Views of Reality Sean Bear

Levels of Moral Reasoning

• Level 4: Moral decision/action • Level 3: Norms/guidelines • Level 2: Values and priorities • Level 1: View of reality • Religion impacts most importantly at level one where the view of God and how God interacts with reality alters how we perceive the world.

Divine Providence

• God does not impact reality • Atheist – Does not exist • Deist – Is not involved (watch maker) • God does provide • Interventionist – God is directly providing for humanity (most notable in natural processes such as life and death) • Delegationist – God does provide, but indirectly. Form of guidelines but ultimate responsibility is in the person • Predestination

Predestination

• Predestination within the church follows St. Augustine

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• Predestination of the elect into heaven • Two major Schools of thought

Thomists and Molinists

• Five criteria for being considered a Catholic school of thought – Free will, God allows people to choose to follow or reject him – Cooperation with God’s grace – Jesus’ sacrifice has the potential to save all men who accept him – Man is born in a state of sin – No one is predestined for Hell • Rejects double predestination

Calvinist Predestination

• Also follows St. Augustine, but strays from the Catholic perspective • Extreme version of interventionist • God is all powerful, thus controls every aspect of reality • No free will for humanity, every decision is predestined by God • Double predestination – God elects those for heaven but also damns others

Problems with Calvin

• Morality?

• Lack of free will limits human responsibility in life • Allows justification of all actions as God’s will – does not deter sinners from continuing sinful actions • Catholic response to God’s power: – God limits own power in regards to human salvation – Human’s can frustrate God’s will, but not the overall plan

Interventionist Morality

• Review: God directly acts in natural process (life and death) • Morals founded by an interventionist view – Euthanasia (voluntary) – Abortion – Contraceptives – Suicide

Delegationist Morality

• God as a transcendent being – provides guidelines • Areas where God’s rule over life and death are not present • Morality based of a Delegationist view – Killing in self-defense – Just-war – Death Penalty

Transition

• Transition from Interventionist view to Delegationist • God as being transcendent removes direct intervention in life and death

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Volker Eid: “

the naive idea, found in my opinion among people, that God acts concretely in each death: that God actually determines whether persons lose their life in youth or in advanced age, through a traffic accident or a war, whether through cancer or a heart attack, whether after a short or a long final agony. As a result of an anthropomorphically and uncritically formulated theological argument, God is here given the role of an officer of execution.”

• Argument that God’s will in unfathomable is not theologically false, but serves as a comfort during times of spiritual stress • “whitewash over the mysterious and angst-producing dimension of human existence” (q10)

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Volker Eid: “

The question is whether the image of God which at any one time dominates in practice guides humanity to pursue morally alienating action or whether by liberating humanity to go out of and beyond itself, it encourages humanity to develop a more realistic and more mature morality”

(q13) • God as an officer of execution can lead to a loss of faith in particularly difficult circumstances regarding death, such as the Holocaust.

Discussion

• How does the transition from an Interventionist view to a Delegationist view effect morality?

• Euthanasia • Contraceptives • Abortion • Suicide (holder of state secrets)