1. Knowing God
Chapter 2

2. Our Need For God We are by nature religious beings.
Each of us has an empty place that only God can fill.
We are made to live in spiritual union with God – the only way to true happiness
St. Augustine – “For you have made us for yourself, God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

3. Reason and Revelation
Reason – the natural ability human beings have to know and understand truth.
natural revelation – the process by which God makes himself known to human reason through the created world.
* the beauty of creation
* the power of love
* the voice of conscience
all make us feel certain about the
existence of God)

4. Reason and Revelation (cont)
Divine Revelation – God makes himself and his divine plan known to the human race through words and deeds in human history.
* thru Bible accounts of God/Chosen
People
* thru Jesus Christ – the fullest and
complete revelation of who God is.

5. Scriptures and Tradition
Sacred Tradition
* Apostolic Tradition/Tradition
* the Holy Spirit helped the Apostles remember and understand all that Jesus did and taught.
* the Apostles handed down everything they knew about Jesus to the first Christians and to the generation of leaders who followed them.

6. Scriptures and Tradition (cont)
Sacred Scripture
* People in the early church began to create written documents explaining what the Apostles had handed down about Jesus – the Gospels.
* New Testament – a written portion of the Apostolic Tradition.

7. Scripture and Tradition (cont)
Tradition + Scripture = single sacred Deposit of Faith.
It’s the responsibility of the Magisterium (bishops in union with Pope) to faithfully teach, interpret and preserve the Scriptures and Tradition for all believers.

8. Biblical Inspiration and Interpretation
biblical inspiration – the Holy Spirit inspired the biblical authors to write what God wanted us to know for our salvation.
biblical inerrancy – bible is free from error regarding the spiritual and religious truth revealed by God for our salvation.

9. Sidebars
canon – the official list of books of the Catholic bible – the letters, gospels and writings believed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit
Sola Scriptura – “scripture alone”
PRIMA a process for reading the Bible
Pray, Read, Imagine, Meditate, Apply

10. Saint Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225-1274)
One of the greatest theologians in the Church – so intelligent he could dictate to four scribes at same time
Summa Theologica – his most famous work – still studied today
A genius nicknamed “dumb ox” - large size and silent ways
Example of how faith & reason can coexist