Thursday, February 26, 2009
Galileo's Accomplishments... Through His DAUGHTER?!?!
Galileo, despite being very famous even today, would not have become as famous without the help of his daughter, Maria Celeste. Maria Celeste was a nun residing in a cloister, working at the church apothecary. While working as a medicinal nurse, Maria took the time to help her father, Galileo Galilei, because of his poor health. Maria made medicines for him because of his sickness, took care of his housework, and many more. Galileo was the first to use a telescope to study the sky, and discovered irregularities with the Church dogma about the stars and the sun. What Galileo discovered, were sun spots, which were basically solar storms that darkened a portion of the sun. Galileo recorded these findings and wrote a dialogue, The Diagolo, between an intellectual who argued on the Copernican side and a fool who just mouthed out the church doctrine. Maria aided Galileo in the publishment and editting of the book, which Galileo could not have done on his own due to his poor health. At around the age of 70, Galileo was put under the Inquisition due to his "heretical" writings in The Diagolo. Galileo confessed, and was therefore put under house arrest along with several other long-term punishments such as reading only Holy scripts and praying. Maria also helped her father with this, doing all of the prayers for him instead of just leaving him to do it himself. Galileo's The Diagolo was banned and stored in the Church's records. Maria's taking over of the prayers allowed Galileo more time to study more about his past works on physics and created the basis for Newton. Without Galileo, we would probably not have physics today.
St. Thomas Aquinas and His Five Ways - Do They Show That God REALLY Exists?!?!
St. Thomas Aquinas was a theologian, a philosopher, and a Dominican priest that gave rational arguments to prove that God truly existed. These five arguments today are called Aquinas' Five Ways. Aquinas believed that reason should be embraced by Christianity and developed rational arguments to prove God's existence through this reason. Aquinas believed that God intended us to use reason, that he made us that way, and when we use this reason we can see the world as being an emanation of God. In order to get closer to God, we must first understand him better, and the only way to do that was to use our logic and get to know God better. Aquinas brings reason back into the Middle Ages and teaches how to prove Christian faith through it.
In my own opinion, Aquinas' Fourth Way is the most reasonable to me, because it does not make an exception to God. In the other Ways presented by Aquinas, it says that all things had to be created by something else, EXCEPT God. The Fourth Way does not give God an exception. The Fourth Way basically states that there are objects in the world with greater quality, beauty, then others do. To say that something is more beautiful than another, however, there must be a perfect standard through which we compare things, and that standard would be God. The perfect standard would be God because, by religious standards, God is an almighty, perfect force through which all good things arise from. However, there are a few arguments that could be posed against this Way presented by Aquinas.
With this Way stating that some things have more quality than others, and that the perfect model would be God, a problem arises with that of perspective. Not everybody has the same opinion about a certain object. For example, the dollar bill has more or less value in different countries around the world. Therefore, there are different views as to what is perfect, what has more quality, and what has less quality. Which one is right?
Despite the argument that could be posed against this Way, I believe that Aquinas' Fourth Way is the most reasonable compared to the other Ways.
In my own opinion, Aquinas' Fourth Way is the most reasonable to me, because it does not make an exception to God. In the other Ways presented by Aquinas, it says that all things had to be created by something else, EXCEPT God. The Fourth Way does not give God an exception. The Fourth Way basically states that there are objects in the world with greater quality, beauty, then others do. To say that something is more beautiful than another, however, there must be a perfect standard through which we compare things, and that standard would be God. The perfect standard would be God because, by religious standards, God is an almighty, perfect force through which all good things arise from. However, there are a few arguments that could be posed against this Way presented by Aquinas.
With this Way stating that some things have more quality than others, and that the perfect model would be God, a problem arises with that of perspective. Not everybody has the same opinion about a certain object. For example, the dollar bill has more or less value in different countries around the world. Therefore, there are different views as to what is perfect, what has more quality, and what has less quality. Which one is right?
Despite the argument that could be posed against this Way, I believe that Aquinas' Fourth Way is the most reasonable compared to the other Ways.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Colorful Lights... From a Church Window?!?
As we look into the Gothic cathedrals in our Art History class, we see many stained-glass windows depicting images of biblical stories. The purpose of these very large, colorful windows was to fill people with a sense of amazement and awe for the Holy Spirit that resided within the walls of the cathedral. Also, these stories might have depicting stories of punishment, and would instill fear in those that have sinned. Throughout the Gothic period, we see cathedrals being remodeled to allow more light into the church through their windows because of the Manichean idea of light. The Manicheans were a philosophical group that believed that light was actually rays of God poking around in the world, and a certain amount of this Holy Light resided in each of our bodies. Augustine was influenced by the Manicheans, and believed that by looking inwards (introspection?) you could achieve happiness. With the Gothic architecture we can see these beliefs in physical form, because of the enlarged and decorated windows. Within the churches, we have intricate designs and beautiful windows. The outer surfaces of the churches, however, are very plain, going with the Manichean idea that the outer world was ugly but the inside the body was beautiful. St. Augustine had a message about a Beatific Vision, which would come about through introspection and then up to God, which would provide the "looker" with salvation and happiness.
We also discussed St. Augustine's book, Just War, in which he explains what conditions have to be met in order for a war to be a righteous or just war. In this book, he lists and describes 7 conditions which have to be met in order for a war to be just. These 7 conditions being:
1. Last resort
2. Initiated by the government or a higher power
3. Chance of success
4. Right intentions
5. Re-establish peace
6. Proportionality
7. Do not attack the civilians
1. Last Resort
A just war can only be initiated if all other non-violent options have been used.
2. Initiated by the Government or a Higher Power
A war is only just if an authoratative figure approves it is justified.
3. Chance of Success
A war can only be fought if there is a chance of success. Deaths and injuries that occur during this war are mortally justified.
4. Right Intentions
A just war can only be fought in order to "redress a wrong suffered". The only objective of a war is to solve the problem. Self-defense against an armed attack is always a just cause.
5. Re-establish Peace
The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. A war should improve the peace that existed before this war or would exist if the war had never been fought.
6. Proportionality
You must use the minimum amount of force to obtain your objective. Violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered.
7. Don't Attack Civilians
Civilians are never the target of war, and all measures to avoid killing them should be used.
All these conditions, however, were not met throughout the Crusades, which makes them somewhat of a sin because all those conditions made war just, and the Crusades did not meet those conditions.
We also discussed St. Augustine's book, Just War, in which he explains what conditions have to be met in order for a war to be a righteous or just war. In this book, he lists and describes 7 conditions which have to be met in order for a war to be just. These 7 conditions being:
1. Last resort
2. Initiated by the government or a higher power
3. Chance of success
4. Right intentions
5. Re-establish peace
6. Proportionality
7. Do not attack the civilians
1. Last Resort
A just war can only be initiated if all other non-violent options have been used.
2. Initiated by the Government or a Higher Power
A war is only just if an authoratative figure approves it is justified.
3. Chance of Success
A war can only be fought if there is a chance of success. Deaths and injuries that occur during this war are mortally justified.
4. Right Intentions
A just war can only be fought in order to "redress a wrong suffered". The only objective of a war is to solve the problem. Self-defense against an armed attack is always a just cause.
5. Re-establish Peace
The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. A war should improve the peace that existed before this war or would exist if the war had never been fought.
6. Proportionality
You must use the minimum amount of force to obtain your objective. Violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered.
7. Don't Attack Civilians
Civilians are never the target of war, and all measures to avoid killing them should be used.
All these conditions, however, were not met throughout the Crusades, which makes them somewhat of a sin because all those conditions made war just, and the Crusades did not meet those conditions.
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