Our Need for God
We are by nature religious beings. ◦We are made to live in spiritual union with
God and our hearts yearn for him.
“For you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they
rest in you.”
- Saint Augustine
Reason and Revelation
Use our natural gifts of observation and reason. ◦Certain experiences
allow us to realize that there is something far greater than just what we can see and touch.
◦Reason tells us that something had to create the order of the world.
Paul 1:20
How do we discover God?
Reason and Revelation Message of Creation + voice of conscience =
existence of GodThis process is called natural revelation.
◦Through natural revelation we can know the one true God from his works of the world and in the human person.
Human reason alone is too limited to show us the existence of God. ◦God revealing himself to us makes up for the limitations
of human reasoning.
Reason and Revelation In Divine Revelation God
makes himself and his divine plan known to the human race through words and deeds in human history. ◦ Ex: God revealing himself to the
Chosen people, sending Jesus Christ
Jesus was fully God and fully human. ◦ Jesus Christ is the fullest and
complete Revelation of who God is, and through Christ, God established his covenant with the human race.
How do we come to know Jesus Christ?
Homework Alert!Read Chapter 2
pages 22-30
There will be a reading comprehension quiz on Chapter 2 tomorrow in class.
You will NOT be able to use your notebook or textbook.
Knowing Jesus ChristGod has provided two ways
for coming to know Jesus Christ:◦Sacred Tradition◦Sacred Scripture
Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, after he physically left them. ◦Under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, the Apostles handed on everything they knew about Jesus to the first Christians.
◦The passing on of the Good News of Jesus Christ is called Sacred Tradition.
Knowing Jesus ChristThe Holy Spirit also
inspired people in the early Church to create written documents explaining what the Apostles had handed down about Jesus. ◦The Gospels were
written with different faith perspectives on the meaning of Jesus Christ’s life and teaching.
◦Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote the Gospels that are in our Bible today.
Knowing Jesus ChristThe Church looks to God’s
Revelation in Scripture and Tradition as the only authentic and complete source for our knowledge about God and God’s will for the whole human race. ◦ It is the responsibility of the
Church to transmit to all generations what God has revealed.
The official teaching office of the Church, or the Magisterium, consists of the successors of the Apostles: the bishops in union with the Pope.
Biblical Inspiration and InterpretationCatholicism and other
religions differ over their interpretations of the Bible. ◦All Christians recognize
that God is the ultimate author of the Bible because the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors in their writing.
◦Some Christians believe that every part of the Bible must be absolutely true, even geographically and scientifically.
Biblical Inspiration and Interpretation
The Holy Spirit inspired the biblical authors to write what God wanted us to know for our salvation. ◦ Human creativity was still used
when writing the Bible. Catholic understand that the
Bible is without error in communicating what God wants us to know for salvation without having to be historically and scientifically correct. ◦ This is called biblical
inerrancy.
Goals When Reading the BibleWhen we read the
Bible, we must keep two important goals in mind:◦ investigating what
meaning the sacred writers really intended. Literacy forms Historical situation of
the author Ways people spoke and
acted in that culture◦finding and using tools
of interpretation such as the senses of Scripture.
Senses of ScriptureLiteral Sense
◦What the words of scripture actually mean.
Spiritual Sense◦The meaning
expressed by Scripture when we read it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
◦Goes beyond the literal sense to consider what the events of Scripture signify and mean for salvation.
Spiritual Senses of ScriptureAllegorical Sense
◦ Uses not only literal meaning but deeper, figurative meanings.
◦ Ex. Israelites crossing the Red Sea / Baptism
Moral Sense◦ The Church calls us to act on
the instructions and encouragement we receive from Scripture to do good and act justly.
Anagogical Sense◦ We are led from considering
scriptural events to considering events in our lives that are significant for our salvation.