This is our catalog of courses. We will occasionally adjust the course listing to reflect the addition of new courses and the retirement of others.
While reason and faith are not incompatible, it is possible (and even necessary) for reason to come to an understanding of God and divine things on its own. Learn how much reason can know of God in this challenging, upper-level high school course. Answer questions about the reason for our existence, God’s nature, and the divine.
Total classes: 12
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 11th to 12th
Suggested credit: One full semester Philosophy
Description
Philosophy of God (also called Natural Theology or Philosophical Theology) is that part of philosophy that addresses what we can know of divine things using unaided reason. Learning what we can of the existence and attributes of God is our primary objective. To do that well, however, we must first acquaint ourselves with the method of natural theology, especially insofar as it differs from that of revealed theology. While the focus of this course is upon coming to know God and His attributes, we will be looking at some arguments against the existence of God (atheism) or against our capacity to know God through reason (agnosticism|fideism). There is a good amount of fairly difficult reading required for this course. Weekly homework will consist of your careful responses to one or two summative essay questions on material covered in a previous class.
Outline
What is Natural Theology?
The Logic of Existence
Ontological Arguments
Fideism and the Wager
Other Forms of Agnosticism | Atheism
Other Forms of Agnosticism | Atheism (continued)
Teleological and Cosmological Arguments
Teleological and Cosmological Arguments (continued)
Teleological and Cosmological Arguments (continued)
Teleological and Cosmological Arguments (continued)
Understanding God’s Nature and the Divine Attributes
Understanding God’s Nature and the Divine Attributes
Materials and Homework
Course Materials:
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book I: God, University of Notre Dame Press 026801678X.
Selected Readings in Natural Theology (freely downloadable PDF)
Homework: There is a good amount of fairly difficult reading required for this course. Weekly homework consists of students’ careful responses to one or two summative essay questions on material covered in a previous class. Students can expect to spend one to two hours on the readings and approximately one hour on the written homework.
