Sunday, April 26, 2009

Aquinas, Anselm, Augustine and the Existence of God

I was asked this at another site.

Do you think the classical proofs by Thomas Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury or Augustin are of help [in demonstrating the rationality of belief in the existence of God]?

I answered thusly:

Yes, I do. Not as rigid mathematical proofs, but for showing the reasonableness of theistic, and specifically Christian, belief.

I came to believe in the existence of God from a very simple teleological argument -- from cartoon to cartoonist; from man, infinitely more complex and valuable than a two-dimensional cartoon, to man's Creator. It may not be philosophically rigorous, but it was persuasive.

The Kalam argument promoted by William Lane Craig is very powerful, and the Argument from Transcendence (the proof from the immaterial existence of Logic) I also find persuasive.

Peter Kreeft in his Handbook of Christian Apologetics, has 20 arguments for the existence of God. Among these, I like the argument from human desire, the moral argument, and the argument from conscience. I suppose you could bundle them all up and create an argument from Coherence -- a theistic belief "makes sense" of the data of life, while an a-theistic belief, to me, is not just highly improbable, but utterly incoherent.

And that's the way the transcendental Ball bounces.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really hate to admit it but I've never even heard of ANY of the writings you've just written about. I'm going to save your posting and, when I have more time, google them.

I would like to believe in God. I'm just having a tough time with it.

BallBounces said...

"I would like to believe in God. I'm just having a tough time with it."

If I can be of any help with your questions, feel free to contact me off-line at rkball@mac.com.

Or, feel free to post questions at this site, and I will answer them as best I can.

Joe said...

Anonymous 4:11

One of the biggest problems we all face when 'believing' in God is the fact that we can not imagine a God so great that He can create an infinite universe within Himself. We anthropomorphize Him into a six foot tall magic man that floats around on a cloud. I don't think I truly began to believe in God until I realized I and indeed the entire universe as I knew it, are little more than a figment of His imagination.

Anonymous said...

From Anon (4:11pm) to RkBall. Thank you sir. I'll ask you the questions just as soon as I have figured out what questions to ask.

Thank you, have a good night. :)

Thanks also Joe.

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"