There are many things that I have learned in this class. I thought it will be another boring Philosophy class wherein a huge number of philosophers will be discussed and that I would simply end up being presented with different philosophies without knowing how I could apply them to myself as a seminarian and a future priest. Apparently, I was wrong. It turned out to be an interesting class especially when early Christians were discussed in the class. I was amazed when I learned that Church fathers utilized Philosophy and even borrowed some of its concepts in order explain the faith further. My thesis statement would be, the Catholic faith is sound insofar as it is philosophical. It is interesting to know that even today the Church still …show more content…
This is the reason why I chose to delve on how Philosophy was used in order to explain the faith. In order to become an affiliated Catholic apologist of KSM, an aspirant must undergo series of trainings and be able to defend one topic. In my case, since I am a seminarian, the group had to take advantage of my semestral break for my training. Although the original plan was not achieved because they asked me to make the apologia (defense presentation) immediately without even having undergone a thorough training. They had me chose my own topic. It could be anything which they have not discussed yet. And since I am also interested to join the group, I agreed. I told myself that this could be one way I’d be able to find God – by knowing Him. I must defend and share the splendor of His Church. Because I want to present something I do not know yet, I decided to challenge myself and so I chose the most controversial and probably the most misunderstood dogma of the Church, the Holy Trinity. THE EARLY COUNCILS ON EXPLAINING THE HOLY TRINITY During the Eleventh Synod of Toledo in Spain (675 AD), the Holy Catholic Church declared the …show more content…
Paul’s letter to Timothy makes it very clear, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man (human) Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). In Luke 1:43, when Elizabeth greeted Mary said, “How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” The term “Lord” has two uses in the Bible: first, to refer to God and second, to refer to a human master. If one will read the original text in Greek, he would see that the title “Lord” in this verse is “Adonai” which we know is only for God. We can also cite Isaiah 9:6-7 where the Messiah was given divine titles, “For unto us child is born, unto us a Son is given… and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” But of course, He is also a man. He was given human names, He had a human ancestry, He possessed human natures, He was subjected to law, and was moved by the instinct like normal human beings do. In John 20:28, Jesus accepted the testimony of Thomas “My Lord and my God”, which refers to his two natures fused into one being because the Greek text would use the terms “adoni” and “Adonai”. Had the apostle said this by mistake, Jesus would have corrected him, but apparently He did
One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...
Jesus is not a mere man. He is so much more than a man; we can see
Christians, unlike Muslims and Jews, accept and submit to Jesus as God who came down to earth to save mankind from their sin and eternal consequences. One of the main goals or themes of the book of John is to prove or recounts Jesus’ claim that He is God. The book of John is full of many examples where Jesus following his miracles wishes to make people understand that He is God. He wasn’t just a prophet as many Muslims believe, or some speaker, or radical Galliealiean as many Jews thought. He was God! In (John 10:30), Jesus stated, “I am and the Father are one.” This short verse mentions two members of the trinity, and does not separate them as different entities. Jesus is saying I am a form of who God is, or the Father. We are one! “Whoever has seen the son has seen the father.” For this reason, the Jews almost stoned him on that occasion. Their hardened hearts had chosen not to believe, and so they were insulted that a man standing right in front of them had proclaimed himself to be God. Another time Jesus proclaimed his divine existence comes from (John 8;58). “Before Abraham was born, I am.” Again the religious Jews almost killed Him for daring to state that. This man had the nerve to call himself and identify himself as what God had identified himself to their beloved and sacred leader, “I Am.” Not only that, but he stated that before Moses and Abraham existed, He already existed. Yet scripture always backs itself up, and had (John 8:58)
Although this is a paper about Faith and Religion I will not make a statement as to which
To begin, the Catholic Intellectual Tradition is known as a 2000 year conversation between the church and the world. When the age of the Enlightenment captivated Europe and other parts of the world, intellectuals and philosophers focused their attention to only reason and away from faith. In fact, many Enlightenment philosophers argued faith and reason could never be compatible. On the other, from the perspective of a Catholic Intellectual, many would oppose this way of thinking and argues a Catholic can most certainly promote both faith and reason.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
Even though Averroes’ assertion that philosophy is an obligation from all who study religion seems to support innovative ideas, closer analysis shows the opposite. Considering all the limits set upon the encouragement of producing personal opinions, the role of philosophy is practically redundant. Opinions are only accepted from scholars, and even then, when they are in line with what is considered to be “right”.
Shuck, M. That They May Be One: Social Teaching of the Papal Encyclicals, 1749-1891. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. 1991.
In John 10:30 Jesus says; “I and the Father are One.” By this, He meant that He and God were the same. For example, God and the Son of God both created everything (1 Corinthians 8:6) (Morgan, 211–212). The Holy Spirit is also God too, as one can read in 1 John 5:7–8: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” This Holy Divinity is called the Trinity- a group of three, as One. “In the name of the Trinity the living God is revealed” (Robinson, 187) This Trinity is God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. “The Triune God is an all-sufficient God, all-sufficient for Himself and all-sufficient for His people” (Robinson,
Pope John Paul II once said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fallible Blogma) Based on this significant and powerful quote, one can infer that faith and reason are directly associated and related. It can also be implied that the combination of faith and reason allows one to seek information and knowledge about truth and God; based on various class discussions and past academic teachings, it is understood that both faith and reason are the instruments that diverse parties are supposed to use on this search for truth and God. There are many stances and viewpoints on the issues of faith and reason. Some believe that both of these ideas cannot and should not be combined; these parties deem that faith and reason must be taken as merely separate entities. However, this writer does not understand why both entities cannot be combined; both terms are so closely compatible that it would make sense to combine the two for a common task. Based on various class discussions and readings, there are many philosophers and theologians who have certain opinions regarding faith, reason and their compatibility; these philosophers include Hildegard of Bingen, Ibn Rushd, Moses Maimonides, and St. Thomas Aquinas. The following essay will examine each of the previously stated philosopher’s viewpoints on faith and reason, and will essentially try to determine whether or not faith and reason are ultimately one in the same.
The thesis of this essay is that philosophy is at an important crossroads at the end of the twentieth century in its role as paideia—philosophy educating humanity. An unprecedented challenge and opportunity for philosophy today is to mediate, and enhance understanding of the relationship, between science, ethics and faith. A central question arises: What can philosophy contribute to the emerging dialogue between science and theology? The emerging science-theology dialogue is characterized by complexity and considerable confusion regarding proper methodologies, goals, and possible interactions. There are at least three major schools, model...
The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
Jesus Christ was both fully human and fully God at the same time, He lowered himself through kenosis to be like us. Through the Holy Spirit we are risen up, we are
It has been said that Jesus was one hundred percent man and one hundred percent God. This is a concept that is hard to understand if you do not have the scriptural evidence to back up this fact. The first reason that Jesus’s humanity is so important is that it was necessary to fulfil the covenant with Israel. In the Old Testament the prophet’s, priest and Kings all spoke of someone who could bring redemption to the world that they could not. In Acts 10:38 it shows how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Even though Christ lived in the world he remained sinless and never once forgot his deity. When he received his anointing which was needed in order to fulfill the messianic purpose, he then was called Christ and Son of David.
When first looking at the relationship between philosophy and religion, I found it easier to explain the differences rather than the similarities. I began this paper the same way I do others. This generally involves a profound amount of research on the topic at hand. However, in contrast to the other papers I have done, the definitions of philosophy and religion only raised more questions for me. It was fascinating how the explanations differed dramatically from author to author.