Alister McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction Chapter 8 Philosophy and Theology: Dialogue and Debate Wiley-Blackwell 2010

Introduction Relationship between Christian theology and secular philosophy –Tertullian: What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? –Augustine: critical appropriation –John Paul II: enriching dialogue Philosophical systems –Platonism –Aristotelianism –Ramism –Cartesianism –Kantianism –Hegelianism –Existentialism Wiley-Blackwell 2010

Philosophy and Theology: The Notion of the “Handmaid” Ancilla theologiae Platonism –Plato ( BC) –Theory of “Forms” –Christ and the logos Aristotelianism –Aristotle ( BC) –Impact on Christian thought, western culture, Islamic scholarship –Study of the natural world Verification and falsification: can Christian ideas be proved? –Logical positivism –Karl Popper –Athony Flew Realism: to what do theological statements refer? –Critical realism –Nonrealism (Don Cupitt) Wiley-Blackwell 2010

Can God’s Existence Be Proved? Anselm of Canterbury’s ontological argument –God is “that than which no greater thing can be conceived” God is the greatest possible being. God exists in the human mind or understanding. A being who exists only as a mental notion is not so great as a being who exists in reality, and not merely as a mental idea. If God exists only in the human mind, then God is not the greatest possible being. It therefore follows that God must exist in reality, as well as an idea in the mind. –Gaunilo –Immanuel Kant Thomas Aquinas’s “Five Ways” –Motion and change: God as unmoved prime mover –Causation –Existence of contingent and necessary beings –Origin of human values (truth, goodness, nobility, etc.) –The teleological argument/argument from design Wiley-Blackwell 2010

The kalam argument –Everything which has a beginning must have a cause. –The universe began to exist. –Therefore, the beginning of the existence of the universe must have been caused by something. –The only such cause can be God. A classic argument from design: William Paley –Fifth of Aquinas’s “Five Ways” –William Paley ( ), Natural Theology; or Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature –God as watchmaker –David Hume’s criticisms Wiley-Blackwell 2010

The Nature of Theological Language Apophatic and kataphatic approaches –Apophatic (apophatikos, negative) –Kataphatic (kataphatikos, positive) Analogy –Principle of analogy: continuity between God and the world –E.g., “God is love” –E.g., Jesus’ death as a “ransom” for sinners Metaphor –Both similarity and dissimilarity –Open-ended –Emotional overtones Accommodation –John Calvin A case study: the Copernican debate Wiley-Blackwell 2010