Divine Simplicity In theology, the doctrine of divine simplicity says that God is without parts. The general idea can be stated in this way: The being of God is identical to the “attributes” of God. Characteristics such as omnipresence, goodness, truth, eternity, etc., are identical to God’s being, not qualities that...
Did Man Invent Religion? The opponents of the religious life argue that religion was put together as a sort of outpouring of man’s feeling of powerlessness in the world or of his feelings of relief and gratitude when rescued from powerlessness. In summary form, the argument goes like this: Certain...
Science and The Concept of Science Despite the disasters science and technology have brought to mankind and the mistakes of the purely scientific approach in seeking the truth, as well as the failure of science and technology to bring man happiness, it is not right to condemn science and technology...
Science and Religion in The Holy Book Science regards as ‘scientific’ the facts established through empirical methods. Therefore, the assertions, which have not yet been established through observation and experiment, can only be theories or hypotheses. Science cannot be sure about the future; it does not make definite predictions. Doubt...
Science And Religion Science considers any fact, established through empirical methods, to be scientific. Therefore, assertions not established through observation and experiment are only theories or hypotheses. As science cannot be sure about the future, it does not make definite predictions. Doubt is the basis of scientific investigation. However, Prophet...
Wild Animal Suffering Wild animal suffering is the suffering experienced by nonhuman animals in nature through causes such as disease, injury, parasitism, starvation, natural disasters, and killings by other animals. Wild animal suffering has historically been discussed in the context of the philosophy of religion as an instance of the...
Skeptical Theism Skeptical theism is the view that we should remain skeptical of our ability to discern whether our perceptions about evil can be considered good evidence against the existence of the orthodox Christian God. The central thesis of skeptical theism is that it would not be surprising for an infinitely intelligent...
Death of God Theology Death of God theology refers to a range of ideas by various theologians and philosophers that try to account for the rise of secularity and abandonment of traditional beliefs in God. They posit that God has either ceased to exist or in some way accounted for...
Problem of Evil The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God (see theism).[1][2] Or as the first known presentation by the Greek philosopher Epicurus puts it: “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing?...
Holocaust Theology Holocaust theology is a body of theological and philosophical debate concerning the role of God in the universe in light of the Holocaust of the late 1930s and 1940s. It is primarily found in Judaism. Jews were killed in higher proportions than other groups; some scholars limit the definition of the Holocaust to the Jewish victims of the...
Theodicy Theodicy means vindication of God. It is to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Some theodicies also address the evidential problem of evil by attempting “to make the existence of an all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good or omnibenevolent God consistent with the existence of evil or...
Theodicy and The Bible Theodicy, in its most common form, is the attempt to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil. Theodicy attempts to resolve the evidential problem of evil by reconciling the traditional divine characteristics of omnibenevolence and omnipotence, in either their absolute or relative form, with the occurrence of evil...
Impeccability Impeccability is the absence of sin. Christianity teaches this to be an attribute of God (logically God cannot sin, it would mean that he would act against his own will and nature) and therefore it is also attributed to Christ. Roman Catholic teaching Impeccability and Heaven Early Christians questioned whether the victorious saints in heaven could sin....
Image of God The Image of God (צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים, tzelem Elohim; Latin: Imago Dei) is a concept and theological doctrine in Judaism,[1] Christianity, and Sufism of Islam,[2][3] which asserts that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. Philosophers and theologians have debated the exact meaning of the phrase for millennia. Following...
Creationism Creationism is the religious belief that the universe and life originated “from specific acts of divine creation”,[1][2] as opposed to through natural processes, such as evolution.[3] Creationism covers a spectrum of views including evolutionary creationism, but the term is commonly used for literal creationists who reject various aspects of science, and instead promote pseudoscientific beliefs.[4][5] Literal creationists base their beliefs on a fundamentalist reading of religious texts, including...
Biblical Cosmology Biblical cosmology is the biblical writers’ conception of the cosmos as an organised, structured entity, including its origin, order, meaning and destiny. The Bible was formed over many centuries, involving many authors, and reflects shifting patterns of religious belief; consequently, its cosmology is not always consistent. Nor do the biblical texts necessarily represent the beliefs of all Jews or Christians at the time...
Personal god A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person[1] instead of as an impersonal force, such as the Absolute, “the All”, or the “Ground of Being”. In the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, God is described as being a personal creator, speaking in the first person and showing...
Thanksgiving Quotes Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur...
What Is Philosophical Theism? Philosophical theism is the belief that a deity exists (or must exist) independent of the teaching or revelation of any particular religion.[1] It represents belief in a personal God entirely without doctrine. Some philosophical theists are persuaded of a god’s existence by philosophical arguments, while others consider themselves to have a religious faith that need not...
What Is Occasionalism? Occasionalism is a philosophical theory about causation which says that created substances cannot be efficient causes of events. Instead, all events are taken to be caused directly by God. (A related theory, which has been called “occasional causation“, also denies a link of efficient causation between mundane events, but may differ as to the identity...
