As Boston College philosophy professor Peter Kreeft (himself a convert to Catholicism) once said, "It is a dogma of faith that the existence of God is not just a dogma of faith."The same holy mother church holds and teaches that God, the source and end of all things, can be known with certainty from the consideration of created things, by the natural power of human reason [lat. naturali humanae rationis lumine]: ‘ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made,’ (Rom. 1:20). {source: Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, v. II, Fr. Norman P. Tanner, S.J., ed.}
Lumen Gentium is the common name by which the Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on the Church is known. The Church bears the true Light of the nations, which is Christ, and presents him to the world. It presents this Divine Light to the world more fully than does any other religious communion. It is in the spirit of being a countenance of this Light, as the Church much more perfectly is, that this blogspot is humbly offered.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Vatican Council I on the Existence of God
I thought all my fellow Thomistically-minded Christians would appreciate this dogmatic decree from the First Vatican Council concerning the existence of God. I think there is an enormous amount of overlap between what the Council pronounces and how many Thomists themselves would reason, whether or not they are Catholics. The following is from the opening line of chapter 2 of the Council's decrees:
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