Black theology

In Of Truth, his practicality is also crystal clear when he compares truth to pearl and not diamond. He has strong approval of sacrificing truth to falsehood for the survival on earth which surely goes against morality. He announces: “A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.” (1691, p.2) Religion offers spiritual as well as temporal succes. It has ordained nothing which goes against the very nature of human being. Its tenets and injunctions are formed for man’s progress in…

The Causal Argument strategy is an argument from Aquinas that utilizes the Causal Principle. Aquinas’s argument starts from some known effect, as in relation to cause and effect, and then argues that this particular effect must have been caused by God. Aquinas starts off his argument by asserting the existencce of something. He then states the Causal Principle. Later, Aquinas makes a claim about what must be the sufficient cause of the thing he asserts exists in the first claim. Finally,…

Aquinas for Armchair Theologians examines the nature of evil in chapter 3, “Why Is There Evil? Do Humans Have Free Will?”. Aquinas answers the first question by stating, “…that God does not make evil. God only makes good. Evil, in a sense, does not exist at all- at least it is not a substance or a thing” (Renick, p.33). The author also uses the Daisy Theory and Hitler to make the claim “privation of the good” is evil. However, when looking at what the Bible has written about evil it states, “For…

1. Aquinas does not believe the existence of God is self-evident. When something such as God is self-evident to us as humanity the thing does not need to be proven. However, we as humans do not simply just know the facts of the universe (basis for self-evidence) we only know the facts we have slowly discovered through the sciences. Aquinas contrasts “self-evident to us” with “self-evident in itself.” As explained if the universe was self-evident to us, we would not need to try to prove the…

Reflection on St. Augustine Del Rosario, Gabriel Christian G. “Faith = Healing” Among all the philosophers that we have taken up so far in class, St. Augustine has made the biggest impact on me thus far. What caught my attention to Augustine was the fact that he was a non-believer who indulged himself in what can be considered paganistic teachings, but after converting to Christianity, he became a different person, one that had changed for the better. He taught that true happiness could…

This need to humanize Rizal is brought up by the notions of Rizal being a supreme being with no fault. This close-to-being-a-god notion gave us a reason to understand and know who Rizal is under all the titles and ideologies attached to his name. In fact, a reason why he is thought of as a god is because his life is a mystery. Not a lot of people knew who he was besides his literary works and his heroic deeds so if we knew how he lived, we can understand him and his works. One of the people who…

common (Mott, 2017). However, arguments and debated over the existence of God have been controversial for long time. William Paley, a leading philosopher, presented the design argument for the existence of God in his most important work, “Natural Theology” (Rea, 2014). The design argument is the view that the universe must have an intelligent designer as a watch needs a watch designer. David Hume, another famous skeptic philosopher, presented the classic critique of the design argument in his…

This essay will outline Cullison’s sacrifice argument against the problems of divine hiddenness. It will then show that this argument does not work, as a world in which true human sacrifice is possible is not a better world than one where God is not hidden. I will refer to the former as a ‘Godless World’ and the latter as a ‘Godly World’. There are three themes which this essay will address: true human sacrifice, two potential worlds and human freedom. I will conclude that a ‘Godly World’ – even…

Can Satan be said to have self-knowledge, as he seems to in Book IV? Is it possible for one to know oneself when one has rejected God and one's own creatureliness? If we are to accept that Satan "has self knowledge," we must define this self- knowledge: what does is mean to know one's self? By knowing one's self, does one better understand one's essence, or does one better understand one's emotions and the causes of one's state? In short, is Satan's self-knowledge of his emotions and responses,…

Kevin Vanhoozer shares some affinity with Barth and Placher as well. His separation of theology and ethics I find most interesting because his premise, that scripture and its subsequent doctrine can best be understood as a script for dramatic performance. And yet somehow Vanhoozer separates the script and its performance, suggesting at various points throughout his book The Drama of Doctrine that both stand on their own. In Vanhoozer’s narrative approach, God the director is also the…