Living the Christian Vision in the

Contemporary World

Harmony with God: Called to Communion

A. Spirituality of Truth  

Theology 4 (Course Code: THY4)

Mariel  B.  Blanza   Instructor  

HARMONY  WITH  GOD:  CALLED  TO  COMMUNION  

Human  Beings  have  a  natural  

desire  for  God-­‐  a  desire  that  is  
as  natural  as  hunger  or  thirst.  
It  is  not  as  easily  sa9sfied  as  
our  physical  desires.    
HARMONY  WITH  GOD:  CALLED  TO  COMMUNION  

Even  a  person  who  

refuses  to  acknowledge  
God’s  existence  is  not  
exempted  from  
confron9ng  the  “why”  
ques9ons  of  life.  
“If   I   find   in   myself   a   desire  
which   no   experience   in   this  
world   can   sa9sfy,   the   most  
probable   explana9on   is   that   I  
was   made   for   another   world.  
Probably  earthly  pleasures  were  
never   meant   to   sa9sfy   it,   but  
only  to  arouse  it,  to  suggest  THE  
R E A L   T H I N G . ”   ( M e r e  
Chris/anity,  C.S.  Lewis)  
Spirituality  is  our  
search  for  that  
“real  thing”  

What  is  the  

real  thing?  
 …as  if  the  
object  of  
spirituality  is  a  
ma[er  of  
personal  
preference    
 True  
spirituality  is  
anchored  on  
THE  TRUTH  
of  
.    
What  must  I  do?  How  do  I  
dis9nguish  good  from  
evil?  
Verita9s  Splendor,  2  

• “The   light   of   God's   face  

shines  in  all  its  beauty  on  
the   countenance   of   Jesus  
Christ.”  
The Pew Research Center Survey
conducted last 2015 revealed that
Generation Z is the least religious
generation. According to the study,
people of this generation do not
necessarily claim to be atheists or
agnostics, but have become more open to
practices that integrate elements of
various spiritual or religious traditions.
How  do  you  differen9ate  spirituality  
from  religiosity(religion)?  
• Is  Chris9anity  a  spirituality,  a  
religion,  or  both?  Explain  
HOW  SHOULD  WE  UNDERSTAND  SPIRITUALITY?  

‘There  is  a  great  deal  of  

confusion  in  our  Western  
culture  about  spirituality.    
There  are  many  defenses  
that  arise  when  the  topic  of  
spirituality  is  introduced  
because  most  people  think  
that  the  comments  are  
religious’.  (Akins  E.,  2000)        
 WHAT  IS  SPIRITUALITY?    

A  working  defini9on  of  

spirituality  is  awareness  of  
the  transcendent  ('the  
beyond  in  our  midst')  the  
awareness  of  something  
beyond  intellectual  
knowledge  or  normal  
sensory  experience.    
Religion  comes  from  the  
La9n  ‘religio’  which  has  
been  translated  as  
reliance  or  connec9on  
Sco9-­‐Peck  1993  p.  233)  
in  Howard    (2002)  p.  232  

In  Spirituality,  we  find  a  no9on  of  the  Spirit  in  search  for  
connec9on  
 WHAT  IS  THE  AIM  OF  SPIRITUALITY?    

In  Spirituality,   Understanding  
the  goal  is  to  
become  fully  
human  united   Perseverance    
with  the  divine.  
Pa/ence  
 PLATO  

Each  human  being  is  a  

combina9on  of  a  physical   Jus9ce  is  harmony  
body  and  a  non-­‐physical   between  the  three  
different  parts  of  
soul.  He  believed  that  the   our  souls  (Reason,  
physical  world  –  including   Spirit,  Appe9te),  
our  physical  bodies  –  is  not   with  reason  ruling.    
really  real  or  important.    
PLATO  
 ORIGEN  OF  ALEXANDRIA  

Ul9mate  goal  of  human  life  –  in9mate  and  

con9nual  communion  with  God.  The  path  to  
in9macy  with  God,  then,  is  viewed  by  Origen  as  
the  soul’s  journey  from  earth  to  heaven.  
•  Body  –  finding  God  through  the  five  senses  
•  Soul  –  finding  God  through  enlightened  knowledge  
•  Spirit  –  finding  God  through  perpetual  communion  with  God  
•  The  goal  is  to  enter  into  union  through  contempla/on.  
•  The  result  is  a  life  of  pure  love  and  ac/ve  charity.  
 ST.  AUGUSTINE  OF  HIPPO  

Augus9ne  explained  that  

spirituality  is  an  inquiry  into  the  
supreme  good,  or  the  Summum  
Bonum  which  gives  the  
happiness  that  all  human  beings  
seek.  This  happiness  can  be  
found  in  the  enjoyment  of  God  
and  his  presence.    
 ST.  AUGUSTINE  OF  HIPPO  

“Love  the  Lord  your  God  with  all  your  heart  and    

St.  Augus9ne  teaches  

the  prac9ce  of  the  
Evangelical  Counsels  as  
with  all  your  
humanity  follows  the   with  all  your   with  all  you  
strength  
command  of  God:   soul  and  
and  
mind  
(Chas9ty)   (Obedience)  
(Poverty)  
 ST.  BENEDICT  OF  NURSIA  

He  desired  only  to  please  God  in  a  virtuous  life.  .  .  

He  is  skillfully  ignorant  and  wisely  unlearned.”  

Benedict  is  most  interested  in  the  ques9on:  “Do  you  truly  seek  
God?”  This  is  a  universal  human  quest  and  is  central  to  the  whole  
Benedic9ne  way  of  life.    
 ST.  BENEDICT  OF  NURSIA  
Seeking  God   Seeking  Material  Things  

The  Common  Good   Individualism  

Commitment   Non-­‐Involvement  
Rule  of    
Mutual  Sharing   Society   CompeTTon  
St  Benedict  
Hospitality   RejecTon  

Care  of  the  Earth     ExploitaTon  

Peace   Violence  
 The  Middle  Ages  

In  the  Middle  Ages  (AD  400  –  AD  1400),  the  Roman  

Catholic  tradi9on  was  dominant  and  pervasive.    
ScholasTcism  was  one  of  the   In  this  context  it  is  essenTal  to  
movements  in  medieval   include  the  contribuTon  of  
Thomas  Aquinas.  Aquinas  
thought,  which  had  as  its  aim   (1225−1274)  is  credited  with  
to  use  human  reason  –   introducing  much  of  Aristotelian  
especially  the  philosophy  of   thought  into  Western  thinking  (Sco9-­‐
Aristotle.     Kakures,  Castagne9o,  Benson,  Taschek  &  Hurley  1993:87;  cf.  
Delaney  &  DiClemente  2005:36).    
 St.  Thomas  Aquinas  

• Aquinas  developed  his  natural  theology  

not  to  separate  nature  and  grace  but  
rather  to  show  that  nature  can  be  used  to  
defend  belief  in  God.  Reason  and  the  
senses  can  be  used  by  human  beings  and  
by  doing  so,  human  beings  can  discover  
truth  (Pearcey  &  Thaxton  1994:100;  cf.  
Sproul  2003:78ff).    
 ST.  THOMAS  AQUINAS  

In  his  Summa  Theologica  

Aquinas  (2006)  a[empted  to  
show  that  the  existence  of  God  
can  be  ra9onally  demonstrated  
to  be  true  (Aquinas  2006;  cf.  
Sco[-­‐Kakures  et  al.  1993:91ff).    
 The  Renaissance    

• While  the  Middle  Ages  are  oqen  described  as  a  

period  of  academic  eclipse  and  intellectual  poverty,  
with  a  focus  on  mys9cism,  the  Renaissance  was  
characterized  as  a  move  towards  belief  in  reason  
and  the  senses,  ul9mately  leading  to  the  emergence  
of  scien9fic  inquiry  and  the  modern  era.    
 The  Renaissance  

Secular  humanism,  and  the  

differen9a9on  between  nature  and  
grace,  exalted  human  reason  and  
experience  (natural  revela9on)  as  the  
measure  of  all  things  instead  of  God  and  
special  revela9on.  Human  beings  and,  
more  specifically,  human  reason  as  well  
as  nature  were  now  seen  as  func9oning  
apart  from  religion.    
 The  Renaissance  

Chris9anity  was  nevertheless  

s9ll  influen9al.  The  vast  majority  
of  discoveries,  inven9ons  and  
philosophical  inquiries  were  s9ll  
made  within  a  Chris9an  context  
and  worldview.    
 The  Enlightenment    

The  period  of  the  

Enlightenment  in   • These  men  wanted  to  promote  
the  18th  century   freedom  and  equality  for  all  people,  
gained  much   based  on  the  idea  that  a  person  is  
momentum   actually  good  and  only  needs  to  
through  French   learn  to  use  reason  rightly,  which  she  
scholars  such  as   or  he  is  able  to  do  with  proper  
Voltaire  and   educa9on  (Rousseau  1921:5ff).  
Rousseau.    
 RomanTcism  

Roman9cism  started  in  the  mid–18th  century  

and  lasted  un9l  about  the  mid–19th  century.  
It  first  gained  momentum  in  Germany  and  
was  characterised  by  an  emphasis  upon  
feelings  and  experience,  a  focus  on  the  self,  a  
return  to  nature,  a  new  na9onalism,  and  a  
nostalgic  return  to  old  prac9ces,  religions,  
pantheism  as  well  as  mythologies  (Wright  
1996:141;  cf.  Jeeves  &  Berry  2000:24).    
 Modernism  and  onwards  

Hegel,  who  was  influenced  by  Roman9cism,  

developed  his  idea  of  dialec9cal  reasoning  
(synthesis).  Previously  people  had  thought  in  terms  
of  either/or,  thesis  or  an9thesis.  Hegel  claimed  that  
eternal  truths  do  not  exist  and  that  different  ideas  
are  equally  valid  (Schaeffer  1990:232f;  cf.  Scoh-­‐Kakures  et  al.  1993:329f).  
With  regard  to  the  concept  of  spirituality,  this  would  
mean  that  different  kinds  of  spirituali9es  can  co-­‐
exist.  
 Modernism  and  onwards  

Charles  Darwin,  who  introduced  the  theory  of  evolu9on,  made  an  important  
contribu9on  in  this  context.  This  resulted  in  a  movement  away  from  the  viability  
and  ra9onality  of  religion,  towards  a  much  more  naturalis9c,  evolu9onary  view.  
Life  became  secular  (Wright  2000:47).    

In  the  area  of  psychology,  there  was  a  similar  movement,  in  which  Freud  was  the  
driving  force  (Glynn  1997:57ff).  Freud  a[empted  to  explain  human  behaviour  
en9rely  on  a  naturalis9c  and  determinis9c  basis,  without  invoking  a  higher  cause,  
that  is,  soul  or  spirit  (Schaeffer  1990:232).  Freud  cri9cised  religion  as  ‘the  
universal  obsessional  neurosis  of  humanity’  (Freud  1927:30)  and  thus  had  a  very  
nega9ve  view  of  religion  (Wright  2000:29).  
 Postmodernism  

One  of  the  most  basic  

tenets  of  postmodernism  
is  the  assump9on  that  
there  is  no  absolute  
truth;  it  puts  an  end  to  
all  truth  claims.    
We  now  live  in  a  world  governed  by  the  DICTATORSHIP  
OF  RELATIVISM  and  submerged  in  a  CRISIS  OF  TRUTH