Unit 2: The God Question

Unit 2: The God Question Junior Year Religion Course Overview

Unit 0: Introductory Materials Unit 1: Epistemology (The Study of Knowledge) Unit 2: The God Question

The Characteristics of God

Unit 3: The Christian Understanding of & Response to God The Characteristics of the Christian God Faith, Prayer, and Discipleship

Unit 4: Moral Reasoning Unit 5: Conscience Formation Unit 6: Contemporary Ethical Issues

Unit 2: The God Question

Meeting the Living God by William J. O’Malley, S.J.

The Third Question: What is God Like?

The God of the Philosophers

The God of the Philosophers The Characteristics of God

The Human Mind (Mere Christianity, p. 22-26) Mind conscious, purpose, preferences Director gives instructions

The Universe (Mere Christianity, p. 29) A great artist good, beauty, order rather than chaos Merciless and not a friend to man

The Law of Human Nature (Mere Christianity, p. 30) A Power that is intensely interested in right conduct – in fair play,

unselfishness (generosity), courage, good faith, honesty, truthfulness

The God of the Philosophers The Characteristics of God

The human ability to reason God is a Mind capable of reasoning (seeing alternatives

and choosing among them)

The created universe God is a Creator who works with an ultimate purpose,

favors growing and evolving, and allows suffering and death

The paradoxical nature of humans God’s nature is also a paradox

The God of the Philosophers The Characteristics of God

Immanence The idea that God is within, indwelling, and “locked” in

the world Transcendence

The idea that God is beyond, apart, in no way boxed within the world

Although it might seem like a paradox, God is both immanent (dwells in the world) and transcendent (unbearably distant) all at once and at the same time

The God of the Philosophers The Characteristics of God

The paradoxical nature of God as both immanent and transcendent can be better understood with the following analogies: Science A Fish Atoms Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Helen Keller

The God of the Philosophers

Meeting the Living God by William J. O’Malley, S.J.

The Third Question: What is God Like?

The God of Other Religions

The God of Other Religions Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 1: The

Rival Conceptions of God A Christian does not have to believe that all the

other religions are simply wrong all through An atheist must believe that the main point in all

the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake

The God of Other Religions Pantheism (polytheism); God is only immanent

The belief that God animates the universe and that the universe is God and anything you find in the universe is a part of God god is the sun , god is the moon, god is the tree, god is the rock, god is the

mountain humans worship the sun, the moon, the tree, the rock, and the mountain

because each of these things is god The belief that God is beyond good and evil

Judaism/Christianity (monotheism); God is both immanent and transcendent The belief that God invented and made the universe and that the

universe is God’s creation (Genesis 1) The belief that God is good and righteous, takes sides, loves love and

hates hatred, and desires for us to behave in one way and not in another The belief that God made the universe, but that a great many things

have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists on our putting them right again

The God of Other Religions Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 2: The

Invasion Christianity is a complex religion for a complicated

and odd world Christianity is a believable religion because it is not

something a person could have guessed or made up

The God of Other Religions Dualism (polytheism)

The belief that there are two equal and independent powers (or spirits or gods) at the back of everything, one of them good and the other bad, and that this universe is the battlefield in which they fight out an endless war

Judaism/Christianity (monotheism) The belief that this is a good world that has gone wrong, but still

retains the memory of what it ought to have been The belief that the cruelty and injustice found in the universe is

the result of forces (the evil one or the devil) and people that have fallen away from God’s goodness

The belief that the Dark Power responsible for death, disease, and sin in the universe was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong

The belief that the war between good and evil is a civil war or a rebellion, not a war between independent powers

The God of Other Religions Christianity is the story of how the rightful

king (Jesus Christ) has landed in enemy (the evil one) occupied territory (the world) to lead a group of people (Christians) in a great campaign of sabotage (self-sacrificing love)

The God of Other Religions

The God of Other Religions Although people have seen God from different angles,

different times and cultures, and different preconceptions and biases, there is only one Mind Behind It All

The different ways of thinking about God Polytheism

The belief that there are multiple gods that maintain a high level of immanence and are only slightly transcendent

Monotheism The belief that there is only one supreme god that maintains a high

level of transcendence and is sometimes also immanent

The God of Other Religions Polytheism

The belief that there are multiple gods that maintain a high level of immanence and are only slightly transcendent

Dualism The belief that there are two equal and independent powers (or spirits or gods)

at the back of everything, one of them good and the other bad, and that this universe is the battlefield in which they fight out an endless war

Ex. Zoroastrianism A dualist religion of ancient Persia that split god into two equal and independent

powers, one of them good and the other bad Pantheism

The belief that god is all things and therefore there are multiple gods that are completely immanent

Ex. African Traditional Religion, native American Traditional Religion, Ancient Religions of the Middle East, Ancient Greek & Roman mythology

The God of Other Religions Monotheism

The belief that there is only one supreme god that maintains a high level of transcendence and is sometimes also immanent

Ex. Judaism The monotheistic religion that believes God is fully transcendent and

immanent and is binded to the Chosen People of Israel through a Covenant Ex. Deism

The belief that god put the world in motion, but no longer is involved in the world in any way; the belief in a god that is completely transcendent

Ex. Islam The monotheistic transcendent religion that arose around 600 A.D. as the

last revelation of the living God; it teaches that God exists from forever and is unquestionably supreme over all

The God of Other Religions Hinduism

The complex and diverse religion that originated on the Indian sub-continent whose adherents believe in reincarnation and the possibility of absorption into Brahma or the Oversoul

Buddhism The religion that arose from Hinduism through the

teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who believed that humans could achieve Nirvana by following “The Middle Path” of equilibrium and moderation

The God of Other Religions