The difference between natural reason and divine revelation is mainly based on the relationship between theology and philosophy. Reason entails matters to deal with the truths as well as making deductions relating to human nature and the general world. Reason therefore gives the truth but a partial view of human nature. Reasoning is therefore mainly based on philosophical thinking. Divine revelation on the other hand goes beyond philosophical theory and drawing of conclusions relating to realty and human nature using religion and faith as the main basis. Divine revelation involves matters pertaining to God and how the human beings fully flourish only with respect to eternal relationship with God. Divine revelation also states that the supernatural feeling clearly bring out the gift of grace as well as the human capacities infused by God into human nature. The relationship between the reason and divine revelation is basically the fact that reason deals with philosophical theories while divine revelation is founded on the theological principles. Both reason and divine revelation share some truths and ideologies.
Both the unaided human reason and the divine revelation can be used to demonstrate or prove the existence of God. The people may therefore believe in existence of God just based on divine revelation without the philosophical explanation of the existence of God. The human beings can therefore rely on either divine revelation or human reason in understanding the existence of God and the correctness of such facts or information relating to God.
Aquinas believes that the human reason may be used to show the existence of God and he also thinks that many of the truths concerning about God transcend reason and they can only be done through faith. These deductions and truths can therefore be made from human reason or divine revelation as well as the combination of the two. In distinguishing human reason and divine revelation, Aquinas argues that some of the virtues are limited to the happiness of human beings which is achievable through the natural capacities or human reasoning. Aquinas also thinks that redeemed human nature is very useful in understanding the human nature fully. The divine revelation or theological virtues like love, hope and faith are of essence in facilitating good relationship with God. The redemption of human is therefore made possible through the divine revelation rather than relying on human reason or philosophical theories alone. Aquinas also believed that the existence of God mainly depends on faith of an individual and how they perceive e their daily activities in the society. This makes some of the people to believe that is appropriate for them to base their ideas on sacred teachings in making conclusions.
Divine revelation therefore ensures there is perfect union with the people. He therefore argues that some truths can only be explained by human reason while others are demonstrated by divine revelation therefore they both need to complement each other in showing the truth and drawing right conclusions. The human reason and divine revelation are either necessary in order to draw rational conclusions therefore they both complement each other in revealing or proving the truth of certain principles in the lives of hum beings.
The relationship between human reason and divine revelation is therefore explained and demonstrated by several schools of thought in order to determine the role they both play in reaching reasonable decisions as well as drawing right conclusions concerning the lives of human beings. These schools of thoughts tries to explain the relationship between human reasoning and the religious aspects relating to relationship of human beings with God.
In the context of Rationalistic School of thought which elaborates the religious and philosophical views of the Jewish biblical-rabbinical and philosophical tradition. This theory shows that Judaism is not a word view but it is more of an expression of the understanding of the world. This school argues that the common human senses are essential in interpreting the divine revelation of the Jewish religion. The common senses which pertains to human reason are therefore very essential in interpretation of the principles as well as translating of the religious aspects of life in order to make valid decisions as well as drawing conclusions which are reasonable in the lives of human beings. In this context human reason therefore plays an important role in interpreting the word of God which generally amounts to divine revelation in the religious perspective. Human reason therefore helps to emphasize the biblical aspects as well as facilitating the understanding of the religious word. This school of thought therefore plays a role in ensuring that the rational decisions concerning the word of God through human reasoning as well as considering the religious aspects in the Jewish religion. The aspects of suprarationalism and rationalism are therefore explained and elaborated by this school of thought in order to give a clear distinction between aspects of divine revelation and those based on human reason.
The rationalistic analysis of the traditional biblical tradition is therefore elaborated and discussed in this school of thought. This school tries to give an elaborate distinction between the divine revelation and human reasoning in analyzing decisions as well as drawing conclusions pertaining to such aspects of the biblical traditions. This therefore helps in understanding the relationship between human beings and God with respect to virtues and the human reasoning.
Maimonides is one of the most prominent physicians of his time who promoted various theories and practice between 1135-1204.His theories and formulations had a great impact in relation to the Jewish thought as well as theological studies at that time. His theories also played a role in influencing the philosophical ideas in Europe. The aspects of prophesy and revelation are analyzed and reflected by Maimonides which are presented in various legal works. This rationalistic approach therefore express the divine act with respect to human reason in interpreting the religious thoughts in the Jewish biblical traditions. The theory states that the intellectual human reasoning is very essential in reaching the truth due to the need to interpret the human actions. The intellectual human reason is therefore of importance in fulfilling the potential of humanity to reality which in turn help make reasonable and realistic conclusions. Human reason is therefore essential in proving the existenceof God through reasonable interpretation of the biblical information. Human reason helps individuals to think and analyze various situations in order to be able to understand the divine attributes which relates to the law of God.
The rationalistic concept propagated by Mendelssohn argues that faith of Judaism relates to the universal truth. This is facilitated through human reason such that divine revelation is enhanced or boosted to make reasonable conclusions. He argues that eternal truths are only achieved through human reasoning as well divine revelation in the context of religious beliefs of Judaism. Human reasoning plays an important role in revealing the actual facts and truth of facts of theories and ideas. The eternal truths can therefore be achieved through intellectual endeavor and human reasoning. He claims that Judaism is a religion that is based on reason as opposed to Christianity which is mainly based on doctrines like trinity, atonement, incarnation and suffering of the divine which are basically of divine revelation. Human reason is therefore taken into consideration Judaism in order to make truthful interpretation of information as well as drawing reasonable conclusions which are universally acceptable to the followers of that religion.
In the context off rationalistic school, the relationship between ethics and religion is elaborated. The role of ethics is given much emphasis while the idea concerning God I only regarded as the tool of realizing the ethical idea. This school gives religion an individual task pertaining to the way in which the ethical issues and concerns are handled. This individual task cannot materialize due to the fact divine revelation needs human reason and intellectual faculty of human beings in making it realize their potential. The sins of an individual man cannot be redeemed from the moral commandments only but also the need of human reason in the interpretation. The religious problems also needs human reason in order to support in the decision making process. This problem can only be solved through the correlation between God and man in the context of biblical commandments. The eternal process involves the correlation between human reason and divine revelation in order to make realistic conclusions and decisions concerning the ethical dilemmas which may arise in the lives of the people. This school of thought gives many reasons and aspect of Judaism which involves human reason other than relying on divine revelation alone. This theory argues that Christianity should adopt this aspect or attribute of reasoning in order to enable the people to realize their ambitions and moral goals in the community. Judaism is said to teach the ethical issues and lesson in the society.
In the context of the “antirationalistic” school, the individuals cannot perceive the truths concerning theology but the individual knows them through the traditions from the historical occurrences and trends. This school illustrates the contradiction among the various philosophical ideas pertaining to human reason and divine revelation. The philosophical thinking leads to questions which are contradictory to the religious or divine revelation and this facilitates the hot arguments in order to resolve the conflict between the human reasoning and divine revelation. The weaknesses of philosophical thinking are therefore revealed by this school of thought in relation to the role human reason in conjunction with divine revelation so as to achieve the purpose of such religion aims. This schools argues that the soul of an individual may contain ideas and secrets which are contrary to the philosophical thinking .Some aspects which enabled both prophecy and divine works are well illustrated and elaborated by this school of thought. This school stress and emphasize on the moral teachings like worship, prayer and purity laws thereby enabling Jews to attain the divine influence. This also emphasize on understanding the religious law in order to enable the individuals make sound decisions concerning various aspects pertaining their moral teachings.
The understanding of the religious laws is important in order to enable individuals make decisions concerning the divine teachings. This school of thought helps in revealing the metaphysical and theological truths. The Jewish religion reflected the ideas concerning the relationship between human reason and the divine revelation which therefore leads to the need to emphasize on the importance of their interaction in making decisions. This school of thought is against the theology which base ideas on the feeling but stress on the importance of human reason in reaching special decisions which pertain to the ethic of the religion.Steinheim gives emphasis on the role of critical human reason as a major aspect and component of human intellectual endeavor. He also stress on the importance of constructive and dogmatic reason with respect to religion and divine revelation. Constructive will help in ensuring that the decisions made are of more importance and concern to the religion. Human reason may give contrary opinions to the reality on the ground therefore helps in explaining situation which may appear complex therefore avoiding confusion of people who only rely on the divine revelation. The aspects of exact as well as inductive cognition are taken into consideration by this school of thought. This school of thought also argues that human reason contradicts the phenomena of the world therefore makes it difficult for religion to take into consideration the principles of human reason. The religions may opt to rely on divine relation because it does not contradict much with the world phenomena. The human reason may lead to unrealistic results. The content relating to revelation is said to be real as compared to existence of the physical world but not the idea alone.
The relationship between divine revelation and human reasoning plays a role in explaining the causality and freedom. This therefore leads to inevitable conclusions concerning human reason and divine revelation since both cannot take place together. Man is also concerned with the causal aspect due to the fact he is part and parcel of the physical world while the creation story conflicts with aspects of freedom. The aspects of learning and studying are emphasized in order to ensure that the individuals develop high levels of human reasoning which in turn boost the divine revelation in making reasonable decisions as well as drawing important conclusions pertaining to Judaism.
In conclusion, the relationship between human reason and divine revelation is of essence in ensuring drawing of relevant conclusions as well as making reasonable decisions. The relationship between human reason and divine relation also plays a role in proving the existence of God while based on the principles and norm of a specific religion. Human reasoning therefore helps in strengthening the divine revelation therefore their combination should be taken into account in order to eliminate the cases of misunderstanding of the principles. Human reason is very important aspect in facilitating the truth in matters pertaining to religion. Human reason also appeals to the virtues and values of human beings in making decisions. This will also facilitate the ethical standards pertaining to the region concerned in order to ensure the morality in the community. Human reason should therefore be considered a very vital aspect in relating the theological issues to the philosophical thinking.
Works Cited
Jackson, John. A Defense of the Plea for Human Reason: Being a Reply to a Book Entitled, a Plea for Divine Revelation. London: Printed for J. Roberts, 1731. Print.
King, Rolfe. Obstacles to Divine Revelation: God and the Reorientation of Human Reason. London: Continuum, 2008. Print.
Popkin, Richard H. The Columbia History of Western Philosophy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Print.
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