Summa Theologiae was written to display the reasonableness of Christian faith and to train future teachers in guiding others through Christianity, (Lecture, 11.14.2016) whereby one ultimately reaches true happiness. While Christians steadily find pleasure in their acceptance of God, Aquinas maintains that perfect happiness is distinct from this, both in what it entails and how it is achieved. Aquinas believes that humans cannot be entirely happy until fully understanding God, the original cause of
and the Christian faith mean to you? How does your faith affect the way you live? My faith journey has been a long, gradual process of learning to know and follow Jesus as I grew up in a local Mennonite church and a Christian family. The transition of going to college has pushed me the most. Having independence put me in the situation to make all of my own choices. Do I wake up and go to church? Do I go to chapel? How do I navigate choices around alcohol use or dating? How does my faith inform these
Tikkani THL 1000-H03 3 October 2017 Reasonable Christian Faith Christian faith lies between the two extremes of fideism and rationalism, that is, between faith with no reason and reason with no faith. Scripture, the main source of Christian tradition, provides us with information about God and what it means to be Christian. An analysis of works and arguments by early church fathers offers tools to engage scripture, including levels of belief and defining faith in the context of society and moderation.
"Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason." Stephen Gunter writes, "Perhaps no theological topic has been the focus of more debate with The United Methodist Church over the past quarter century than the 'Wesleyan Quadrilateral '" . It should be noted that John Wesley never used the term Wesleyan Quadrilateral to describe his process of theological affirmation. The Wesleyan
fact that I was never really, fully indoctrinated into the Christian faith, I was still being raised as a Christian, and that’s what I identified as for the majority of my childhood. I was Austin Tanner Herz, the 3rd grader, the lego-fanatic, the comic-book reading, lunchable eating, bed-jumping extraordinaire, the Christian. Little did I know how much my religious identity would change over the upcoming years. As a Christian, I held Christian beliefs. I believed in the afterlife - that those who were
The cross has over the years in the Christian faith been perceived as the major symbol of faith. This is manifested by how it is often strewn in churches, people’s clothing like t-shirts, designed as necklaces, and even for some, it is placed as tattoos on their bodies. This means that the cross, which was initially associated with the death of Christ, has today become an image and reminder of hope. That the cross is the focal image for Christians in the church today is no doubt and it is this perception
symbol in the Christian faith. Since I have always been religious, I have always wondered the meaning of origin of the Cross. For this feeling of curiosity has caused me to dig a little deeper into religious “sources” and collect important information relating to the importance of the cross found in the Christian/Catholic faith. I have found that the Cross was not always so popular in the easier centuries; it was actually frowned upon by many, which is found in the several Christian writings from
At the heart of the Christian faith is an infinite, uncreated and immutable God. Along with these essential attributes of the triune God, there are also relational attributes that our God possesses as well. God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. What makes these attributes relational is that they have to do with God’s personal relationship with us on Earth. God is omniscient, or all knowing. This Means he knows what we are thinking before we think it. He knows how we will react to something
Mary Ann Fatula’s The Triune God of Christian Faith provides for the reader the inner life of God as well as insight into the human reality. Fatula’s writing draws the devotional discussion of the Trinity as the present-day effect of the Trinitarian faith is called to support attempts to articulate and live the Trinitarian mystery. The Trinity in a human’s life is the content of our definition of our human meaning and for an infinite gift: love. Each of us has a desire for achieving meaning, for
The Christian faith is pluralistic, meaning, “There [are] as many ways to love God as there [are] Christian souls” (Salzman, 2000, p.77). This reaches greater complexity when considering the impact of neuropsychology on the Christian faith. People experience God in a plethora of ways, but what about seemingly brain induced experiences? Salzman (2000) describes the journey of Sister John, a nun at the Carmelite convent in Los Angeles. She experiences headaches that develop into deep spiritual episodes