Knowledge of God
(Incomplete)

This topic is about how Christians believe we gain knowledge of God.

Debates center around whether knowledge can be gained from faith alone, or whether reason plays any role.

The use of reason is fiercely debated theology and philosophy. Some believe that reason is an essential part of us (Aristotle) whereas some believe that it has been fundamentally altered due to Original Sin.

The two schools of thought are:

Natural knowledge: we know God by ourselves through human faculties such as observation, reason, or an innate sense of the divine.
Revealed knowledge: is when God shows Himself in some way, such as through Jesus to earth and the Bible.

Natural Theology - Aquinas

Aquinas has multiple ways in which knowledge of God can be acquired.
We can know of God's existence via the teleological and the cosmological arguments (Aquinas' 5 Ways). These are a posteriori arguments that arrive at conclusions of God's existence due to causation, motion, contingency and design.
God's moral law can be known via the use of reason in deducing the primary precepts by observing telos in the world and understanding that things are directed towards a goal.
God's nature can be known by analogy, through the analogies of attribution and proportion.
Aquians did not believe that reason alone could provide an absolute proof that God existed, because this would render faith and revelation useless. However his reasoned arguments as listed above support faith in god.
We can back up Natural Theology using the Bible:
"since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities...have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1:20)

The Problem of Reason

Augustine argues that humanity is corrupted due to the fall. Because of this, humans cannot use their reason and they are inclined to do bad. Only those gifted with God's grace are able to be saved.
Karl Barth similarly argues that it is dangerous to rely on human reason to know anything about God, including God's moral law. His quote: "the finite has no capacity for the infinite" shows that out minds cannot grasp God's infinite being. Conclusions arrived at via reason cannot be divine. To say so is idolatry as it puts earthly conclusions on the level of God.
Stanley J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson further explain Barth's view: "any attempt to ground the truth of God's word in human reasoning...leads to theology being subverted by human thought". They label this: "anthropocentric theology" and call it an evil that Barth is having to fight against.
Martin Luther also argued for Sola Scriptura (Use of the Bible alone); our reason is too corrupted to be able to understand natural revelation and so the best we can do is meditate on the Bible and hope to understand God's word.

Natural Theology -Sensus Divinatis

An innate sense of the divine is when a person uses their own capacities to know and understand God.
John Calvin argues that all humans are capable of sensing God, as we are all born with this sense of the divine.
His proof for this is that some people in remote civilisations seem to have an idea of God without having been exposed to him.
Furthermore, the very fact that we are able to feel good when we do a good action but feel bad when we do a bad action means that we have an innate understanding of right and wrong which comes from a sense of God's goodness.
The beauty that some people seem to see in creation is also attributed to the sensus divinatis. Observing beauty in nature is seen as a way of understanding and beholding God even though he is not physically in nature himself.
However, Calvin did not believe that our reason of capacity for understanding God was without fault. He did believe that The Fall had corrupted this innate sense and so we can get confused and preoccupied with ignorance.
Because of this, Calvin argues that natural theology alone is insufficient and we need revealed theology for salvation. Nevertheless, Calvin argued that natural theology left humans “without excuse” but believed that it couldn’t save us.
That there exists in the human mind and indeed by natural instinct, some sense of Deity [sensus divinitatis], we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself, to prevent any man from pretending ignorance,
"For anyone to arrive at God the Creator he needs Scripture as his Guide and Teacher."

Sensus Divinatis AO2

Hans Van Eyghen argues that the idea of a sensus divinatis conflicts with modern science. Furthermore, he also argues that this sense is wholly unnecessary and if God wanted to reveal himself to us, he just would.
HOWEVER: Kelly James Clark argues that there is actually empirical evidence for the sensus divinatis as humans seem to have a natural and evolutionary disposition towards theism.
But we could push the initial objection further and say that not everyone has an innate sense of the divine. While, yes, some people do, in a modern context many more people are atheist and feel no connection or sense of any deity whatsoever.
Alvin Plantinga could respond to the above by claiming that sin has a noetic effect that damages human knowledge which can block the sensus divinitatis - which then accounts for individuals who claim they don’t feel a sense of divinity naturally.
Emil Brunner argues that while the Fall destroyed humans material imago dei, it didn’t destroy our formal imago dei, which includes our reason, language and morality. This would mean that natural knowledge of God is still possible, in knowledge of preserving grace, sustained creation and more. Post-Fall we can still gain knowledge and belief in God through our reason that remains intact.

Emil Brunner and Karl Barth

Revealed Knowledge

Revealed knowledge is when God, in some way, deliberately chooses to reveal himself to us. This could be through the person of Jesus Christ, the Bible or the Church.
The Bible is seen as the direct and perfect word of God.
In The Old Testament, God talks to prophets directly -> Moses on Mount Sinai.
In the Gospels of the New Testament the story of God coming to Earth as Jesus Christ is told.
For Martin Luther, the bible alone is all that is needed for belief in God. "A simple layman with a bible is greater than the mightiest Pope without it."

Extra Resources

Here are some extra resources for this topic. Things like essay plans for A* answers. They are paid for, sorry! They're £2 each because they take me a really long time to make :)