3. Two Roads to Knowledge of God: Revelation and Reason

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Two Roads to Knowledge of God #

Natural Road (via natural reason)

• God can be known with certitude from created things by natural reason (Romans 1:20)
• This knowledge is now declared an article of faith by Vatican I
• Knowledge is derived from effects (creation) to cause (God)
• Thomas Aquinas treats this in Summa Theologiae II, q.2

Supernatural Road (via revelation)

• God reveals Himself and eternal laws of His will in a supernatural way
• Biblical foundation: Hebrews 1:1-2 on God speaking through prophets and finally through His Son
• Corresponds to faith on the human side
• More perfect revelation corresponds to beatific vision (face-to-face seeing of God)

Two Senses of Revelation #

1. Partial revelation - what corresponds to faith in this life (veiled/behind curtain)

   • Reflects Thomas’s phrase from Adoro Te Devote: “Jesu, quem velatum, suspicio” (O Jesus, veiled, I suspect)
   • Knowledge of God while pilgrim in this world

2. Full revelation - beatific vision (face-to-face seeing)

   • When “veil is drawn back” and we see God as He is (1 John 3:2, 1 Corinthians 13:12)
   • Faith ceases and becomes immediate vision
   • No “faith” corresponds to this revelation, but rather knowledge (seeing)

Why Revelation Is Necessary #

For Natural Truths (necessary to know well, not absolutely necessary)

• Without revelation, very few would arrive at knowledge of God’s existence
• Those few would take most of their lifetime
• Knowledge would be mixed with errors throughout
• Most people are occupied with necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter)
• Uses Aristotle’s distinction: necessary without which end cannot be attained well vs. absolutely

For Supernatural Truths (absolutely necessary)

• Human reason cannot reach supernatural end at all
• Reason utterly cannot comprehend what God has prepared (1 Corinthians 2:9: “eye has not seen, ear has not heard”)
• God directs humans to supernatural end that “utterly surpasses the understanding of the human mind and its natural powers”
• Revelation is absolutely necessary because humans need knowledge of this end to direct their entire lives toward it

Key Arguments #

The Weakness of Human Reason #

• Human mind is “enslaved” to needs of body, house, car (Aristotle’s observation in Cratylus to Wisdom)
• Reason is apt to make mistakes even in things clearly knowable
• Example: four students given four forms of if-then speech—those with valid forms think them invalid; those with invalid think them valid
• Even after instruction in the four senses of “before,” students still confuse them on exams
• This demonstrates the near-universal tendency to error, not mere oversight

The Middle Position Between Two Extremes #

• Error 1 (rationalist excess): Existence of God is obvious to all
• Error 2 (skeptical excess): God’s existence cannot be demonstrated by reason
• Truth (Vatican I position): God’s existence can be demonstrated with certitude, but this knowledge is difficult and rare
• Reflects “immature and perverse love of reason” (Augustine, De Trinitate) that sees reason as self-sufficient

Aristotle’s Four Senses of Necessity (from Book 5 of Metaphysics) #

Connected to intrinsic causes:

• Example: It is necessary that 2 be half of 4 (due to what 2 is)

Connected to mover:

• When a power is so overwhelming it cannot be resisted
• Example: Strong current forces swimmer in certain direction

Connected to end—Absolute necessity:

• That without which end cannot be attained at all
• Examples: breathing for life, eating for life
• These are necessary simply, not contingent on circumstances

Connected to end—Necessity for doing well:

• That without which end cannot be attained well
• Examples: horse for a journey (can walk instead, but not well); logic for philosophy (can philosophize without it, but make errors); college education in modern society
• These are necessary relative to achieving the end well, not absolutely

Important Definitions #

Revelation (revelatio): Literally “unveiling” or “drawing back of veil/curtain” between us and what is revealed. Not complete in this life but partial, corresponding to faith.

Sacred and Canonical Scripture: Books divinely inspired, having God as their author (through Holy Spirit), written under inspiration though using human instruments with their own modes of expression (Hebrew, Greek). Declared by Council of Trent and renewed by Vatican I.

Tradition (in revelation context): Supernatural revelation not contained in Sacred Scripture but received by apostles from Christ Himself or by dictation of Holy Spirit, passed hand to hand until reaching us.

Necessary: Has multiple senses depending on type of cause; revelation is necessary in the sense of being requisite for humans to reach their supernatural end and to know natural things well.

Examples & Illustrations #

Descartes and the Difficulty of Proofs for God’s Existence #

• Graduate seminar examined five ways of Thomas Aquinas
• Each student worked on one proof, reviewing modern philosophers/popularizers who discussed it
• Finding: All examined sources had failed to understand the proof correctly
• Descartes example: misunderstood major and minor premises of proof he discussed
• Descartes himself remarked: “I believe there’s a God more from what my mother taught me than from understanding the proofs”
• Purpose: to emphasize the difficulty of these proofs, not that they’re impossible

St. Teresa of Avila’s Vision #

• Appeared to one of her nuns after death
• Said to nun: “We’re not two different situations, you and I”
• Both praising God, but she does so face-to-face, nun does so “behind the veil”
• Illustrates continuity between contemplative life in this world and beatific vision
• Shows how “knowing God behind veil” and “knowing God face-to-face” are continuous in purpose though different in mode

Natural Reasoning Without Revelation #

• Very few people would achieve knowledge of God’s existence
• Those few would spend most of their lifetime in pursuit
• Would make many mistakes in thinking about God along the way
• Example of Robinson Crusoe: lives without money on island (money not absolutely necessary for life, but useful)

Confusing the Senses of “Before” #

• Student asked: “Which is better, to breathe or to philosophize?”
• Student answers: “To breathe is better”
• When asked why: “Because breathing is before philosophizing (in order of priority)”
• Student concludes therefore breathing is better (confusing priority with superiority)
• Even after explicit instruction and warning, students repeat this error on exams
• Demonstrates how readily mind errs even when warned

Questions Addressed #

Can God’s existence be known with certainty by natural reason?

• Yes, this is now declared an article of faith by Vatican I
• Not obvious to everyone (contrary to one error)
• But demonstrable with certitude (contrary to other error)
• The difficulty lies not in the possibility but in the acuity required and time needed
• Even those capable of following the proofs often fail to understand them correctly

Why is revelation necessary for truths that reason can naturally know?

• Not strictly necessary for the fact that these truths exist
• But necessary for these truths to be known well—by many people, quickly, with certitude, without error
• Without revelation, almost no one would arrive at this knowledge; those who did would take a lifetime and make many errors
• Revelation serves the practical necessity of directing human life toward God, which cannot wait for rare individuals to laboriously reason their way there

Why is revelation absolutely necessary for supernatural knowledge?

• Reason cannot attain supernatural end by its natural powers
• God directs humans to an end that “utterly surpasses the understanding of the human mind”
• Humans must know this end in order to direct their lives toward it
• Therefore supernatural revelation is absolutely necessary, not just practically helpful

Is there one faith or two corresponding to the two revelations?

• Only one faith, corresponding to the partial revelation of this life
• The full revelation of beatific vision does not correspond to faith but to knowledge (seeing)
• Faith will be “succeeded by” the beatific vision; there will be no faith in that state
• Continuity exists in what is being known (God), but not in the mode or virtue involved

Notable Quotes #

“Since human beings are totally dependent on God as their creator and Lord, and created reason is completely subject to uncreated truth, we are obliged to yield to God the revealer, full submission of intellect and will by faith.” — Vatican I, summarized by Berquist

“Eye has not seen, neither has ear heard, nor has it come into our hearts to conceive what things God has prepared for those who love Him.” — 1 Corinthians 2:9, cited regarding supernatural truths beyond reason’s reach

“In many and various ways, God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he’s spoken to us by his son.” — Hebrews 1:1-2, cited as biblical foundation for supernatural revelation

“Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.” — Romans 1:20, cited as biblical foundation for natural knowledge of God from creatures

“The veil is being pulled back, but notice this revelation here is not a complete revelation because we don’t fully see what is being revealed yet.” — Berquist’s explication of revelation as partial in this life

“We’re both praising God, but I’m praising God face to face, seeing him as he is, and you’re praising God kind of behind the veil.” — St. Teresa of Avila to her nun (cited by Berquist)

“All my reports go with the modest truth, nor mourn or clipped, but so, as Shakespeare says… they say more or less than the truth. They are villains and the sons of darkness, as Falstaff says.” — Berquist on need to avoid both rationalist and skeptical extremes