The Difference Between Philosophy And Theology Essay Samples

Philosophy and Theology

Philosophy and Theology

The basic difference between Philosophy and Theology is that former takes logical approaches to study or explain the reality while the latter is enshrined in mythological approaches to do the same. In this regard, with a logical approach for instance, the Big Bang theory has been one of the logical theories that have been forwarded to explain the origin of the Universe. Mythological explanations are numerous, depending on one’s religious or cultural backgrounds, to explain the origin and the purpose of the universe. Thus, although theology may have some room for debating, it tends to align itself on supporting beliefs that are dogmatically granted for a certain faith or religion to stand. In this regard, presumably, there are always ultimate realities in theology, and these would obviously form doctrines and beliefs that a seriously true believer would not subject to experimental or reasoning tests. For philosophy, one will be engaging himself in studying the reasons for the existences of certain religion or their aspects without necessarily believing in ultimate truth, or regarding their doctrine as ultimate truths. One in the philosophical discourse will be critically thinking about the belief system by questioning and noticing points of fallacies so that an authoritative argument, that is neutral for everybody, can be obtained. Although religious materials can be used as supportive reference points, they cannot predetermine the outcome of an argument.

Philosophical Approaches in Ascertaining the Nature and Existence of God

Ontological Approach
The ontological approach of rationally demonstrating the nature and the existence of God is generally credited to Saint Anselm, an 11th- century priest. It is based on the key fact that since one can imagine that he is a perfect being, there must exist a more perfect being that renders such perfectiveness. In this way, too, it is assumed that non-existence is an attribution to imperfection. Since human being is perfect, there is no doubt that such perfectness is attributed to a perfect being that always exist- God.

The Teleological Argument

Under teleological argument, William Paley put forward in 1802 that when one observes the universe, he can be sure that it was created from an intelligent design. Thus, it will be futile to intuit or assert that it arose from an accidental process, but rather not from a wise and intelligent process. Additionally, the reliable perfect order of the universe, for instance the solar, system reveals great intelligence for such design. This will obviously reveal that it was created by a more intelligent being.
Both ontological and teleological approaches have their cornerstones as the perfectness of God’s creations as the proofs for His nature and existence. However, although the ontological approach could maintain that human being was perfect, in all spheres, teleological approach has admitted that there exit varying degrees of perfectness among men, for instance in intelligence. Further, both theories, though philosophical, have disengaged themselves from explaining the causes of imperfections in the world. Although they are out rightly explaining the cause of perfections as God, they are not doing the same on what causes imperfections. There are a lot of impactions in the world, both physical and psychological. For instance, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, violence, drug trafficking and so forth- are all imperfections that adversely affect both perfect and imperfect human beings. Nonetheless, both were initially inspired by theological understanding of creation using philosophy. However, in their differences, teleological theory is more elaborate than ontological theory. While the latter uses illustrations from both physical and human creations, the latter only relies on humans.

Similarities and Differences between Personal Beliefs about God and the Accounts of God Studied This Week

My personal belief system, seem to go most, hand in hand with the teleological points of view. From the origin of the universe, the book of my faith which was created one millennium and many centuries back has clearly illustrated how the universe came into existence: it mentions that the throne of the creator (God) was on water before He created the earth and heavens, and from water, life was created. This has been confirmed by the University of Michigan researchers that water preceded stars and planets, the sun included. Moreover, water availability has now become synonymous to life: water is needed to keep life, and therefore the book is logically correct to affirm that water was used to create and sustain life forms. Although earlier theorists had believed that water could have come from comets and asteroids’ ice, the question they raise is where did such ice or water came from. Further, on earth creation, the book has been explicit that the shape of the earth is not a perfect sphere, but spheroid. Reading the book can also help one to observe that there must be invisible hand that makes birds to wake up at certain times or fly in lines with particular distances apart. On the order of life reproduction, it has demonstrated how God created every species in pairs as male and female. In this regard, for plants that reproduce by sexual reproduction, they are always female and male. Likewise in human, the pairs were created for procreations and complementation (emotional, physical and so forth). However, although the teleological theory does not forthrightly give the purpose of creation, my religion has illustrated it clearly: to worship the creator by serving each other (among humans), continuing his creation (by reproduction), safeguarding his treasures, and so forth. However, the purpose of the infinite and wider universe is to reveal His power and greatness to humans.