THEOLOGY & ISMS
This is the study of God, famously defined by St. Anselm as "faith seeking understanding".
What is Theology?
The knowledge of God's existence derived by human reason while reflecting on the created order.
What is Natural Revelation?
This Dominican priest and Doctor of the Church composed the "Five Ways" or cosmological proofs for God's existence.
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas?
This argument compares the complexity of the natural world to a well-designed timepiece.
What is the Watchmaker Argument?
means “being made flesh,” and refers to the assumption of a human nature by Jesus
Incarnation
This term describes the belief in only one God.
What is monotheism?
The official teaching authority of the Catholic Church, made up of the bishops in communion with the Pope.
What is the Magisterium?
French philosopher famous for mind-body dualism and the phrase "I think, therefore I am".
Who is René Descartes?
The argument stating that an endless chain of contingent causes is impossible, requiring an uncaused First Cause.
What is the Cosmological Argument?
Term for a "defender of the faith" who works to dispel false rumors and make Christianity reasonable.
Apologist
This belief system asserts that God is identical to creation itself.
What is pantheism?
These two forms of Divine Revelation combined make up the Deposit of Faith.
What are Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition?
He was a heliocentrist who was condemned, but not excommunicated, by the Catholic Church.
Who is Galileo Galilei?
C.S. Lewis statement that there exists real fairness and justice which points to a standard and thus a higher power
Moral Argument
A formal meeting of all Catholic bishops from around the world convened by the Pope.
What is an Ecumenical Council?
This philosophy views God as an impersonal creator who set the universe in motion but does not intervene.
What is Deism?
The total number of books in the Catholic Old Testament.
What is 46?
Greek philosopher who believed the soul was material and rejects the afterlife
Epicurus
The argument that God must exist in reality because God is that "than which nothing greater can be conceived".
What is the Ontological Argument?
What is the term for the systematic study of using reason/logic to explore truth, existence, and morality.
Philosophy
Known as "negative theology," this approach defines the Divine by describing what God is not.
What is Apophatic Theology?
This 19th-century Ecumenical Council officially taught that God can be known by reason through creation.
What is The First Vatican Council?
The 9th-century theologian who wrote that God "transcends being" and cannot be categorized as a finite object.
Who is John Scotus Eriugena?
Worldview stating that evil and suffering are merely illusions.
Monism
The medieval intellectual method that fused philosophy with Christian theology.
Scholasticism