Aims

The students learn to develop theologically questions about the existence and the nature of God, to elucidate the relationship between the so-called natural knowledge of God and Christian faith in God, and to pay attention to the objections of atheism towards faith in God.

Main themes

The course focuses on the main lines of a rational presentation of the affirmation of the existence of God, makes the Christian idea of an incomprehensible and ineffable God explicit, counters Protestant contestation of "natural theology," examines various forms of negation of God in modern atheism, and presents different ways in which theology confronts them.

Content and teaching methods

The course has four sections. The first studies the Protestant critique of natural theology and the doctrine of Vatican Council I. The second examines ways of affirming the existence of God by reason as well as their foundations. The third section exposes the various types of modern atheism (atheism in the name of the autonomy of Nature, atheistic humanism and Nietzschean atheism).The fourth section proposes a theological consideration of atheism.
Method: The course combines historical exposé and critical discernment of positions encountered.

Other credits in programs