Curso XXXIV - Enseñanza 3: Existencia de la Teología

The human thought adopts many forms and aspects, even in the transcendental field. But all they contain similar forms and rules; for instance, if theology is a necessary and really existing science. You can take this issue by adopting one postulate –a fundamental concept of a postulate– in order to grasp the form of theological thought.
For instance, say with Thomas Aquinas that the “necessary being” includes the existence in his own concept. Thence obviously every necessary being exists.
If one demonstrates that theology is necessary, we would demonstrate that it does exist, and is a real and existing science.
As you know, theology is knowledge of God; it is a cognitive habit not only current but also usual to consider God.
But the consideration of God contains two forms or sciences applied: Natural Theology, or Theodicy, which starts from philosophy, and the so-called Holy Theology, which is above and beyond human philosophy.
Natural Theology, or Theodicy, considers God only through natural faculties of human reason. On the other hand, Holy Theology considers God by a supernatural, divine means, –through Divine Revelation. Holy Theology considers God through His own manifestation to men, that is, through the Revelation, not through His formal visible manifestation.
But knowledge through Revelation does not belong exclusively to theology. A knowledge through habitual infuse faith also comes from Revelation. But this faith is simple acceptance of a truth revealed by God. Theology takes for granted something more: human effort, reasoning and discourse.
So you have to differentiate two groups in the field of the Divine Revelation: formal verities explicitly revealed, and virtual verities implicitly revealed. Those verities are objects of faith. Faith alone is nor enough for virtual verities implicitly revealed; one needs a natural rational discourse to expose how a formal revealed verity contains these verities. That is why we are told that Theology, which needs reason, is divine-human knowledge of divine things. In other words, it is an intellectual habit dealing with virtual verities implicitly revealed.
Now we can ask this question: really is there a theological science? First we should explain if a theological science is necessary.
When Thomas Aquinas approaches this problem, first he calls the attention on the existence of two aspects, of two types of verities.
Certain verities are objectively and intrinsically supernatural, and are beyond natural intellectual forces (Faith).
Other verities intrinsically and formally natural; so they are proportional to human mental capacity, and God has revealed them to human intelligence –call it grace– to help and guide him.
Then here is a twofold question: should the man know through divine revelation those supernatural and divine verities that are beyond his natural intellective capacity? Should the other type of verities, which are not beyond his intellectual capacity, be revealed to man?
When one analyzes the first question, we notice at once that the man does not need at all to know through supernatural revelation, because otherwise revelations would stop being supernatural.
Therefore, one should admit only a hypothetical need that would respond being conditioned by the final object that the man must achieve, that is, his perfection and liberation.
God has given graciously the revelation to man, since revelation would be beyond his capacity, and he would be unable to reach it by himself.
So the supernatural revelation responds to a divine purpose for man, to a gracious gift received by man to fulfill the divine plan on Earth, which ultimately implies a clear and perfect possession of God, his return to the Divine from which he has emerged.
So, to achieve it, the man has to concentrate all his forces and acts in God; but this is impossible if he does not know the destination and way leading him to God, and as much the destination as the way are intrinsically supernatural.
So, of course, only the supernatural revelation can lead the man to his glorious destination, and then he should agree that, if he can and must reach his own liberation and bliss –an hypothetical proposition– also he needs absolutely to know the supernatural truth, since this truth alone can give him the revelation (it is an absolute, all-embracing need).
As we said, there is another group of verities, which the man can actually achieve by himself through the intellect. So his revelation cannot constitute an absolute need to man.
But, no doubt, so that men can achieve their divine early fixed plan, they all need congenitally and certainly these verities, as soon as reason is able to discriminate between good and evil.
Even reason tells this is practically impossible, as very few men can achieve knowledge through their own efforts, in the quake of their mental deficiencies, or because they are absorbed in mere material tasks, or for lack of incentive or for laziness.
Moreover, man achieves knowledge after long, long time. You know how hard it is to be able to know material things around. The harder is this task, more time it requires to deepen those verities, which in the quake of their depth and abstraction demand devotion and ability that some few people have. Finally, any exposition of the truth would demand complete unity. It is a mental habit in man to express everything through his subjective exposition; so his possible error is enormous, and you would find opinions in absolute disagreement.
Then, man needs to know morally, although not absolutely, in a clear and safe way, as soon as his rational capacity emerges, that God, the only Master of the truth, reveals him those divine verities that he can achieve by himself through his own efforts, and that mainly constitute verities of moral and religious type.
Openly this reasoning contains the need of faith, which is not theology, but you will see it also implies the need of theology.
In fact, faith involves two elements: an objective element, what you believe, the revealed truth; and another subjective element, namely, one’s mind admitting expressions of faith.
The habit of faith cannot grasp the object of faith if you do not propose this object to human intelligence before. Therefore, the object demands two things: a truth openly revealed, and its proposition to human reason.
But an explicit truth contains many other implicit truths, and they are exactly the object of Theology, which fetches them from an explicit formal truth, and unveils them to human intellect.
This labor is not that of faith, it is Theology; so a believer that accepts by simple faith an explicit revealed truth turns steady and strong his faith, in the quake of reasons given to him in order to prove the credibility of divine mysteries. This task is essentially theological, and constitutes its true object.
Moreover, faith proposes even the deepest mysteries to a rational entity willing to understand by means of his own reason. So, he thinks up and analyzes, compares diverse parts of the revelation, and deduces new verities. Doubt drives him to deepen that which his faith proposes, and even he must strive for seeking arguments against those who attack his faith.
All this emerges from faith and constitutes typical theology functions.
From a meeting of faith and reason, Theology emerges spontaneously as a true human need, and we can say properly again with Thomas Aquinas that a lack of Theology means or absence of faith or absence of reason.
So there is in man a need of Theology; Theology is fundamentally necessary. So, there is a reasoned study of faith, a divine-human research of the Divine Revelation, which is precisely Theology.