Existence

The book, Dynamics of Faith, written by Paul Tillich provides his own ideas of what faith is not in three ways. Tillich explains the three distortions of the meaning of faith as the “Intellectualistic,” the “Voluntaristic,” and the “Emotionalistic”. Paul Tillich begins the second chapter by stating that, “Our positive description of what faith implies the rejection of interpretations that dangerously distort the meaning of faith” (Tillich, 35). The intellectual understanding of faith is not…

He says, “He knows God’s hand is extended to him. He speaks to God and receives an answer. He prays to Him, being just as certain of His existence as he is of his own or that of his neighbor. He requires no proof of this supreme certainty; yet should others desire proof he cannot provide it. He cannot offer objective evidence for what, in his heart, he knows to be utterly true and real” (Bergman…

Dan Lange Dr. Peppers-Bates Paper #1 November 3, 2017 Malebranche: Occasional Causation Nicolas Malebranche, a French Catholic theologian, was a philosopher who was both highly admired and criticized. His works, which stemmed and expanded upon his mentors St. Augustine and Descartes, attempted to demonstrate and explain the active role God plays in every aspect of the world. Malebranche is best known for his doctrines: Occasionalism - which states that God is the only genuine causal agent in…

Michael Popich in his Colloquium on Violence and religion, “Is there Distributive Justice without Violence”, opines that the existence of human societies without justice is unthinkable; and commenting on the relationship between justice, conflict and violence, he states: Distributive justice, where specifically imposed on human material conduct, may reduce or even eliminate economic conflict or violence at the observable of human interactions. However, the implementation or imposition of a…

tranquility and peace with the avoidance of pain and suffering. Epicurus rejected the idea of an all-powerful and all-loving God. His assertion has become the platform on which many skeptics of religion stand on and have used to question the co-existence of God and evil. If God is omnipotent, then he has the power to prevent evil from occurring. If God is omnibenevolent, is he able to prevent evil but not willing? So, if God is both able and willing, then why does evil exist? This notion paints…

The Best Possible World Ignorance and the State of Reality Written by: Cody McLean Course Instructor: Professor Dorter Seminar Leader: John Law Date of submission: October, 15, 2014 “Ignorance is bliss” is a statement overheard but not over spoken and the gravity of this statement is sometimes overlooked as it will become more apparent. The basis of our reality is perceptual, Man is born free but is chained to a false reality by his senses, and this reality is one of ignorance and…

opens up with a storm over the two creation stories. We learn that there are two stories that are developed in different time lines, that portray very different concepts. In the priestly edition, I learned that there were pre-existing factors in existence. In this edition there was only water and God. In addition,…

must be a precise answer for everything. But life is much more complex than a mathematic equation. Philosophy is not just an accumulation of knowledge, but rather its application in life. It also motivate us to appreciate the mysteries of life, existence, and reality. Certainly, the study of philosophy arises from the nature of humans…

science and faith at two distinct entities that have defining roles. The whole notion of the wager is to prove the supremacy of God and that life is being played at his discretion with the notion that someday we may or may not meet him. When the existence of God is questioned, individuals try to use science and scientific reasoning to prove that belief. The nature of God is to be above the notion of scientific proof and thus cannot be proven by which has been created by man. You cannot prove God…

Through [diction, figurative language, imagery, syntax] the poem “The Tyger’’ by William Blake conveys a “Baffled’’ tone, revealing how beauty is hardly noticed. One way the tone is revealed is by Diction. You may notice there are a lot of words and phrases that refer to fire like “ burning bright, fire, burning’’ and these words are used by the author to describe how dangerous and fierce, this tiger is. I mean, how is it God made this creature when God is thought to be beautiful and is…