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Lesson 29: Knowing God in the Middle Ages

Review. Lesson 29: Knowing God in the Middle Ages. How can I know God?. We can only ask this question because of grace. General Revelation. Special Revelation. Four primary means of knowing God: Wesleyan “ Quadrilateral”. J.I. Packer “ Quest for Godliness”. Scripture. 2. Tradition.

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Lesson 29: Knowing God in the Middle Ages

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  1. Review Lesson 29: Knowing God in the Middle Ages How can I know God?

  2. We can only ask this question because of grace • General Revelation • Special Revelation Four primary means of knowing God: Wesleyan “Quadrilateral” J.I. Packer “Quest for Godliness” • Scripture 2. Tradition “Restless experientialist” 3. Reason “Entrenched intellectuals” 4. Experience

  3. Mysticism “The mystic believes that there is an absolute and that he or she can enjoy an unmediated link to this absolute in a super rational experience.” Winfield Corduan, Mysticism: An Evangelical Option? The Mystic Path Normal Living Action Union with God Contemplation

  4. Augustine Bernard of Clairvaux Gregory the Great Francis of Assisi Bonaventure Nicolas of Cusa

  5. Scholasticism ‘the Queen of the Sciences” Scholastic theology was the way that theology was done in the Middle Ages Philosophy was a valuable asset to Christian theology • Demonstrate the reasonableness of faith • Enabled theologians to systematically arrange and order theology Plato Aristotle

  6. The Universities and the Rise of Scholasticism al-Azhar University 970

  7. Univesitas scholarium the whole body of students University of Bologna Universitas magistrorum the whole body of teachers University of Paris 2 fold method of teaching: Lecture Theology Law Medicine Arts Disputation

  8. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) Proslogion ‘I believe in order to know’ Ontological argument for God “God is that then which nothing greater can be conceived” Cur deus homo (Why God became Man)

  9. Peter Abelard (1079-1142) ‘The doubting Peter?’ Sic et non (Yes and No)

  10. Peter Lombard (1100-1160) Four Books of the Sentences God, creation and Old Testament Salvation through Christ Sacraments and last things ‘When Augustine says anything clearly, Lombard obscures it. And if there was anything slightly contaminated in Augustine, Lombard corrupts it” First to define the 7 sacraments

  11. Lesson 30: Should Old Aquinas Be Forgot? Birth and Early Life c. 1225 Aquino (town near Naples) Age 5: Monastery at Monte Casino “Dumb Ox” Benedictine monastery MENDICANT Franciscans Dominicans

  12. Years afterwards, when he came to write the Summa Theologica, he wrote beneath the question: "Whether duties toward parents are to be set aside for the sake of religion?" the simple answer: "Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy to follow Me," and he quoted from Jerome's famous letter to Heliodorus: "Though your father fling himself down on the doorstep, trample him underfoot, go your way and fly with dry eyes to the standard of the Cross." Robert Payne, The Fathers of the Western Church (Viking, 1951)

  13. “Call the young man a dumb ox, but his bellowing in doctrine will one day resound throughout the world.” Albert the Great

  14. Thomas the systematic theologian Summa Contra Gentiles Summa Theologica Exitus-reddius God is the ontological heart that pumps the blood of being through the arteries of creation into the body of the universe, which wears a human face, and receives it back through the veins of a man's life of love and will. Peter Kreeft Summa on Summa

  15. Summa Contra Gentiles Moses Maimodes (1135-1204) Avicenna (980-1037) Averroes (1123-1198) Five fold ontological argument for the existence of God Everything is in a process of change – ultimate cause There must be an efficient cause – first efficient cause God is the ultimate necessary cause There exists a gradation of things – ultimate degree of all things The governing and operating of the universe points to an intelligent force

  16. What do we make of Thomas’s Theology and Arguments? Negative Too much reliance on reason Positive Arguments from Design

  17. 1272 One of 100 most important dates in Church History Summa Theologica Divided into four parts Treatises (e.g., On the Creation, On Man, On Law) Questions (e.g., Of the Simplicity of God) Articles Five structural parts: “Whether” (Utrum) “It seems that…” (Oportet) “On the contrary…(sed contra) “I answer that” (Respondeo dicens) Each Objection must be addressed and answered

  18. St Thomas: Friend or Foe? "Give me, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give me an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give me an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow on me also, O Lord my God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and faithfulness that may finally embrace you, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

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