Critical Mass

9. The Relationship Between Being and Goodness
Something cannot be good if it doesn’t exist.  The Good is that which all things desire — their own existence.  Therefore, ‘to be’ is ‘to be good’ and the converse.
When it comes to knowledge, Being is first.  When it comes to causing, Good is first.

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8. The Meaning of “Creation”
According to St. Thomas, ‘creation’ is to make out of nothing.  We can never create, because it requires an infinite being to cross from non-being into being.  Creation itself is not a change; it must be whole and instantaneous.  Because God is pure act, there is only one eternal act of [...]

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7. The Reason for a “Negative Theological” Approach to God
Because God is infinite and we are finite, we cannot comprehend the entirety of what God is.  We can, however, know what He is not.

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6. The Basis for Analogy according to Thomas Aquinas
In order to develop a positive theology of God, we must appeal to analogy (a dissimilar similarity).  God can only be understood by analogy to His creatures.  Because we have an asymmetrical causal relationship to God, there cannot be a perfect understanding of Him, but only an [...]

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5. Thomas’s Understanding of “Motion” in the First Way
St. Thomas doesn’t think you can demonstrate one way or the other whether the world is eternal, but that it was created.  It necessarily depends upon a creator God.  Our being is being-in-motion.  If there is motion, we are not there yet. 
Motion = reduction from potentiality to [...]

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4.  Thomas’s Twofold Understanding of Scientific Demonstration
Because it is not self-evident to us, if we are to have scientific knowledge of God, we need to offer some demonstration.  We need to make a demonstration a posteriori (to argue from what is prior relative to us).  We can only know God by means of His effects.  [...]

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3. Thomas Aquinas’s Twofold Understanding of the Self-Evident
If something is self-evident, the predicate is contained within the subject.  Man=rational animal –> Rational animal is an animal.  Therefore, it is self-evident.  However, you need to know the essence of something.  E.g. The essence of man is to be a rational animal.  If you do not know [...]

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2. St. Anselm’s Surrogate Formula for God
St. Anselm’s surrogate formula for God is that ‘God’ = ‘That which nothing greater can be conceived.’  Given this definition of God, St. Anselm build his argument for the existence of God.  He first asks, “Is it possible that God actually exists?”  In his surrogate formula, ‘God’ is replaced [...]

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Here we go! Study questions for Exam II on Thursday!
1. St. Anselm on the Relationship Between Faith and Reason
The beginning of all understanding is faith.  Faith is the condition for the possibility of reason.  The reason of a human creature will have all the limitations of a creature.  The rationality of the creature will be [...]

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…here’s an excerpt from David Currie’s book, “Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic” :
It is well known that, during the Crusades, some Jews and Jewish communities were attacked by Christian soldiers. What is not so well known is that the Catholic bishops tried to stop these attacks. They preached and pleaded. It was [...]

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