Religious, Moral And Philosophical Studies

Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies. Christianity: Belief and Science (Higher)

2. Knowledge in Religion Revelation and Knowledge based on Authority

In the first section we considered how scientists acquire knowledge. Here we consider how knowledge is acquired in religion. Unlike science which confines itself solely to the physical world, Christianity affirms the existence of a transcendent realm which can interact with and affect the world of humans. Most religions can be understood according to the model represented by the following diagram; The top half of the circle represents the transcendent domain of God or the gods. The bottom half of the circle represents the world of humans. Religious activity can be understood as a two way communication process: 1) From men to gods, through prayers, worship ritual and sacrifices. 2) From God/gods to humans c

t God/gods e

a r Prophets

i Priests o

Humans

In the middle between the human and the transcendent domains are religious specialists; middle men: Interceding and representing the people to God/gods are priests. They pray and offer up worship to God on behalf of the people. Communication in the other direction, from God to men is handled by prophets, through these religious specialists messages are delivered from the divine realm to the human. Within religions generally, then, there is the idea that the Divine can communicate itself to humans through acts of revelation. The word “revelation” conveys the idea that something once hidden is now uncovered and exposed. Within Christianity various views of revelation are on offer.

J.Keenan Section 2 Page 1 Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies. Christianity: Belief and Science (Higher)

Here we will consider the belief that God communicates with the human world through: 1) Direct personal experience 2) Acts of direct intervention by God 3) The events of history 4) Through scripture 5) The physical structure of the Universe

1) Direct Personal Experience Research in the 1980’s by David Hay at Nottingham University showed that many people have experiences of a spiritual/religious nature. These might include

 experiencing a pattern in events, characterized by a comment such as 'these events were meant to happen'  being aware of the presence of God  prayer being answered  being aware of a sacred presence in nature  being aware of the presence of the dead

 being aware of an evil presence David Hay. Aberdeen University

David Hay found that although these experiences are very common, people are embarrassed to talk about them. David Hay believes that humans are hard wired for spiritual experience; that religious or spiritual awareness is biologically natural to the human species. Occasionally these experiences can have a life transforming capacity. People who once lived chaotic, destructive lives, before their religious experience, become transformed characters, going on to live exemplary lives. This was the case with Ron Sims. Ron Sims was a vicious and ruthless East End gangster. After a near death experience Ron became a committed Christian and now goes round prisons telling people of his experience.

Research some “conversion” experiences. Conduct an Internet search on near death experiences Are such experiences evidence for a God?

In the Judeo/Christian tradition it is held, that throughout history, certain individuals have experienced revelations, the content of which became normative for Christianity. One famous case from the New Testament is that of Saul, later called Paul. Saul was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was struck blind,

“It was on the road at midday that I saw light much brighter than the Sun< coming fro, the sky and shining round me and the men travelling with me. All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, Saul, Saul. Why are you persecuting me?”

As a result of this experience Saul ceased to be an opponent of Christianity and went on to play a major role in the establishment of the early Church. In the Old Testament, Moses was given the Ten Commandments and through other prophets, God revealed his intentions for the Universe. Christians believe that Jesus most fully revealed God’s nature through his actions and teaching. Because Jesus is regarded as God incarnate and because the prophets were considered to be God’s mouthpiece, their words take on an absolute authority for Christians. How far this authority extends is open to debate among Christians. For some fundamentalists, the whole of the Bible is seen as inerrant (incapable of mistake). Other Christians see the Bible as human in origin and thus capable of error but inspired by God.

In contrast to science, however, which is an evidence based source of knowledge we see that Christianity puts great weight on the authority of revelation as its foundation. For those Christians who see the Bible is inerrant and literally true any conflict with science will be resolved by looking to scripture as holding absolute authority.

2) Acts of direct intervention by God. Providence is the fatalistic idea that God governs and controls nature, human life and so on, according to some plan - that the Universe is heading to some ultimate goal or telos. Predestination is an extreme version of the doctrine of providence which asserts the belief that the whole of existence is already mapped out and there is nothing we can do to alter it. This position was expressed by the Protestant Calvin and is very strong in Islam. ("I’ll see you next week if we’re spared." "If Allah wills it.") Coupled with this, is the idea that God can directly intervene in nature to guide creation. A miracle would be such a direct intervention. Both the old and the New Testament are peppered with miraculous occurrences. Jesus, for example, is born of a virgin and rises from the dead after his execution. Christians traditionally draw a distinction between General Providence and Special Providence. General Providence refers to the Christian belief that God is involved in the world, guiding it in a certain direction. Special Providence is the idea that God intervenes in specific situations in nature and history to bring about God's goal for the universe. A miracle would be an example of special providence.

3) The events of history Connected with the idea of general providence is the notion of sacred history. The idea here is that God reveals his wishes for humanity through the events of history. Much of the Old Testament deals with how the Jews experienced disaster or success according to whether they obeyed the Torah (God’s Law) or not.

Summary of Jewish history. Abraham >Captivity in Egypt >Exodus >Promised Land >Kingship >Corruption >Babylonian Conquest >Corruption >Greek conquest >Corruption >Roman Conquest >Destruction of the Temple >Diaspora (Jews leaving Israel) >Messiah to come. Each ">" represents an act of special providence.

At times when the Jews strayed from God’s law then disaster would follow, usually in the form of an invading army. When the Jews kept to the law then peace, prosperity and stability ensued.

2. Knowledge in Religion Revelation and Knowledge based on Authority Many Christians today interpret world events as indicating the final unfolding of God’s plan. They interpret the many disasters which occur as indicating the approaching end of the World.

4) Revelation through Scripture For most Christians the Bible is the ultimate criterion of Truth. It is often referred to as the “Word of God”. It is believed

5) Revelation by observing the physical structure of the universe. Through out history Christians have claimed that as well as the Bible as a source of revelation, there is a second book, the book of nature, through which something of the nature of God can be surmised. In other words if we look closely at the physical world we can see evidence for God. Two arguments in particular are associated with this; the cosmological or first cause argument and the teleological or design argument.

A. The Cosmological Argument. (The argument is called the "cosmological argument" because it deals with the origin of the universe)

You have almost certainly come across this argument before. Very simply the argument states that everything has a cause. Since everything has a cause, the universe must have a cause. The name we give to this first cause of the universe is God. Let's unpack the argument by means of an example; a piece of chalk.

Q. Where did this piece of chalk come from?

A. From the ground? Chalk is calcium carbonate. A naturally occurring mineral.

Q. How did it come to be in the ground?

A. It is the fossilised remains of dead crustaceans that lived many millions of years ago. Their shells built up on the sea bed, forming layers of chalk.

Q. Where did the crustaceans get the calcium, the carbon and the oxygen to make into their shells.

A. From their environment.

2. Knowledge in Religion Revelation and Knowledge based on Authority Q. How did these elements come to be in the crustaceans' environment?

A. They were there when the earth was formed?

Q. Where did the earth come from?

A. The earth was formed from the debris of an exploding star- a supernova. A star is an element factory. In a star hydrogen atoms are fusing together to form helium atoms. When all the hydrogen has fused to helium the star becomes unstable. Helium and hydrogen atoms start fusing together to form new elements, like the calcium, carbon and oxygen necessary to produce our chalk. The energy released causes the star to explode. Such a supernova exploded close to our sun (a star) about four and a half billion years ago (4,500,000,000). The debris from this explosion was pulled into the gravitational pull of the sun thus forming the planets including the earth. So the chalk was originally in the form of hydrogen in a neighbouring star.

Q. Where did that star come from?

A. It was formed as a result of the Big Bang -the cataclysmic explosion which brought the universe into existence some seventeen billion years ago.

Q. What caused the Big Bang?

A. I don't know but let's call it something.

Q. OK. What caused something?

A. I don't know but let’s call it pre-something.

Q. What caused pre-something?

A. Pre-pre-something

Q. What caused -

A. I know what your going to say - "What caused pre-pre-pre-something?" Well this is starting to get rather silly. Look there are really two possibilities :1. EITHER we carry on like this forever- that is to say there is an INFINITE REGRESS of causes. OR 2. We eventually will get to a FIRST CAUSE.

Q. So what is it, a first cause or an infinite regress?

A. If it were an infinite regress then that would mean things had no beginning. If things had no beginning then they couldn't be here now. You couldn't be here now unless you were born. The chalk couldn't be here now unless it had a beginning. So there has to be first cause. You can call this first cause whatever you want but it is usually called, "God."

Q. So God made the chalk?

A. Looks like it

2. The Design Argument for God. (Teleological Argument) This argument is based on the idea that whereas simple things can come about by chance, complicated things have to be designed. Take for example the computer on which this page was written. Nobody in their right mind would suggest that such a computer could come about by chance. A great deal of thought, planning and design has gone into its manufacture. When we look around in nature we are impressed by how well adapted animals are to their environments; fish that swim in the sea are perfectly streamlined; birds that fly in the air are aerodynamically perfect; or take the human eye- it is self-focusing -it adjusts automatically to different light intensities yet it is incredibly light and compact. The conclusion drawn from this is that just as the computer could not come about by chance, neither could these examples and just as the computer requires a designer so too does nature. The design argument is often called the teleological argument from the Greek word "telos" meaning an end or purpose. The idea, here, is that the universe has been designed for a purpose and everything is running towards some ultimate telos. The teleological argument is very old but was given a particularly forceful expression by the eighteenth century theologian William Paley. In Paley's time the most complex technology was based on clockwork mechanisms. His argument uses a watch to illustrate design. Paley invites us to imagine some friends out for a walk on a heath. They come across a watch lying on the ground. On examining the watch and observing the cleverness of its construction the friends would have to conclude, especially if they had never seen a watch before, that it had been created on purpose. Paley argued that an examination of nature likewise reveals evidence of design from which we have to conclude that there must be a designer - namely God.

J.Keenan Section 2 Page 7