon religion to explain.

Response As we have discovered more about the physical universe we now have _________questions not less. The evidence does not suggest that science will ever be able to resolve all of the possible questions. more

Only argument that attempts to disprove the existence of God to disprove a specific idea of God.

The Problem of Evil Did God create everything? Does evil exist? Did God create evil? yes or no

God attributes of God: Omni-benevolent Omniscient Omnipotent All-loving All-knowing All-powerful

How can evil exist given such a God?

Five possible solutions 1.Atheism 2.Pantheism 3.Naturalism 4.Idealism 5.Biblical theism There is no God God is not all good God is not all powerful Evil does not exist There is no contradiction

Solution to the “Problem of Evil” Evil is not a thing Evil is a choice Evil is a choice we make example- parents & car

JOB Describe Job at the beginning of the story. Describe Job at the end. What happens in between? Who speaks in the story? What is the overall message?