Well St. Augustine was a medievil theologian. So let's look at what he said about the relationship between faith and reason. If you want to hear it on video you can visit my youtube page Djchrist15. Anyway let's begin!
St. Augustine thought that the basis of believing in Christianity is solely on authority. Since the word of God is absolutelty true (since it's from God) and since it's absolutelty true it has authority and it must be believed. But the Augustine thought of something. Many books on earth claim to be from God, how do we know that the Bible is the correct one? In other ones they all have claims to authority so must we believe all? Well Augustine answered by saying that since the Bible is confirmed by miracles and prophecy it must be true. Since it's confirmed by these signs it shows the Bible to be from God and thus have the authority which compells us to believe.
But if you're a skeptic your obviously going to ask the question well how do we know that these miracles and prophecy even took place? Since that happened in the past there is no way of knowing if it did or did not happen. Well Augustine answered this question with the thought of the day. Back in medievil times knowledge of the past was taken purely on authority. That is too say that the witnesses off the past are too be believed since they were there and they must be telling the truth because if they were lying it would make no sense. So knowledge of the past was based on authority. But what about the knowledge of present? Well knowledge of the present was based on reason since we can observe and test the present.
So back to the question how do we know that the miracles in prophecy took place? Well on the basis of the authority we can know the miracles and prophecy took place. Since they took place that confirms the scripture to be true giving it the authority which demands our belief that is how we know Christianity is true. But Augustine posed one more question. Why should we believe the authority of the witnesses of the past? Why should we accept their witness? So Augustine answered in the following way: we can reject the witnesses of the past but we are still left with the miracle of the church which is present and real. Since this miracle can't be denied and it's true it must be the Bible is true giving it authority which demands our belief. Now Augustine doesn't base the authority of the Bible on the authority of the Church. The Bible is greater than the Chuch was he is saying is that everyone is believing in Christianity despite the fact we can't know if the miracles took plac, and that very act of believing is in of itself is a miracle.
Since Augustine lacked the historical method of investigating the past to see if the miracles really took place he appealed the miracle of the Church. It's ironic since the Church miracle can be known be reason and not authority his model is based on reason and authority together which he sought to avoid.
Well tomorrow we will see the St. Thomas Aquinas thought about the relationship between faith and reason and how do we know Christianity is true.
St. Augustine thought that the basis of believing in Christianity is solely on authority. Since the word of God is absolutelty true (since it's from God) and since it's absolutelty true it has authority and it must be believed. But the Augustine thought of something. Many books on earth claim to be from God, how do we know that the Bible is the correct one? In other ones they all have claims to authority so must we believe all? Well Augustine answered by saying that since the Bible is confirmed by miracles and prophecy it must be true. Since it's confirmed by these signs it shows the Bible to be from God and thus have the authority which compells us to believe.
But if you're a skeptic your obviously going to ask the question well how do we know that these miracles and prophecy even took place? Since that happened in the past there is no way of knowing if it did or did not happen. Well Augustine answered this question with the thought of the day. Back in medievil times knowledge of the past was taken purely on authority. That is too say that the witnesses off the past are too be believed since they were there and they must be telling the truth because if they were lying it would make no sense. So knowledge of the past was based on authority. But what about the knowledge of present? Well knowledge of the present was based on reason since we can observe and test the present.
So back to the question how do we know that the miracles in prophecy took place? Well on the basis of the authority we can know the miracles and prophecy took place. Since they took place that confirms the scripture to be true giving it the authority which demands our belief that is how we know Christianity is true. But Augustine posed one more question. Why should we believe the authority of the witnesses of the past? Why should we accept their witness? So Augustine answered in the following way: we can reject the witnesses of the past but we are still left with the miracle of the church which is present and real. Since this miracle can't be denied and it's true it must be the Bible is true giving it authority which demands our belief. Now Augustine doesn't base the authority of the Bible on the authority of the Church. The Bible is greater than the Chuch was he is saying is that everyone is believing in Christianity despite the fact we can't know if the miracles took plac, and that very act of believing is in of itself is a miracle.
Since Augustine lacked the historical method of investigating the past to see if the miracles really took place he appealed the miracle of the Church. It's ironic since the Church miracle can be known be reason and not authority his model is based on reason and authority together which he sought to avoid.
Well tomorrow we will see the St. Thomas Aquinas thought about the relationship between faith and reason and how do we know Christianity is true.
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